remove firewall and hearter/aircon box??

[VP-EXCHASER]

so i picked up a vr stato a couple days ago cheap as chips and i wanna put the dash in my vp, ive seen a few other blokes vn/vp with a vr/vs dash in them. absolutely love the look of it so i decided to have a go at it. whats the eastiest way to remove the fire wall and all the heater components??

any help is muchly appreciated

cheers justin

[accentstencil]

If you are going to install the dash anyway then I don't think there would be any need to remove the firewall. To get at the heater components you remove the entire dash.

[VP-EXCHASER]

i want to do a full conversion so everything works how it should, and that requires firewall from what i've read to be removed and put into vp. So everything lines up and goes back in how it should

[VP-EXCHASER]

surely someone has some advise on takin out a firewall?

[Clutchy]

Its glued in so maybe a heat gun.

[VP-EXCHASER]

alrighty cheers, would it be easier to rip the engine out to remove heater box then firewall you think?

[James39]

Its glued in so maybe a heat gun.

More like welded in?

[DAKSTER]

I wondered about that when I saw it lol.. the firewall as far as I know is the bloody great piece of steel that separates the engine bay from the cabin.

Are you sure its the firewall you want to remove? Never changed dashes over but removing a firewall is removing one of the major structural parts of the car isnt it?

I had to laugh when I saw the heat gun and glue statement.. a firewall that comes out when it gets hot...

EDIT: thinking on it, I guess there could be differences in the shape of the firewall that make it necessary to change that too. If this were the case, it would be a MAJOR job.

You would need to cut the entire firewall out and weld in the replacement. The firewall is a part of the structural rigidity of the car, I would imagine the car would need to be on a jig to keep its shape whilst the transplant was done.

[wamboin23]

firewall is glued in. this is why commodores don't handle.

[AirStrike]

I wondered about that when I saw it lol.. the firewall as far as I know is the bloody great piece of steel that separates the engine bay from the cabin.

Are you sure its the firewall you want to remove? Never changed dashes over but removing a firewall is removing one of the major structural parts of the car isnt it?

I had to laugh when I saw the heat gun and glue statement.. a firewall that comes out when it gets hot...

EDIT: thinking on it, I guess there could be differences in the shape of the firewall that make it necessary to change that too. If this were the case, it would be a MAJOR job.

You would need to cut the entire firewall out and weld in the replacement. The firewall is a part of the structural rigidity of the car, I would imagine the car would need to be on a jig to keep its shape whilst the transplant was done.

I had to laugh when you laughed, while they won't easily come out with heat they are in fact glued in.

[DAKSTER]

damn maybe i need to buy a toyota lol.. thats a shock to me..

[VP-EXCHASER]

should i just hack at t5he glue with a stanley knife or something similar? or get some acetone to try and eat away at? any suggestions? also thinking of welding it back in as i have a MIG welder sittin in the shed, also engine out or leave it in?

[SP00KSTER]

if you weld it in you could have a problem with warping and shrinking that would result in a distorted firewall. it could be done without warping it but it would be time consuming best to jig it up if your gonna weld it in.

[VP-EXCHASER]

if you weld it in you could have a problem with warping and shrinking that would result in a distorted firewall. it could be done without warping it but it would be time consuming best to jig it up if your gonna weld it in.

prob best not to weld back in then, any clue what the glue is called and where i can get it from?

[BuckeTs]

firewall is glued in. this is why commodores don't handle.

Riiiiiiiiiiight. :/

[woteva]

any clue what the glue is called and where i can get it from?

Try Repco, Super Cheap Auto, Bursons etc..

[Trikky]

I think they used SIKAFLEX can get it from Bunnings but it is damned expensive, try someone that builds buses as they use it for gluing the panels onto buses

[VP-EXCHASER]

any tips on how to get the glue off?

[Clutchy]

More like welded in?

No not at all .

[Clutchy]

I wondered about that when I saw it lol.. the firewall as far as I know is the bloody great piece of steel that separates the engine bay from the cabin.

Are you sure its the firewall you want to remove? Never changed dashes over but removing a firewall is removing one of the major structural parts of the car isnt it?

I had to laugh when I saw the heat gun and glue statement.. a firewall that comes out when it gets hot...

EDIT: thinking on it, I guess there could be differences in the shape of the firewall that make it necessary to change that too. If this were the case, it would be a MAJOR job.

You would need to cut the entire firewall out and weld in the replacement. The firewall is a part of the structural rigidity of the car, I would imagine the car would need to be on a jig to keep its shape whilst the transplant was done.

I know what a firewall is yes maybe i should of added a bit more to my first comment like using the heat gun wile cutting the glue might help but ya get that and I knew they were glued in as i have seen cars with them removed as they replace them with flat sheet metal in some speedway cars.

[bloomers]

From experience that structural adhesive is very hard to work with. I tried to remove the firewall to make it easier to cut out a floor pan and failed. In the end it was easier leave the firewall in and use the plasma cutter

[VP-EXCHASER]

holy shit!! planning on putting it back in at all?

[bloomers]

holy shit!! planning on putting it back in at all?

No. The VZ was a statutory right off and it is a donor for an EH ute that I am building. I kept the floor pan because I will need a biger tunnel for the VZ gearbox and a handbrake mount and seat mounts... bugger it all, I might even put the whole thing in the EH.

Sorry to highjack the thread.

[GTS69]

dude as many have said there glued and yes to get your vr stuff to fit 100% you will have to get the vr fire wall in there you will need to weld in supports so the body doesnt twist granted they dont do much been only glued they still play a major roll id ring holden to see if they sell the glue or talk to a body shop if you seach around i cant remember the site but there was a guy that had a supercharged and turboed VP or VN that did this mod and he had a heap of pics and it would make life alot easier havingthe engine and box out it would also reduce the chance of body twisting while doing it other than that good luck and have fun maybe best give a wrecker $50 to pull one out of there VN/VP's to practice

[Andrew426]

The glue we use at work is called "Carbond" http://www.holdfast.co.nz/pages/prod...t=7&psid=20054 - We have used this stuff for panelling the sides of busses, even stretch-forming and gluing entire rooves down.

That being said, All the coachbuilders at work are certified in structural adhesive bonding, they know how to properly clean and prepare surfaces, they know how much panel overlap is required and they know how to properly apply the adhesive to get good coverage.

What you are suggesting is a f**kn major job - Personally I wouldt bother with it if all you will be gaining is climate controll.

A far better option, as I see it, is just cutting the relevant bits out of the VR firewall and stitching them into your vp firewall, even this is a big job and best left to a panelbeater.

Why dont you just get the VR roadworthy and ditch the VP?