Firewall Rust

If you remove the cluster, are you able to see this panel through that part of the dash?

 

Na. He is a bit of an appendage.

 

Here’s my repair completed. The wiper shroud isn’t on yet.

The insulation didn’t go back on

 

Looks like it just rolled of the assemble line, or even better.
Well done.

 

Well after poking around in there, i discovered the top half of the insulation was dry and the bottom half was dripping wet with water.
2 hours labour using only my hands and fingers i got all of it out from behind the brake booster. My god what a mission as there is next to no room to work with.
Panel is now drying out nicely and couldn't feel any rust scale while i was in there, and the rest of the panel stills looks like
new (06 SS-V).


Stuff on the left came from the bottom of the booster and was dripping wet and the right from the top of the booster. note the colour difference.

Thanks Fu Manchu for alerting us to this issue...

 

I just had a look at mine. Near on no room to get my fat arms in there, could barely get the tips of my fingers onto the bottom of the insulation, but my was slightly damp. You know how you can barely tell if something is cold or wet? That.

Got the borescope out and had a look around but couldnt spot any signs of rust. inside or outside. But theres a few spots that seem to be designed to catch leaves and dirt in there too. I got the vacuum on blow and gave it a go but theres simply no room :/ maybe one of those long nozzle air blow guns might do the job to get in between all the lines and hoses and crap?

One thing i did notice is the paint coming off on the wheel arch under the brake/clutch resevoir, but im thinking a slight fluid drip from before i owned it and i didnt notice the paint til now...

 

What did you use the socket for?

 

To remove the horn from it's position to be able to get my hand in the guard side of the booster.

 

It's alright, i lost some skin and blood from both hands getting in there. Be buggered if i was gonna use tools, last thing i wanted to do was remove the insulation and leave scratch marks on the panel and introduce a chance for rust when i am removing something that allows rust to form.

 

Did you manage to remove all the adhesive ?

 

There's no adhesive.
The panels are held on with the same grommets that hold the interior carpet and the insulation panels around the cabin air intake box.

 

It looks like the engine bay side insulation is just 3 of those grommets? Do they unscrew or anything weird, or just hook one of the panel tools under and just rip them off? Then the insulation should just come right off?

I'm looking at one of the pics and it looks like part of the insulation slides under the wiper motor mount, or whatever that is?, or is it just right up against it?

 

The actual insulation is shaped like the rear of the booster, and is between the booster and plate.... And I mean it is a right cnut to get at and remove.

 

Ther

If I found/felt that part felt like rubber flap?????????

 

It is kinda hard to explain, but bear with me.
The insulation in behind the booster is the same as what is used on the firewall.
There is a rubber grommet with a flap on it that has the loom going through the firewall, don't pull on that. My VE also has a rubber flap covering the wiper motor.
If you look at the picture with my hand, you will see where I mean, you need to try and curl your fingers in behind the booster and between booster and the panel to feel the insulation.

 

It’s an easy task if you remove the wiper cowl and the wiper motor and arms.

These grommets unscrew and are on threaded studs. They are the same as those used in the foot wells where the carpet is held down at the top.

They are the same as those that hold the interior insulation in place as well.

This area has two sound panels used.
One is the large one. There is a second smaller one that sits in behind the booster.

 

I would also suggest wearing a mask when doing this job.

 

There were also some metal star shaped clips that screwed down on the panels looking back on some before photos.

 

On our series 1 VE the fasteners are these metal discs with that star shape in them. They unscrew.




This one is of the panels on the passenger side. Some might have these plastic fasteners that also unscrew. I used this just to show the fastener type.

 

This is what I removed. This is what you see from the engine bay if the insulation is t there.



The new part, which would be way better made from aluminum or high density plastic. You can see the foam seal that compresses as it’s tightened. Never seen this used before.

Zoom in on those welds.



This is the support bracket that wasn’t available new anymore so I had to clean it up, remove the rust, treat the rust, spray with black zinc, then satin black and then I did a clear coat.



I had to clean these nuts (with captive washers) up and spray with black zinc and then satin black. I couldn’t find a supplier of new ones. Anyone got a supplier?
They need the captive washer so when it tightens the washer stays firm without spinning or moving.