When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Getting a straight answer is gonna be tough because there are so many year to year changes. What are you looking to repair? You can graft in a partial panel.
This I know for sure. A 68 is kinda unique unto itself due to the type of steering shaft used. The rivet holes on a 69 are unique unto itself given the 68-69 have much different firewall insulation packages than later cars. Other than that and the differences in things like fuse box bulkheads and changes due to AC boxes the general layout of the firewall is the same. I have a thread on here I recently posted where I had to rebuild the whole lower toe kick area on my brothers 68 and the donor piece came from a 75. Other than the insulation clips and wiring clips not lining up between the two cars shape wise they were pretty close.
i have a 72 with no firewall,(second photo)i have a spare fiberglass firewall from a 73+ ,can I just make the holes need for the wiper door? i also found a 69 firewall will that work(first photo)
?
i have a 72 with no firewall,(second photo)i have a spare fiberglass firewall from a 73+ ,can I just make the holes need for the wiper door? i also found a 69 firewall will that work(first photo)
?
Ok so you have 72 bird cage and so on that you are looking to get back together. May I ask where the original 72 firewall ran off to if you know? As for which to use, I’d use whichever was in the best shape between the 69 firewall and the 73+. One other thing that’s different that I forgot to mention is power brake vs non power brake car. The spacing for the bolt holes is different for power vs non power brake cars.
PS if your easily able can you get some decent pics of the toe kick area and all the associated bracket placements in and around the drivers side of the firewall on the 69. I had to do a large repair job on my brothers 68 and while I took pictures beforehand I’m relatively certain I’m missing some details given the original hole was big enough to put a head of lettuce through. If it will be a huge hassle then don’t worry about it but if it’s literally right down the road that would be appreciated.
i bought my 72 as a project and a missing fiberglass firewall. can i just make hole for wiper door motor on my 73+ fiberglass firewall
Absolutely..... You'll need measurements but that's isn't hard. My brothers 68 doesn't have the wiper door anymore so I can get pics and measurements for you if you want. The bigger question is does it have the proper brake mounting pattern for what you want plus the column. Everything else I thing is pretty straight forward.
My 2 cents worth but if you are missing a bunch of the heater/AC stuff this might not be a bad time to look into a Vintage Air system or similar vs trying to piece back together an OE system that was marginal at best when the car was new. Unless you have all the OE parts and pieces then disregard but if you need to hunt down and purchase this stuff I'd look seriously at updating it.
Sorry it took me a few days. Anyways attached is a pair of photos showing how its setup on my brother's 68. I imagine there is some adjustability in these things but this is what I'm measuring. Any questions let me know. Basically I took the height measurements off the seam on the bottom of where the wiper door motor would mount with the tape measure hook stuck into the gap pulling up. On the left/right measurements I started on the flat part of the wire door mount on the right and measured left. Here I did not use the tape measure hook because you'll notice that the piece in question doesn't shoot straight perpendicular into the rest of the firewall, it runs at about a 15 degree angle. So I measured it off where the transition to that 15 degree deal started. Having a hard time describing so I've attached a picture showing a cut away from the top down. You would need to measure offset from the tang on the tape measure pull the tape measure past the transition and use 1" as the starting point. Hopefully this is helpful and understandable
.
To the OP. The second photo, with the bird cage with not firewall, is NOT a 72 or earlier birdcage. That is a 73 or later birdcage. The indication is the lower corners are different. The earlier cars have lower corners that have provisions for the wiper mechanism mounting and stops, the later car does not have this and the entire corner fiberglass bonding strip and fender is different. So in order to use the 72 windshield wiper system on this 73 and up birdcage you need to make some modifications.......maybe you know this already. Also, the windshield wiper mechanism mounts will have to be drilled into both sides of the upper cowl.....and frankly, I am not sure there are not other issues. I can look in a couple days, but I have both a 69 and a 74 firewall in my garage.
Most of these changes are a result of the 1973 change in going with the long hood, and removing the entire mickey mouse wiper mechanism / short hood of the chrome bumper cars.
Last edited by Shovels and Vettes; Jan 4, 2021 at 05:35 AM.
i think you now have to use a 73-newer windshield. only diff is the bottom edge. so you may need 73-up wiper motor or whole wiper trans and may need newer heater components but i think they are the same. you may need to go with long 73-76 hood, but i think you will be able to do wiper door on what you have. i thought "why this old thread?" then i saw it was the OP. i guess life got in the way for a while...
Designer Imagines A Corvette That Looks More Like a Corvette Than the Corvette
Slideshow: A Jaguar designer's personal project imagines what a modern front-engined Corvette might look like if Chevrolet revisited the golden age of the Stingray.
1972 corvette fiberglass firewall
