'40 front fenders

[GB SISSON]

This one is going slower than the last couple of projects... Winter's coming on and every year the unheated shop looks less inviting. I finally got my jailbars and other front end pieces straightened out, well they aren't actually 'straight' , but they ARE on there. Now I am in the decision process and those tough decisions often slow me down. "What if it doesn't work and I cut up a good part for nothing?". Well today I have made a decision. Look at the firewall of the ford cowl. You will see a boxed in rectangle 36" wide and 17 3/4" high. I will cut that out of the ford cowl and replace it with a 36" 17 3/4" piece from the toyota firewall. This gives me a 3 1/2" deep doghouse, ready mounts for parking brake (Toyota landcruisers use an internal expanding drum brake aft of the transfer case), the correct steering coulmn support, and the gas pedal. Instead of welding this patch in I'm thinking of welding a 3/4" angle to the perimeter and bolting it to the existing ford firewall flange. This way if I later want to mount a pickup cab on it (I have 3), I just cut out that same area and the frame mounts are the same, and bolt my flanged sub-firewall in. Another benefit is the tranny/transfer cover you see in the first photo bolts right on. Still thinking of breaking the bank and buying a pedal assembly from wilwood which solves so many clearance problems. I am about ready to remove the front clip now that I have solved the clearance and mounting issues there, and get the steering hooked up and all the mechancal stuff that is SOOO accessible with those big fenders off. I think this is going to work. I painted the front bib with some international tractor blue from ace hardware with a bit of green splashed in, some black and gray primer, flatting past and about a 1/2 cup of cornstarch to further remove the gloss. Applied with a foam brush. Trim is called 'straw' in a satin finish rattle can. Edit: I have also decided to use the toyota radiator. Trimming 1/4" off each side of the mounting flange and redrilling it mounts it in the stock support with both hose connections on the correct side and I know it is engineered correctly to cool this particular engine, and the ford radiator support does a great job of holding the front clip together.