Another week gone, one month to go..........

One month until my self imposed completion date - May 1.  Had a few days and evenings this past week to do some work on the '41.  The wiring under the car is secured, the pressure/brake light switch is wired, the dimmer switch is wired and attached to the floor, the clutch is adjusted, the center caps are installed on the rear wheels, new hood to cowl gasket is installed, the stainless rocker moulding is reattached with new body clips, and all the engine compartment wiring is completed with the exception of the headlight and parking light on the driver's side.  As I was working on the wiring, I kept looking at this hideous mess of holes in the upper part of the firewall.

The speedo cable, coil wire, mechanical temp and oil sensors as well as some of the original wiring came thru grommets in these holes. As I mentioned a couple posts back, I got a piece of aluminum sheet from my buddy Paul.  The sheet was cut to length and my wife helped hold it in place while I traced the firewall contour on the back side.  Next was the jig saw cut to form the upper curve. Here's the blank piece taped in place with the hood hinge brackets positioned for marking the holes. 

While the panel was taped to the firewall, I used a can of spray paint and sprayed thru the holes up under the dash to mark the holes that would be needed for mounting.  Then the panel was removed and the holes were drilled.  Here's a test fit with all the bolts in place. 

I've decided to have the panel powder coated the same dark green as the body of the car and dress up the panel with a little creativity of my own.  The Chevy trucks of the 40's had a shield on the grill just like the emblem on my grill only a little smaller.  I ordered a new truck emblem from Chevsofthe40s.com along with some more replacement rubber parts.  Here's the emblem mounted in the center of the aluminum panel.

Once the panel is power coated, I'm planning to mount the shield and turn the panel over to a pinstriper to have some striping done in the lighter green colors of the engine and the roof of the car.  That hole just to the right of the emblem is for the drain hose that connects to the under side of the cowl vent.  It drains any water that gets in the cowl vent out to the engine compartment and down the back side of the engine. 

     Once I finished the fabrication of the firewall panel, I removed the ID tag from the firewall and covered that upper firewall area with the same adhesive backed insulation that I had used on the interior floor. Then I could finally concentrate on getting some of the wiring terminations completed. 

     The KwikWire kit has been very easy to install.  It came with all the terminals and connection blocks for the head lights and steering column connector too.  The wires are marked well and are easy to read.  Each wire had to be cut to length, stripped for a terminal to be crimped in place and heat shrink tubing applied to the connector and wire junction.  I opted to use uninsulated terminals with heat shrink tubing as opposed to insulated terminals for a cleaner look and better protection.  I removed all the old, stock wire hangers and replaced them with bolt on clamps that are attached to the same holes in the firewall and fenders as the clamps.  Each bundle of wires was covered with the appropriately sized wireloom for a clean well organized look.  Here's the engine compartment wired up.

Notice too, the new terminal strips attached to each fender.  Rather that running the wires all the way to the front to wire up the lights, I opted to keep the stock look and wire the front lights using the stock terminal strips.  Here's a side view showing the rocker moulding reattached and the center cap on the rear wheel.

 Here's a picture of the front end with the passenger head light and parking light reinstalled. Notice the insulation mentioned earlier attached to the firewall.

Hopefully, I'll get some more wiring done tomorrow.  Fortunately, the weather has returned to normal temps so I'm not feeling pressured to get the car on the road right away.