Today I had a few hours to spare, so I drove to Vic's house to make a little close-out panel that would go under the brake booster. In one of the previous pictures you can see the hole that was left after I removed the clutch MC mount. That hole needed to be covered up and I also needed to clean up some of the peeling paint and surface rust that was there.
I scraped the loose paint off and then scrubbed the surface with an abrasive pad. Then I sprayed some primer into a small cup and used a small brush to apply it and then did the same with some black paint. The point wasn't to make it look pretty, but to seal the exposed metal.
I then started to layer 2" masking tape over the whole area.
I used a pencil to trace out the outline of the patch that I wanted to cover and also marked out the 3 mounting holes.
I then transferred the masking tape template to some thin cardboard and used a sharpie to draw out the shape that would capture the mounting bolts and that would overlap the opening that I wanted to cover.
I cut the cardboard with some scissors and did a trial fit. Everything was looking pretty good.
I used the cardboard template to transfer the shape and the holes to a piece of 1/8" aluminum plate.
I cut the couch shape on a bandsaw and then used a belt sander the arrive at the final shape. I also used a 2" hole saw to make the hole.
Since the column pokes through the plate at an angle, the opening had to be oval, not round, so I used a file to contour the opening until the panel fit flush against the firewall.
Then I drilled out the 3 mounting holes.
The panel fits really well. It will get painted black and I will use some window mount urethane to seal the plate against the firewall. This will keep water from collecting and keep that area clean and dry. Once the booster is installed, the panel won't really be visible, but I think it adds a finished touch to an area that looks a little raggedy before.
Andrew