Stainless firewall questions, please.

[48builder]

I know Sean is a stainless expert. My wife wants a shiny firewall, and I was thinking either aluminum or stainless. Frank suggested aluminum, but I was at my favorite sheet metal shop today, and saw some stainless there. The guy said they can cut it and drill all the holes I need, so I don't have to worry about doing that.

They have two different kinds. One is polished, which really looks more like a brushed finish, and the other is not polished. So I'm wondering these things;

What gauge would I want? I am just going to attach this to the existing firewall using some polished button-head bolts or something like that. If I leave my brake booster attached to the stock firewall, and just cut a square hole in the stainless, I don't have to worry about the stainless flexing. If I want to bolt the booster to the stainless, then that becomes an issue.

Do I want the plain or polished? I would imagine that I will have to polish the "polished" anyway to get the look I want. Do I just start with the plain, or see what the price difference is and go from there.

The owner of the shop is 84, and everytime I say "I'll stop in next week", he says "I'll be here unless I die". He's joking of course but I don't want to push my luck  

Thanks for any help.

Walt

[Mikej]

I have a polished  one. Its easy to clean and looks like a mirror.

[Sean]

If you want a mirror finish, it would be easier to maintain that finish with SS. Aluminum will require frequent re-polishing, and as soft as it is, it scratches easily.

I don't really know what guage to tell you. Sheet stainless is a little stiffer than carbon steel, I would think 24 guage would be fine since its just ornamental.  You may want to go with 20g though. 24g may flex enough that your attachment bolts would cause a slight pucker that would be very visible with a high polish. If you are going to bolt the Brake booster to it, you will definitely need to go heavier.

If you want an actual polished finish, you don't want to start with the Brushed SS. It would take a heck of a lot of work to polish all the brush marks out of it. What we use for most of our Restaurant type work is called #2B, I think. It has a smooth finish and would be fairly easy to polish out.

They do sell Mirror polished stainless, but I think its pretty expensive. We have only used it once that I remember. We were "quilting" it with a diamond pattern in the Brake. With a polish that fine, the slightest scratch shows up badly, and even with the plastic film that comes on the stuff, we still had a heck of a time working with it.

Get all your cuts made and holes drilled, test mount it, then worry about polishing it out. Be careful not to get any deep sctratches in it during the fab/fitting process, and the polishing should go pretty easy.

It may be easier to start with mirror finished in your case. If you get any scratches in it though, its hard to polish it out just in that area, and make it match the surrounding finish. You would probably end up having to repolish the whole piece.

[enjenjo]

I think I would use 18 ga. it will look flatter when done.

[EMSjunkie]

I have a SS firewall on my coupe.

I used 18 ga. #2b and polished it myself.

I would recommend Wenol to polish it with.
I chucked up a buffing pad in my drill motor and got after it.

I used button head bolts to secure it. I drilled the holes myself.
only used one drill bit to drill 12 holes.  
my nephew is the lead fabricator at a local steel shop. he turned me onto this stuff called  Tap Magic.  wonderful stuff.

Good luck, post a pix or two when you are done.

Vance

[48builder]

Thanks for the info, guys. I am going to make a plywood template this weekend, and get it made next week. I think he had some 18 gauge there, so that is what I wil get. I'll get the plain so I don't have to polish out the brushed look. The only trouble is that I am going to have to keep this engine compartment clean!

Walt

[Sean]

I think I would use 18 ga. it will look flatter when done.

Yes, 18 would definitely stay flatter than 20 or 24. I guess it depends on how much money you want to spend. With the price of Steel nowdays, 10 or so sq ft of Stainless isn't going to be cheap.

[enjenjo]

I did an entire engine compartment in stainless a few years ago, on a 80 Blazer, firewall, inner fenders, core support, and all. Materials were $800. You don't want to know the labor.