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Hey guys, I am hoping someone with some experience in this field can chime in.

I am still plugging away on my mid engine 3.8 S/C V6 Vair. I need to build a wall between the motor and the back seat. I am curious what I should make this out of. Mild steel would be the minimum, but maybe there is a better product for the sake of safety. Perhaps something heat treated or a different alloy? What do the Land Speed guys have to use?

As I am moving along with this project, I am finding myself needing to fabricate some strange things, like a custom aluminum flywheel, custom CV axles, etc. Although I am crossing my T's and dotting my i's, any of these components could rupture at any time, and I would hate to have any shrapnel come into the passenger compartment and cause harm to the occupants.

Ryan, Curious if you are familiar with v8archie.com I'm guessing that you probably are. They make conversion parts to put Chevy V8 engines in Pontiac Fieros using automatic and 6 speed manual Pontiac transaxles. I'm guessing they may have some parts that you can use in your project.

I just came back from the Musclecars Nationals in Chicago and saw an LS3 powered Fiero at the show. I was really impressed - to the point where I have contacted them to see if it was feasible to use one of their kits in a Corvair.

A bit late, here:
The firewall does at least a couple of things:
* it acts as a fire stopper if things go bad
* it controls airflow and heat coming from engine area into the driver's space.
* hopefully it will absorb some noise, or at least not act like a drum or loudspeaker to blast the engine noise into the driver's ears.
* it may even add to the car's structure - for example, it may tie the sides of the car together and make it less prone to twisting.

As a fire stopper, mild steel is plenty good enough. Sheet aluminum night be ok, especially if you have insulating stuff on the engine side of things.
My car actually uses plywood right now. Sounds bogus, but if you consider that wood buildings stand up longer in a fire than steel buildings do, maybe not too bad.

The structural aspect tends to conflict with accessibility - you'll want some of it removable so you can service the beast.
You can make it structural and removable, that just adds some weight and requires some thought to do it well.

How's it coming?

I used 5/16th" aluminum plate, made the template out of cardboard and had a welder cut and fab it. Used duz fasteners to hold in place, covered engine side with stick on black mat and heat barrier over that. Aluminum gets warm to the touch but not hot, still need to cover outside with sound proofing and carpet. Tried posting pics but it wouldn't submit.
Gord