Large firewall reinforcing kit [E3TZ-7K509-B] - NOS ?

[Gary Lewis]

Maybe Ron/reamer could make them?

[salans7]

Gary Lewis wrote

Maybe Ron/reamer could make them?

Probably, but this gives me a reason to buy tools I don't have, since I keep having to make parts for the truck, like the blend door I made last week because mine was rusted out.

[Rembrant]

salans7 wrote

I'm thinking that they're out of Terrapin stock and so they no longer have these available. I've sent an email inquiry as to the status of these, and will report back if I receive a reply.

Terrapin himself (Jason?) commented on FB a week or two ago that he thought he still had one left. Somebody may have grabbed it already...not sure.

I thought the JBG braces were made by somebody else though, no?

[salans7]

Rembrant wrote

Terrapin himself (Jason?) commented on FB a week or two ago that he thought he still had one left. Somebody may have grabbed it already...not sure.

I thought the JBG braces were made by somebody else though, no?

I asked Jason to confirm whether the ones sold by JBG were made by him, or from another supplier and his response was along the lines of "JBG can kick rocks if that answers your question". So either they resold what they bought from him, or they copied his design and have somebody else making them. But the latter doesn't really explain why they're out of stock unless they are really in demand, which judging by what Jason has said, they are not in high demand. So I've sent JBG an email asking if they will have some more within the next couple of weeks. We'll see what they have to say.

[salans7]

Here is the response I received. I have my opinion on what happened but will let you guys decide on your own.

[salans7]

Well it looks like JBG has the braces back in stock. The way they ship them leaves alot to be desired, but the bracket itself seems to be of decent quality. I'll find out in a little bit if there's any issues with fitment.  

How the box came, no packing material at all.

[Gary Lewis]

Wow!  That's pretty poor.  

I'll bet there has to be some massaging of the truck to get it to fit.  But it didn't take much.

[salans7]

Gary Lewis wrote

Wow!  That's pretty poor.  

I'll bet there has to be some massaging of the truck to get it to fit.  But it didn't take much.

I am definitely gonna have to massage the firewall to get the bottom of the bracket to slide towards the trans tunnel. Need to move the bottom over at least an 1/8", maybe a little more. Basically the same thing you had to do, so I'm gonna go back through Big Blue's build thread and find the section where you installed yours.

[Rembrant]

salans7 wrote

I am definitely gonna have to massage the firewall to get the bottom of the bracket to slide towards the trans tunnel. Need to move the bottom over at least an 1/8", maybe a little more. Basically the same thing you had to do, so I'm gonna go back through Big Blue's build thread and find the section where you installed yours.

I had the same issue with the Terrapin brace by the way. The pic below shows how well it fit my firewall out of the box. The bracket was well made, and I'm sure fit some trucks just fine, but not mine.



I took a little different approach and rather than make the firewall fit the brace, I modified the brace to fit my firewall. I basically cut the right angle piece off the side, and then trimmed both pieces until they fit snugly into place. I bolted both of them in, tacked them together, and then removed it again to finish welding. By the time I was done with grinding and paint, you couldn't even tell that the brace was ever touched. I didn't take many pictures unfortunately, but I do have this one after welding.



It seems like a lot of work compared to a couple well placed blows with a hammer, but it wasn't so bad.

Another thing to note is I also had to shim the upper right angled piece that bolts into the trough under the cowl panel. All bolted in place on my truck, that part of the brace was a good 1/8"-3/16" short of touching the cab. I just used flat washers for the shims, and maybe didn't even need to, but this rusty junk is pretty fragile around here and I didn't want to risk bending the trough floor down (instead of the bracket up). A little OCD perhaps...lol, but whatever. Just throwing it out there is all.

[Gary Lewis]

It is interesting that the trucks can be so different.  The Terrapin brace fit Big Blue fairly well - well enough that while I had to be it and the truck a bit, there was no thought of cutting the brace.

I would have thought that the trucks themselves would have been more consistent.  Apparently no.

[salans7]

It's to be expected, but I could very clearly tell where mine was not correctly installed in the press. I did have to grind some of the edges down as well, they were rather sharp and I would rather not be replacing the brake booster and have my hand slip and hit the sharp edges of the brace.