E body Convertible Inner wheelhouses

[scottylack]

Are the wheel houses on e bodies different between the convertible and the hardtop? Just wondering looking to purchase wheelhouses

 

[rklein71]

Looks like there is a cap over the inner wheel house to strengthen the structure. Attached is a picture of a 71 Barracuda wheelhouse.

 

[rklein71]

Picture inside of unmolested inner wheelhouse.

 

[challenger6pak]

The cap is so the convertible top frame will sit in the well.

 

[DetMatt1]

The cap is so the convertible top frame will sit in the well.

Agreed. You'll notice they appear shorter.

 

[rklein71]

Is it possible the wheelhouses started out the same and then the convertible wheelhouses were trimmed down and the cap place over the top?

 

[DetMatt1]

Not for production purposes. These cars parts were stamped out and assembled.

 

[rklein71]

Not for production purposes. These cars parts were stamped out and assembled.

I guess I was thinking that maybe they were trimmed down, just like a floor board for four speed cars that were trimmed down and the tunnel fit over the rough cut....

 

[challenger6pak]

Manual transmission floors were not cut out by hand. The floor was stamped. There were 2 floors stamped by the factory; auto and manual shift. If you see a rough cut, it is not factory.

 

[rklein71]

Manual transmission floors were not cut out by hand. The floor was stamped. There were 2 floors stamped by the factory; auto and manual shift. If you see a rough cut, it is not factory.

Just going by memory. I have had two four speed cars, one a 69 383-s and a 71 340 Cuda, both without a doubt original four speed cars. As I recall, both seemed to have rather rude openings for the hump. I have been wrong before.

 

[challenger6pak]

Think about it this way. You are going to build several thousand cars with a manual transmission. Do you stop the assembly line to cut a floor hole in each one or do you stamp 2 floors. Stamping two floors is the efficient way to go.

 

[rklein71]

Cutting a standard floor pan is what is put out in Mopar Big-Block A-Body 4-Speed Conversion , so I am not completely alone in this thought. I copied the following from their website.

Four speed cars require a special floorboard hump alongside the trans tunnel to clear the shift rods and the shifter. This is because the floor shift linkage runs over the top of the torsion bar / trans mount cross member, basically through an area that is currently part of the passenger compartment of an automatic car. From the factory, these floor humps were stamped steel pieces that were welded to the regular floorboard after an appropriately sized hole was cut out of a common floor pan. Any automatic to four-speed conversion will require cutting a hole and adding a hump extension. The hump's size and shape varied from platform to platform as well as year-to-year in some cases. Depending on the year and platform of the car, you will either have to procure an original hump cut from a donor car or find a fiberglass or steel reproduction. Of course, if you are handy with sheet metal, you can fabricate your own.

 

[challenger6pak]

I'll see if I can get a pic of a factory one tomorrow. You will see the smooth lines.

 

[moper]

The inner wheel houses are unique parts. But I'm fairly sure you can make the HT ones work by trimming away the excess.
On the floor - there were only autos made. It is MUCH les expensive to stamp and warehouse and catalog one part, than two. The holes were cut by hand with an abrasive wheel, and the hump was welded (in 1" beads) around the perimeter, and then seam sealed. Least all the ones I've seen were.