Tranny Tunnel Sheet Metal Repair

Just picked up a ‘55 CJ5 and working with the kids to clean it up.

I am repairing some old “battle damage” in the sheet metal for the tunnel and firewall. Lots of self drilling screws were used to cover rust holes with plastic.
I could use some reference pictures for the metal around the steering column.

Are the mounting holes really 7/16? All the nut plates are 1/4-20.
There seems to be a flange between the upper and lower pieces. Does the upper piece fully engage the flange?

I have been sanding the little holes clear for welding up and “gently” adjusting the bent metal to fit.

 

The flange is just visible in the throttle pedal region. There is about 1/2” of ‘flange” where the top plate could slide down. Doing so makes the overlap worse at the brake inspection port. Before I start cutting, I just want the fit to be about right.

 

Are the floor plates from a M38A1 the same as those in an early CJ5?

 

The parts you have there don't look bad at all. All of those small holes could be filled for sure. I wouldn't cut anything off that until after you bolt it in a couple times.

 

Similar nuts to the factory ones are available. I used 1/4 - 20 nuts with a shoulder to weld to the bottom where the factory nuts were missing. They work well.

 

I bought some weld nuts to replace the few that are lost. Some of the holes have strange shapes that I will clean up and make round again. I am looking for some pictures of the drivers side area so I can fix the patchwork of self drilling screws and scrap metal.

 

Thanks Howard,

I was pretty sure they were the same, and know where I can get a NOS M38A1 floor plate which I was considering for my CJ5. The plate in my CJ5 is a little rough on one side where wet trash in the floor caused some rust damage, it could be fixed but if the M38A1 plate will work I will just get that to save some time I can use for other work on the Jeep.

I didn't want to hijack the thread, but if mine looked as good as the one Joseph has I would repair it as he is doing.

 

Here's a bunch of pictures of the floorboards in my mostly original (and drity) '69:













Let me know if you need something more specific.

 

Thanks, that is a big help. Somehow I could not find anything like that in the service manual or the rebuild guides.
Spent a few hours plugging the small holes and making the big holes round.
I am curious about the horseshoe shaped folded metal in the middle. I ground a similar one off the other side.

 

My throttle pedal was hinged from the bottom, pushing a rod through the firewall to a bell crank. The hinge was attached to the floor with 3 sheet metal screws. That does not seem to match the pictures above.

 

There were a couple different pedals through the years. The early ones (and maybe all 4 cylinders? I'm not sure) used a bottom hinged metal pedal:


Most V6s like had the pedal top hinged on the firewall and floating in space with a plastic pad like my '69 I took the photos of:


And the 71 (and maybe 70?) V6s had a bottom hinged rubber pedal that pushed on a similar hinged linkage to the earlier V6 ones. This is my '71:

 

This shows the drain

 

Can confirm, my '70 has this pedal arrangement. Frankly I hate it, just haven't been motivated to change it as of yet.

 

These comments and pictures have been very helpful. I will figure out a repair for the drains.
I just took this picture of the tub where the covers will go.

None of the tub holes have a weld nut. The holes on the firewall will be hard to weld to because the engine is still in place.
Questions:

1. Is there supposed to be weld nuts on the tub? If so, I will install 1/4-20 rivnuts.
2. Also, there is a patch over the steering column. Is that a oem patch or a bad fix?
3. Lastly, am I missing a bolt on the bell housing?