Relocated the computer
03-05-2006, 10:23 AM
#1
Relocated the computer
Well I got some new tires and mounted them on the truck yesterday. I had already trimmed one of the fenders, and marked the others for trimming. And before putting the tires on I knew I would need to remove the computer and hammer in the firewall to make room for the tires.
Once the weather warms up I'll be cutting out the corners of the firewall and tubbing them with some new sheet metal which should give me enough room for the tires without any rubbing. But I found out that I already have part of it cutout from rust. The pinch weld had rusted out right in front of the computer. And the computer wires and connecters had a good coating of road salt on them. And now the hole is even bigger after taking the hammer to it.
So I knew the computer needed to be remounted. First to get it away from the open hole in my firewall. But also now because it no longer would bolt up to the stock location after hammering the firewall back. I did some searching and found that alot of people put the computer in their glove box. I didn't like this idea and wanted to do somthing cleaner.
I looked it at for awhile, and found that I could fit it behind the glove box. I had to remove a tab from the heating air ducting, the tab looked like it served no purpose at all. Then I took a piece of aluminum flat stock and made a simple mounting bracket. I drilled a hole on one end, and slotted the other end. You can see the bolts I used to mount it. I reused one of the stock mounting tabs on the top of the computer and marked on the new bracket where it needed to bolt up to. Took it off again and drilled the hole.
It worked out perfect and the glove box bolted back up with out any problems. I do plan to make another bracket to support the computer on the side as well. That one will require some bending, not a big deal though.
Here are two pictures of the computer and the mounting bracket. Same picture actually, just one is a cropped closeup of the mount.
Once the weather warms up I'll be cutting out the corners of the firewall and tubbing them with some new sheet metal which should give me enough room for the tires without any rubbing. But I found out that I already have part of it cutout from rust. The pinch weld had rusted out right in front of the computer. And the computer wires and connecters had a good coating of road salt on them. And now the hole is even bigger after taking the hammer to it.
So I knew the computer needed to be remounted. First to get it away from the open hole in my firewall. But also now because it no longer would bolt up to the stock location after hammering the firewall back. I did some searching and found that alot of people put the computer in their glove box. I didn't like this idea and wanted to do somthing cleaner.
I looked it at for awhile, and found that I could fit it behind the glove box. I had to remove a tab from the heating air ducting, the tab looked like it served no purpose at all. Then I took a piece of aluminum flat stock and made a simple mounting bracket. I drilled a hole on one end, and slotted the other end. You can see the bolts I used to mount it. I reused one of the stock mounting tabs on the top of the computer and marked on the new bracket where it needed to bolt up to. Took it off again and drilled the hole.
It worked out perfect and the glove box bolted back up with out any problems. I do plan to make another bracket to support the computer on the side as well. That one will require some bending, not a big deal though.
Here are two pictures of the computer and the mounting bracket. Same picture actually, just one is a cropped closeup of the mount.
03-05-2006, 11:02 AM
#2
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Location: Oswego County, NY (no, not near NYC)
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Nice find! I think I just might do the same in the spring. I've got the same rusted pinch-weld problem. What size tires are you putting on?
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