Tip: "childproofing" the firewall

.... in this case, child is, uh, me!!!

after one rather nasty cut and several smaller cuts from the stainless steel edges of the firewall, i decided i needed to do something about it. my first idea was to get some of those term paper covers and use the plastic spines, which would have worked, but been fairly expensive. then i discovered that home & aircraft depot sells ~1/4" o.d. plastic tubing -- 25 feet for 1.97, so i bought that, split it, and put it over the edges. a little strapping tape at various intervals to hold it in place, and i was able to handle the firewall all afternoon yesterday without any more cuts.

i know, i know: "real men don't need to put plastic on the edges of their firewalls." but in case you want to, i found that the easiest way to slit the tubing was to make one snip with a pair of scissors, then jam them in like you're going to make another snip, and pull the split end towards you. when i tried to use the utility knife, it kept spiraling (besides the risk of cutting myself, which as you can imagine, is very real for a klutz like me.)

Or you could just debur the edges. You'll have to do it eventually anyway. Steel is harder to debur, but it's still possible to knock down the sharp edges.

Davepar said:

Or you could just debur the edges. You'll have to do it eventually anyway. Steel is harder to debur, but it's still possible to knock down the sharp edges.

Click to expand...

Just knock the edges smooth using a small scotchbrite wheel in a die grinder or a fast cordless drill... They make cylinders a couple inches long and around for holes and edges.

Masking tape

Debur and put some masking tape on the edge. Just don't leave the tape on too many months! If you do leave masking tape on too long lacquer thinner takes off the tape residue.