I've been searching, but can't find any examples.

Has anybody modded the firewall to move the engine back a few inches?

 

There's a lot more involved than just the firewall.

Moving the engine back also means the transmission. Engine mounts and tranny mounts need to be relocated. The driveshaft needs to be shortened.

I use a front and rear motor plate to position my engine. The transmission is simply bolted to the engine with no rear mount. A powerglide isn't very heavy anyway. With motor plates, I can position the engine wherever I wanted to.

I pushed mine back as far as it would go. The front frame rails taper inward behind the engine and my headers limit how far back it would go even with the engine sitting lower than stock. The ideal location is to have the front of the engine inline with the front spindles.

I had a slight modification to the transmission tunnel to access the bellhousing bolts but I'm currently in the process of redoing the whole trans tunnel as a removable piece for much better access.

It's a bad picture but this was my first modification. It wasn't required for the engine setback. It just made accessing the bellhousing bolts easier with a shield over the transmission.

 

i havent done a 3rd gen, but i did do it to an s-10. i ran into many of the issues Alky mentioned. i remember having to buy a gas pedal kit too. i eventually notched some angle around the cut out in the firewall/floor/tranns tunnel, welded it, then made a removeable piece like a dog house in a van.

heres some old pics;

 

Quite a bit of work, this was 2 inchs with a ls1.

 

Thanks for the replies so far.

 

Not a F-body, but another way to do it...



Just cut the entire center of the floor and firewall out...



...then trimmed 10" off the back of the removed section and welded it back in...



A couple simple flat sheets of 18ga seal the sides up front. It was easy to simply slip then in place and trace the outline of the existing sheetmetal to trim to the final shape...



It's a street car and i live in WA state. No problems at all from not having a heater or defroster, as the heat from the bare firewall is plenty to keep the windshield clear of fog even when driving late at nite.

Here's a link to the rest of that car's build... http://tntrc.com