I have just about finished replacing my floor but not sure if i need to weld on this old bracket or not? I'm thinking the later model floor is slightly different as my replacement pans dont have quiet the same shape where this bracket is mounted like the old floor did...

I really cant remember sine it is a while since i took the car apart but is this bracket for the dash or the center console to mount to or something else?

Also, I am putting in a 4th gen dash (as you can see in the pic) and 4th gen console, but are there supposed to be any brackets (other than this one) up front here where the dash meets the console? What is the front of the console supposed to affix to? Just the bottom of the dash?

One other question, I have removed the shifter bracket from the red line forward on the second pic (I didnt remove too much did I?) but how does the lower shifter boot work? i am putting in a T56, should I use a 4th gen lower shifter boot? How do they attach to the floor? Screws or something? I'm assuming they go on the inside of the car right?

Thanks in advance folks!

 

im pretty sure thats for the radio to bolt in place. when i put my alpine radio in, i had to cut that bracket out...im not too sure, if it really is for the radio cuz my car had a different radio in it when i bought it.

but ive seen those brackets in a new holland tractor i had to replace the radio in, it bolted into the rear of the radio like that so that it didnt bounce loose.

 

I believe that bracket is used for the VATS or air bag module that later 3rd-gens have.

The factory manual trans cars have an extra thick piece of metal around the shifter opening that provides a little extra "meat" for the shift boot screws to go into. You can probably get by without it but just make sure you don't over tighten the screws.

 

Thanks guys, i'm pretty sure the airbag module mounts on the bracket near the handbrake and I thought that VATS was up inside the dash but I have been wrong before

Can anyone tell me where the front of the console is supposed to mount to and how folks typically secure the lower center of the 4th gen dash?

Thanks,
Richard.

 

Anyone else?

 

I did a T56 swap in my car, so i can speak to that part. I cut at the same spot you did on the shifter bracket, and wish I had left a little more. the center console (3rd an 4th gen) use the back of that bracket as a 3rd mounting point (the other 2 are inside the console storage box). I'll have to weld a piece of angle steel in its place, I went last year without it and the center console wasn't too loose but it would be good to have that third mount.

For the lower shifter boot, I actually used it to determine where to cut my shifter hole and the size of it. I created a small hole at first to find the center of the stick and then layed the lower shifter boot in position... traced the outside of it and then drew an offset outline inside of it about 3/4 of an inch or so for the final hole I cut. Then I piloted very small holes through the sheetmetal floor and screwed it down. The metal is pretty thin, so like said above you don't want to crank down on the screws too hard or it'll strip right out. Overall I'm happy with how well it's held on by the 10 or so screws it takes.

 

Thanks man! That helps a lot. Do you happen to also know what the bracket in the first pic is? It could be for the radio as was suggested above...

 

I'm glad i could help. Sorry, but i don't know what the bracket is for. It doesn't exist in my 84 T/A. I've seen a stud welded near that location in later 3rd gen firebirds in junkyards and it was a mount for a bracket that connected to the radio pod. It was definitely a stud and not a welded in bracket like that though, and it was over to the right and rearward just a little bit.

I'm almost certain that it isn't a center console mount and you probably won't have any use for it with your 4th gen dash and console swap, so don't sweat it