Well there are a few problems with this clutch setup, and the ripped firewall was the result of me letting it go for too long. Here is the setup. FRPP Heavy Duty cltuch. Steeda quadrant, firewall adjuster and adjustable cable.
Two weeks ago I replaced the Steeda adjustable cable, with an Autozone non adjustable cable. I replaced the cable for two reasons. 1. The pedal was extremly hard to push in (Everyone that drives it or trys to drive it complains about it. It is so hard that it hurts my back and leg after awhile, and when you go to push on it your but slides back into the seat and up the back rest a bit)
2. for the past few weeks b4 I replaced the cable I had to keep taking slack out of the cable via the firewall adjuster. I finally ran out of room on the firewall adjuster and the cable below. Upon inspection of the cable I found the the plastic outer shield had split by the bell housing. So I figured that the cable was comressing when i pressed on the clutch pedal, and this was causing the poor adjustment of the clutch. So I replaced the cable and I was very happy. The hard clutch pedal was gone and everything was working great.
Well that lasted for about a week. I checked out the cable this weekend and it looked fine. So i took my firewall adjuster out and I really had to pry on it to get it out. Once it was removed I notice how the firewall was badly damaged.
I was thinking about this more and I think that the problem is with the firewall adjuster. With the stock setup you have the rubber bushing between the cable and the firewall, but with the Steeda setup you just have the firewall adjuster resting on the firewall. With the stock setup the rubber bushing dampens the pressure applied to the firewall and it spreads it out on the firewall more. With the Steeda setup the pressure is put directly on the firewall right by the hole where there isn't much metal. I think this may have caused the split fire wall.
Finally upon inspecting my firewall adjuster I notice that there were grooves worn into it, from the cable rubbing threw it. Unfortantly since the firewall cracked, the adjuster is not sitting level and this is causing the cable to rub the adjuster inside of the car and cut grooves into it.
I plan on fixing this properly by welding up the cracks and rips in the old firewall and then by welding in either a piece of 12 gauge steel or two peices of 18 gauge on top of the firewall. However, I want to know why it ripped. I don't want to do all this work and have the firewall break again. Also to do this I am going to have to take the upper intake off and possilbe the brake booster to get in there with the welder. Ideally I would like to pull the motor to get in there.