Is this a stock firewall pad?, What else in the engine bay looks bad? Options

[Slick914]

As some of you know, I just bought this car a couple weeks ago. I'm seriously looking into doing a facelift on the car such as new paint, some interior, and detailing the engine bay. I pretty much know what needs to be done body and interior wise. Now I'm trying to determine what the engine bay will need. I'm not going for an original resto, and plan on keeping the carbs. I'm thinking it may just need a battery tray and painted. Some of the wiring looks ugly, so maybe that can be straightened up. Is that firewall pad stock or something that was added? Everything seems solid as far as rust goes. What looks bad to you guys?

[Slick914]

Thanks for the explinations. I now have a better idea of how these things work. Like I said, I'm not going for a correct restoration, just want things to work and look neat. If the heater blower is all that I find that needs hooked up, I'll wire it up separately with it's own fuse and relay if need be.

What was the purpose of the relay? I'm assuming that the red heater lever in the center console provides a ground when pulled back all the way? Would this then activate the relay to provide power to the blower? Why can't you just run a constant hot wire to the blower itself and then the switched ground wire from the red lever?