Cowl Question

[SmithKid]

I got my heater box re-sealed and re-painted yesterday, and am poised to re-install it. Thanks, Jeff W. for the helpful link (http://www.joesfalcon.com/address.html (http://www.joesfalcon.com/address.html)) on this sublject.

I am going to stuff my vacuum hose in the cowl to attempt debris removal, but this seems kinda "hit or miss" and am wondering if anyone has come up with a more effective way to accomplish this task short of opening up the cowl.

Suggestions?

Thanks, Gene.

[redfalken]

I have never done mine but I think Pat mentioned a rag on the end of a coat hanger wire when he cleaned his. I think a lot of that stuff is caked on so a vacuum may only get the loose stuff on top. I would suggest scrub around with the rag on the wire and run lots of water through the top to loosen it up.

If I ever do mine, I'm thinking of opening a hole on each end of the cowl, big enough for my forearm to fit through. After cleaning and repair, I would pop rivet a patch over the hole for easy access down the road.

[Luva65wagon]

Gene,

That's never fun. Somebody smart should come up with a tool to make this easier to do. I'll get right on that!

[thumb]


But, yeah, there is no easy way. There are two holes on the left and right side of the cowl. You should at first pull it out onto the drive and blow air ad vacuum as much as you can of anything really loose, then flow water into the vent area and make sure you can get water to flow out from behind the front fenders - on both sides. If you can't you can probably reach these [roughly] 1" holes on the left and right out-board edges of the cowl from the vent holes inside just to make sure you don't have any clogs.

There is about 1" rise of water in the cowl before the water can flow into the cab -- assuming there is no breach in the flanges that rises into the cowl area or anywhere else. Using water and maybe a flexible bottle brush you can get 'er dun without too much hassle. Hate to say it, but it would be nice to have arms that bend in about 4 places to be able to get much up into there.

FWIW, run down to Harbor Freight. They had a bag of various size long flexible spiral brushes -- most you could bend and go from top-side and bottom side.

Suffice it to say, it's never going to be an area you see, and if the car isn't going to be a daily driver, it may be just good enough to make sure the worst of it is cleaned out.

[pbrown]

I pulled my fenders and used a rag on a long wire to fish out the big stuff. Once the fenders are off you'll see the design flaw. There is a small gap for water to run through that is easily clogged. Right above that is a ~1" hole. You can cut that small piece of metal out effectivily extending the hole all the way down.

Use a garden hose and run a steady stream of water into the cowl from the windshield. Maybe jack the left side of the car to work on the right and reverse it to get the other side.

There really is no easy way to get to this area. You need to be creative.

Once it is clean and dry, I coated the inside of the cowl with Eastwood Heavy Duty Anti-Rust. I got it in there from the ends and through the cowl slots. This stuff flows and seals well. It's great if you have small leaks in the cowl to interior. I did and I've been leak free ever since.

http://www.eastwood.com/ew-heavy-duty-anti-rust-13-5-oz.html