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One of the first things I wanted to do after
getting the car starting and stopping like it suppose to was addressing
the cowl leak. I removed the heater and driver side fresh air vent to evaluate
the problem. I could not get over the amount of leaves and trash stuffed inside
the cowl. After removing a small bag of leaves by hand and using a shop vac
I thought I had about 90% of the leaves removed, wrong...only got 50% if that
much. After driving a
block or two down the road I turned around to head back home to vacuum more leaves. I did this 3
more times before blowing compressed air around the vent chimneys. I expected to
find a rusted out cowl but I found only one 1/4" hole. I hit the rust with
a wire wheel and painted on a couple
good coats of Rust Bullet and Por15 putty took care of the rest of the problem.
This sure beat removing the windshield and drill out spot welds to remove the
cowl to get to the area for repair.
While the heater was out I decided to rebuild the
heater box and replace the heater core. To my surprise the Ford part number was
still visible on the heater hoses with the original tower clamps and the core was never
replaced. The heater box had a broken corner around
the cowl opening. I used Permatex epoxy to glue the piece back together and
sanded down the glue with a Dremel. The
driver side vent cable was broken so I made another mount from thin angle stock and an
aftermarket choke cable.
Jumping ahead a few month later...I removed
the lower dash and installed a package tray from a 71 Grabber. Now I didn't have
the dash vents to close off the outside air. I swapped to an early style heater
box that used a door. This heater box was broken also and was repaired with Permatex epoxy and reinforced with a metal (tin license plate) on the inside of
the box. The plastic rivets holding the register broke when I tried to remove them so I used small
machine screws to replace the rivets. I used the Dremel to file extra clearance
on the door to clear the nuts.
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Leaves Removed by
Hand |
More Leaves |
Original Heater Hose |
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New Heater Box
Seal |
Broken Heater Box |
Prepping Heater
Box |
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Cleaned & Clamped
together |
Epoxy Glued
Together |
Sanded and Painted |
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Ready to Repair
Rust |
1/4" Rust Hole |
Preserved with
Rust Bullet |
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Sealed with Por15
Putty |
Scrap Angle Stock |
Making a Mount |
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Cable End |
Fresh Air Vent Cable |
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