Nathan123
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2009
- Messages
- 254
- Reaction score
- 2
- Points
- 0
- Location
- Millersburg Pennsylvania
- Vehicle Year
- 1989
- Make / Model
- Ford
- Engine Size
- 2.9 Litre
- Transmission
- Automatic
I posted awhile back about my wet carpets and cleaning out the cowl through the access plates and siliconing all around all the plugs on the firewall and whatnot, but the more I read on here, the more I knew it was the seam that is under the cowl, which is welded on to the body. I also read horror stories of huge rusted holes in the little gutter thing under the cowl, but I decided whatever I ran into I would just deal with the best I could...couldnt get anyworse than it is now. I got the idea from Copykat, after reading his thread about swapping a gen1 for a gen2 cowl. My dad persuaded me that if it could be broken loose on three sides, it could just be bend up toward the windsheild enough to caulk the seam. So thats how I did it. My cowl ended up being extremely clean, with no rust at all as you can see in the picture. If it would have been nasty, I probably would have hit it with undercoat. The sealant that was supposed to seal the seam was laying out in big chunks though.
I didn't remove the fenders, just all the upper bolts. Pulled it out enough to run a grinder with a cutoff wheel on the cowl panel, just above all 5 or 6 spot welds, worked great. Took off the wipers. Then off came the hood and I drilled all 20 some spot welds along the front of the cowl, not going to bad yet. Once it was free, it took some persuasion with a screwdriver and cold chisel, but all three sides popped loose. Then, with my dad's help, we peeled the cowl panel toward the cab and supported it with wood blocks at the ends. Blew all the junk out of the gutter and then caulked the seam, it was tricky, and my hands got scraped up, but at least its done now. I used a tripolymer caulk for rain gutters, it says it can be applied in the rain, under water, or on oily surfaces, and is guaranteed to stick to any metal, wood, or plastic surface-all this for 5 bucks a tube! When it was all done, took out the blocks and pushed the cowl back into place. Put self drilling metal screws back in place of the welds, and notched the rubber weatherstrip for the hood to fit around the screws. There are two small dents, one on each end of the cowl. They're just depressions that sit lower than the fender by about 1/8", not terribly noticable, and it doesn't bother me that much. I would do this again in a minute if my ranger/bronco ii was leaking through the cowl. Hope these pictures work, it's my first time using photobucket.
Here is the cut on the ends of the cowl
Here it is peeled back
This shows how clean the gutter is, and the empty seam on the bottom right.
Here's the caulk I used 5 buck a tube from my ace hardware
I didn't remove the fenders, just all the upper bolts. Pulled it out enough to run a grinder with a cutoff wheel on the cowl panel, just above all 5 or 6 spot welds, worked great. Took off the wipers. Then off came the hood and I drilled all 20 some spot welds along the front of the cowl, not going to bad yet. Once it was free, it took some persuasion with a screwdriver and cold chisel, but all three sides popped loose. Then, with my dad's help, we peeled the cowl panel toward the cab and supported it with wood blocks at the ends. Blew all the junk out of the gutter and then caulked the seam, it was tricky, and my hands got scraped up, but at least its done now. I used a tripolymer caulk for rain gutters, it says it can be applied in the rain, under water, or on oily surfaces, and is guaranteed to stick to any metal, wood, or plastic surface-all this for 5 bucks a tube! When it was all done, took out the blocks and pushed the cowl back into place. Put self drilling metal screws back in place of the welds, and notched the rubber weatherstrip for the hood to fit around the screws. There are two small dents, one on each end of the cowl. They're just depressions that sit lower than the fender by about 1/8", not terribly noticable, and it doesn't bother me that much. I would do this again in a minute if my ranger/bronco ii was leaking through the cowl. Hope these pictures work, it's my first time using photobucket.
Here is the cut on the ends of the cowl
Here it is peeled back
This shows how clean the gutter is, and the empty seam on the bottom right.
Here's the caulk I used 5 buck a tube from my ace hardware