Paul Masson's 71 Grabber

Looks all too familiar!

 

X2!

I also had trouble not blowing throught the cowl where the side brackets were spot welded, even with depth control. The metal is just very thin there and when they welded it, the metal distorted slightly and sometimes I would end up cutting a half circle in it. Most of my issues were probably operator error since I am very new to body work.:16suspect

 

I'm not new to it, but I'm not that good at it, either.

Hopefully I can get this all fixed without butchering it up too much.

 

what are you going to use to repair it?

 

Thanks for the dedication to update the progress.

Somehow I missed the questions back on page one or two. After the vinegar I wiped it clean with brake cleaner and sanded anew.

I am amazed at the poor condition of your cowl considering the overall great condition of the car. It was a worthy car before and will be double worthwhile with the attention that you are giving it now.

Keep up the great work.

 

I'm going to use paper/cardboard to make patterns to cut out of 18ga sheet metal. I'll weld the "pans" in, then make the "vents", weld them in and then cut the holes. Everything (roof, floors, interior of cowl) will be coated in POR15.

Thanks Steven! I was surprised to find out just how bad the cowl was, too. It certainly has derailed my cruising plans for THIS summer As we all know, once you crack into an old car, you start finding lots of other things to fix/freshen-up. I had a hard time stopping where I did. It has gone from a cowl repair to an almost full-on restoration. I still plan on retaining the original paint and stripes on the exterior.

I have a new vinyl top, and all new seals/gaskets, etc for the engine and trans along with a bunch of other parts to add detail and clean up the 42+ year old items.

 

We warned you.

 

I figured it was going to be the "Keeping Original Paint" comment that would have made your Maverick-senses tingle...

 

I am thankful my cowl and my entire car is practically rust free..

 

so you're going to roll some sheet metal into a fat tube?

 

I'll cut the metal into strips and then wrap them around a 6-inch diameter "something" and weld the ends together. That's the "hat" part.

The rest is what is going to take some time to fab up.

 

I always picture me using a Folgers coffee can lol..

 

Small Update

I have decided to take an OEM approach to fixing my rusty cowl panels. I have posted a "wanted" ad to see if there are any RUST-FREE donor panels that I can get my hands on for a reasonable price.

http://mmb.maverick.to/showthread.php?t=94318

After getting some wind back in my sails and a box full of POR-15 products, I finally got back out in the garage and started preparing all the areas that will be sealed with POR-15.

 

If my project car had floors like that, I'd be done by now. Follow the instructions for the Por15, Marine Clean, Metal Ready, then Por15....and wear gloves! It'll take days to come of your skin...I love the stuff, no matter what some say, it's worked very well for me, with no issues.

 

That floor looks pretty good.