Front Vent....

Discussion in 'Technical' started by brettmoyer, Oct 27, 2014.

  1. brettmoyer

    brettmoyer Member

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    1972 ford maverick
    I have sticks, leaves, and dirt in my vent/cowl that is right behind the hood. There is no way to unbolt it or anything, people have told me I have to pull my dash apart. The idea that my dad and I have is to just cut a rectangle out in the engine compartment to get everything out, and make it so that you can bolt a nice looking cover over the hole that we would be cutting. What would be the best way to take care of this problem?
     
  2. Mavman72

    Mavman72 Gone backwards but lookin' forward

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    If you have a non air con' car, you can remove the driverside vent assembly and reach up in the hole. Pulling the dash will not help you clear the cowl area of debris. What may help ...Remove the front fenders (Easier than removing the dash) There is a drain hole on each side at the end of the cowl. You can blow compressed air or flush water through the drain on one side to wash the debris out the other side. The cowl does not disassemble on these cars without a spot weld cutter...Good luck!!
     
  3. Craig Selvey

    Craig Selvey Indiana State Rep - MCCI

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    Do a search on here for a technical article I wrote about cowl vents.
     
  4. rthomas771

    rthomas771 Member

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    I use a shop vac and an old antenna between the slots in the vent to move the debris around so the vac could do its job. Compressed air helps to un-stick the debris too. I didn't remove the fenders but I did remove the heater to be able to get my hand in the cowl. It took three good cleanings before I got things cleaned out
     
  5. 71gold

    71gold Frank Cooper Supporting Member

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    I removed the heater box, reached up inside the cowl and removed the debris. using compressed air to blow it to the pass. side. (3 plastic bags full).
     
  6. COMETIZED

    COMETIZED Member

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    Read your post ... I'm dealing with a similar situation here in Florida. After removing the Air Vent on the Drivers side we discovered the area behind the vent was " stuffed" with debris ..allowing only a trickle of water to enter and drain onto the drivers side floor .. A hole had resulted and we've patched the hole along with all the others we discovered along the way. There was so much accumulated debris in the cowl area that it impeded the flow of water ..I said all of that to say "this" .. Is your cowl area LEAKING ?? I'd suggest you pour a gallon or so of water onto the windshield area and the cowl area and inspect the underside of the dash for leaks. I've repaired several cowl areas successfully by cutting a rectangular opening under the fenders and re-welding after debris was removed and repairs were made. There are several options of repairs and I've listed one of them on my website if you're interested . www.cameoclub.com .

    I wish you success:
    Cometized
    (Chip)
     
  7. 71gold

    71gold Frank Cooper Supporting Member

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    I bought a car once cheap because the "cowl was leaking". it turned out the cowl was full of pine needles and they were stacked up above the vent opening. this let water wick through the straw into the floorboard...
     
  8. Moneymaker 1

    Moneymaker 1 Green Street Beasts

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    There are actually 2 holes to access the cowl area if you take off the fender, on has a rubber plug/bump on it, I removed it on mine and sent my inspection camera in it and discovered it was full of debris, as Frank said if it's piled up in there enough, it will wick over the hat/stack inside and come through that way, hope you get lucky with it just being full of debris.
     

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