Has anyone here actually repaired cowl rust damage? What is the best method to go about this? I read on the main site about drilling out the welds, this just makes most of my car look like swiss cheese. After doing the driver's side, we've been using an air chisel to separate the body panels, seems to be working ok but it bends the body panels a bit. Is it generally easier to remove the entire cowl or remove it in sections the same way it was put together? In attempting to remove the top of the cowl from the bottom we discovered just how flimsy a piece of trash it is. The current plan is to remove the entire cowl as one piece. Has anyone else had the windshield frame rust out on the top of the cowl? A good 2 foot section of the windshield frame came off with the rubber seal.
Check out this link. http://maverick.to/cowl_faq.php There was also an article in Shorthorns a while back. Use the search feature on the board and type in cowl repair, cowl, cowl rust, etc... Good luck! -Corbin
A good person to contact about this is MavMark. He did this and did a profil on what was involved. E-mail him. I think he has it on his web site (maverickcomet.com)
74merc...you have mail! I have a few pages that I have created dealing with the cowl removal and repair..as well as the other things you will have to do, like removing the fenders, windshield and dash board. Here is a link to the main page: http://www.maverickcomet.com/TechArticles/TechArticles.asp
Thanks for the input guys. I've seen the cowl repair articles on maverick.to and maverickcomet.com. They help, but there are always little bits of info that you don't realize you need until you get started. I'll get it eventually... and floorpans, and cut the rust from the driver's fender... and door... and rebuild the engine... and tweak the AOD for the new engine... and rearend to go with it all... Well, by the time I'm done my kids will have a nice car to inherit from me... lol
one more question... I notice on the maverick.to cowl faq it shows a cowl duct on the driver's side as well as the passenger side. my 74 has a hole on the driver's side, but it doesn't appear to be rusted duct, just a hole. The only duct that appears factory on my car is on the passenger side going directly into the heater/AC assembly. Anyone know for sure? I don't have any vents under the dash like some older model cars. It does have factory AC. Duh, just read it. Factory AC does not have the driver's side vent.
cowl repair info my son has the identical 74 merc as you. he also shares the same water leaks as you did you have to take the windshield out to get the dash out or am i missing a magic screw that holds that dash in. did the spray undercoating work on the leaks. i will welcome any advice about this problem. i had a 73 mustang with a similar problem but i was able to take the dash out and glass the entire vent area. thanks ed b
Ummm, you have to take the windshield out to get the dash out, and um... this post is from 2004......if you start a new post you'll get better results.
