Palmer Moe-par 68
Well-Known Member
One part of my car that still has rust is the cowl. It is only in the two low spots where the heater box and vent connect. I suspect it is a combination of the mice that were living in there, and since that is where water could sit.
luckily, the lower cowl on my parts car was much nicer, but since it is a real pain to take the whole panel off, I have to patch in the two sides.
Since both patches are complicated shapes, I have to get creative about what method I will use to make the piece fit the car right. I decided to use aluminum tape to create a template, using the duct hole as the reference point. Here is the template placed on the area I will be putting on the car:
Then here it is transferred to the existing lower cowl panel and outlined in sharpie:
I then can cut both pieces and in theory, they should fit perfect. Well, they sort of did. It was close enough that I was able to continue with not much extra work and I got the cowl patches welded in to place. You almost cannot tell it was repaired!
Just to be sure that I got both sides to go in right, I mocked up the heater box and vent to make sure they still fit right. Better to find out now than when it is all painted.
Both sides have the right amount of gap for the gaskets and seals that are supposed to live there. The drivers side gets an 1/8 in foam seal and the passenger side gets an inch tall rubber gasket. I think that went well.
-Mr.Moe-par
luckily, the lower cowl on my parts car was much nicer, but since it is a real pain to take the whole panel off, I have to patch in the two sides.
Since both patches are complicated shapes, I have to get creative about what method I will use to make the piece fit the car right. I decided to use aluminum tape to create a template, using the duct hole as the reference point. Here is the template placed on the area I will be putting on the car:
Then here it is transferred to the existing lower cowl panel and outlined in sharpie:
I then can cut both pieces and in theory, they should fit perfect. Well, they sort of did. It was close enough that I was able to continue with not much extra work and I got the cowl patches welded in to place. You almost cannot tell it was repaired!
Just to be sure that I got both sides to go in right, I mocked up the heater box and vent to make sure they still fit right. Better to find out now than when it is all painted.
Both sides have the right amount of gap for the gaskets and seals that are supposed to live there. The drivers side gets an 1/8 in foam seal and the passenger side gets an inch tall rubber gasket. I think that went well.
-Mr.Moe-par
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