So I've got water coming into my passenger floor pan...... Vents are sealed by previous owner although obviously that doesn't stop all the water. I have a gaping hole under the dash on my passenger side. Anyway to repair or seal it off without taking out the windshield and doing an all out metal fabrication bit? What dies the cowl look like under there? Are there those stove pipes on both driver and passenger side? Where is the cowl suppose to drain? And if I seal it all off am I hurting anything? Any tips or tricks appreciated. Passenger floor pan was previously repaired and I don't want it rotting out again. Thanks guys.
OK so I looked under my dash.....easy for me since under the dash has all been removed anyways lol. Well I found huge gaping holes where the cowl little pipes use to be. Rust ate them to pieces and about 3 inches all the way around them. There is no sign there ever was a cowl in there on either side. Read on here that not only do the vents go there but the wiper motor heads and some weep holes in the windshield. Is it possible to seal those until I can get these repaired. Not even sure how I would repair them........they are probably 8" rust holes where they use to be lol. Thanks
Well....do you have to ask yourself: do you have time to do it right, or do you have time to do it over?
Well right now the big thing is getting it sealed. I need to get the car on the road as soon as I can and I don't have the fabrication skills to fix it the correct way. I don't want it to stay leaking for another year and rot the floor boards out again and be a wind funnel. I'm gonna make an attempt to repair the sheet metal from under the dash but make it solid without the little stove pipes. I was thinking maybe I could patch it up under the dash and somehow get something waterproof like bed liner poured in the cowl area to seal any pin holes up........anyone ever done anything like that before?
This is what mine looked like after I first removed the top of the cowl - 2 vents for a non AC car and only a passenger side vent on an AC car - I replaced both top hats and several sections of cowl
My cowels began to leak so I removed the fender made a cut around the vents and made my repair using bondo. Cant say many would agree on how I went about doing it but I live in Oregon and it hasnt leaked yet
Not only is the cowl an area prone to leaks and rust, it is also a very integral part of the car's structure. Your leak may be fixed, but the car isn't. Just my two-cents. I was unfortunate to have to deal with this issue, but I was very fortunate to have lots of help from this board and will soon be driving my car worry and leak free. It would make most people sick to their stomachs to know just how flimsy the car is without the A-pillars being held together by the lower cowl pan.
i would suggest spraying the inner cowl area with this http://www.eastwood.com/internal-frame-coating-w-spray-nozzle-qt.html then put some metal patch panels over the gaping holes. if you cant weld i would get some aluminum and cut it to cover the holes with about 1" over lap and use some silicone sealant as a glue and glue them over the holes. the rust coating spray should stop or reduce the rate of rusting and the covers should be water tight with the sealant.
I used the Eastwood Internal Frame Coating in many places, with and without the extension tubing - great stuff
When I did mine I took off the fenders, cut off just the ends of the cowls, and worked through there. Then welded the ends back on. I did it that way because the car was already painted.
Its gonna get new sheet metal just not welded in water tight. Let the sealent and adhesive take care of that
