67fastbackshell

Looking back at the rosen auction of unique motorcars i noticed that they cut out the front of the cowl panel. Why did they do this?? Is it so that air trapped in the engine compartment would rush out of the cowl instead of under the car?



I also noticed that they cut out a hole through the passenger shock tower. I assume this was so that they could run the heater hoses, etc through it and provide a cleaner look.

racin66coupe

guess: cowl- no idea. shocktower-VIN?

19stang66

shock tower is probably like you said. To run wires and hoses through. I've seen it done before and it looks pretty good. As for the cowl it's probably for easy cleaning and maybe to help extract hot air.

gcmmustang

Your both right, They said the holes in the cowl reduced engine temp by 20 or 30 degrees. And the hole in the passenger shock tower was for A/C lines.Everyone knows that shocktowers are an impotant part of the stability of the car, and as for the holes in the cowl the jury is still out on that one. I guess this is part of the reason they're not in business anylonger

Adrenolin

I was working on our cowl today and this ran through my head mainly in regards to keeping the cowl clean. As a daily driver you just know crap is gonna find its way in there again. I was thinking it might weaken the structure though. Possibly have a cover thats weather stripped to close them off between cleanings.

gcmmustang

You could do that, but its a lot of work to make both side uniform. My way of thinking is if FORD didn't need to add them, then there's no point in messing up their work. We've found out that the holes really make a big difference in temp. So we don't cut them into the cowl.

67fastbackshell

I'm going with a shelby hood with the original style scoop and vents on both sides of the scoop, so i really dont have much reason to do this. However, i may look into the shock tower modifications.
I dont know if i agree with the Ford didnt do so i shouldnt logic. Times have come a long way since the sixties and there are a lot of upgradesthat are very nice to have.

4reboy

wouldn't water going into the cowl leak out all over the engine bay with those holes? If there were going to do that they should have added an upward angling flap thing to prevent water going out. But I guess if someone is going to pay them tons of money to try to build a car, they wouldn't drive it in the rain anyway.

19stang66

there looks to be a lip on the bottom of the holes and with all of that air being extracted through that area, I don't think water will be entering the bay very easily. Also, this is a picture of a shell. In the end there could be some sort of gasket around the holes.

gooser

looks like a good idea to me.