OK, how do you get the splash shields off without pulling the fender off? See, once you start, there is no turning back.

 

Were the hell is the splash shields? I thought they would have been just behind the inside fender well.

 

Look behind your front wheel. The water, mud, etc. hits that part that attaches to the fender and the inner wheel well. It's the go-between from your fender to your inner fender just behind your front wheels.

 

Not sure how that helps with the repair then, they say it needs to be removed in order to do the repair. But yet this area is not accessible from what I see, I don't get it.. Hope I did not spend $50 for nothing...!

 

I have not put in the plastic hats, so I am not a resource for information about how to do it, but if the instructions say you need to take off the splash shield to achieve the repair, then you will also need to take off the fender to get to the connection points for the splash shield. The original hats go from top down, so unless these plastic hats do the same, I am not sure how some glue will make that repair last. Not being negative at all. I just don't get how this patch works, especially over the long haul.

 

im gonna buy the cowl vent cover. ill let you guys know how that works out...

 

works real well

 

I just purchased one as well as a backup. The only thing wrong is, you will still get water in the cowl via the openings for the windshield wipers.

 

The way this kid (yup, 15 years old) did this repair is a thought I had (not that I would do it on mine, not yet anyway) and was a good idea. Cowl repair

 

Here is the two ways you can repair the hats. I was looking for how it could be done without removing the cowl and fund the way today.

There are a couple of less intrusive methods that you can try:


Plastic hats---You can buy a repair kit that consists of plastic inserts (called "hats" because of their shape) that are shoved up through the air vents under the dash and glued into place over the vents using a silicon adhesive. You will first have to reach up through the vent and remove the rusted portion of the original vents that sticks up into the cowl. You should also scrape the cowl as clean as possible and treat the metal with a rust inhibitor, like Rustoleum or POR 15.

Enter the cowl through the side---You can get into the cowl without breaking the spot welds by cutting two vertical slots up the side of the cowl (remove the front fender---the cowl side is the "inner skin" that is beneath the fender) and folding the sheet metal up; reach inside to clean the cowl interior, treat the rust, and install the plastic hats. Fold the metal down and weld it shut, then reinstall the fenders.