Baddog079

Like many mustangs, the cowl on my `67 coupe is in bad shape. Its not REALLY bad but its getting there. When you look in there is a ton of rust and when you look up at it from under the dash there are some small holes. I am low on cash and a professional to do this around my area is out of the question. My father who is helping me alot with this project thought of a simple, back-yard solution, but I thought I would post it first to see if anyone has any comments, advice, or just sees a problem (etc.). Well, first we would have to fill in those small holes in the cowl with silicone. That part has already been done. Next, I forget what these things are called but they are plastic tubes that fit up those large holes on the sides of the car (in the cowl) to stop water from coming in on your feet or something. The large holes are factory produced, not rust or whatever, but I forget what they are for . Anyways, slide those tubes up in. Now we would need to take a piece of tin and block off the holes that the rain is "supposed" to run out of. So now everything is blocked up. Here's the fun part. The idea is to take that aluminum roofing stuff that people use on trailors and heat it till it becomes real fluidy. I have never seen this stuff but apperently you can do that. So, using a funnel we could pour the aluminum down the cowl vents on one side, and since it is angled for rain, the aluminum will run to the bottom and cover the whole thing, then do the same on the other side. After it has cooled and hardened, we could take off the tin plugs and redrill the rain holes. So, the cowl has a new foundation that will never rust. Does this sound like it would work? My dad said something about the heater making it stink but thinks that would go away after awhile. The only thing i can think of is, will the engine produce enough heat to liquify the aluminum and, will the aluminum melt those tubes and send all the liquid aluminum into the passenger floor pan? Ill get some pics up of the tubes if I can so you guys know what im talking about. Um, I think that's all but I will post again if I think of something. Thanks for the help guys! And if anyone has an alternative I be glad to hear.

Frank_Bullitt

Hello Baddog and welcome.
Well it sounds like a pretty good idea, I am not sure if you will have problems in the long run or not cuz I don't know of anyone who tryed that. Also I am not sure if that would lower the value of the car in anyway for the future.
My 67 Fastback had that same problem a couple years ago and did a bab nuber on my front floor pans so I know what your talking about. I am not 100% sure you are having the exact problem I did. (Sounds like it) But I just got some Plastic Hats from Mustangplus or Mustangunlimited and it was a easy kit that you do under the dash. Not sure the cost of it today but I would defenetly look into it to see if that will fix your problem. It fixed mine and no more leeking ever since!
Best of luck!

Soaring

Well, that would be a southern engineering way to do it, but to do it right you need to take the old cowl completely out and replace it with a new one. It's a PIA, but well worth the effort if you plan to keep the car.

roundman

you might be better off getting under there and sanding all or as much of the rust you can off the metal surfaces and then use a rust killing primer like EXTEND to paint the metal surfaces. it goes on clear looking by dries jet black. you can find it in most auto supply stores. then plug any small holes with dabs of silicone and paint the metal whatever color you want to use on it.

Soaring

Ummmmmmm, Roundman, you can't get into the top of the cowel to do what you suggested. He is suggesting going through the cowl vent and spraying some trailer house topping to seal up already existing rust. That ain't gonna work, and neither is your method of going underneath method gonna work. Those methods are patching southern engineering methods to take care of the problem temporarily only.

horseshoeing

You have to go in and do it right. I have to do the samething to mine[&o].

Baddog079

Definitly cant sand all the rust off or the bare metal would be paper thin. I was underthere looking again last night and there are pin holes everywhere near the drivers side! We've decided that the roofing idea isnt going to work because it isnt going to be runny enough, but our Walmart here has a type of undercoating spray that is a liquid...i guess you could use it in a spray gun. That may work....

Southern ideas yet I live in MD...

Baddog079

Checked out the mustangunlimited site and searched for cowl repair kits and the only thing they have are those vent tubes that I already have. I need the whole cowl repaired...