if if took of the cowl panel off of my 69 mustang would i be able to see the part that rusts out on the cowl? or would i need to take off the fender too? im just trying to get a look at what im dealing with.

 

Good Question.. At first I thought that you were going to say that you bought a cowl induction hood for your car, and my first response would have been can I buy your old hood,, or better yet will you give it to me?? Oh well..

I believe you would be able to see and get to any rusty parts that would need to be replaced/ patched,, unless its horribly rusted through along the side panels.. I may be wrong though

 

haha sorry i'll be keeping my hood. another question, how do you take off the windshield wipers, the whole actual arm.

 

From what I've read the cowls were redesigned or something for '69 and don't have near the same problem as the previous years as far as clogging and collecting water, which leads to the rust. I know my '69 sits under pine trees so it gets tons of needles in there, but they just wash out and I've never had an issue with it.

Here's somewhat of an exploded view of the cowl setup from the shop manual, it may help you.


[IMG]local://upfiles/43463/166FE32EF56E4E31B5BA73FE7039C47E.jpg[/IMG]

 

thanks that helps a lot

 

yeah removing the fenders won't get you anywhere, all u will be able to see is what you can see witt the cover off.

 

i have a set of brand new 1969 shop manuals if you would like to buy them for reference.let me know.

 

unless your floor board is wet after it rains or car wash then your cowl is fine. if you like you can take the cover off and por15 everything in there to keep it from rusting out.

 

Remove the cowl panel, it may be easiest to do by also removing fenders. Look inside the cowl at the "Hat" sections (Strange angle, may need to use a flashlight and a mirror). That will tell you what you have. Also, with fenders off, you get a better look at the frame rails and the outside of your fender aprons and shock towers. This should give you a pretty good idea how solid your car is. If you are leaking you have rust, but just because it's not leaking dosen't mean you don't have it. If you fix a small prob. now, it may save having to tear the car down again to fix a bigger more expensive prob. later.

And if you find no rust, you can rest easier knowing.

 

To take wiper arms there is a puller you can buy at any auto parts place. Basically clamps over wiper arms and pull straight up. Hold onto the blade with other had when pulling off - kinda pops off - I chipped my hood popping it off.

Once you pull your grill you'll be able to see the cowl pretty good. Don't need to pull fender off. I've got a 70 and cowl rusted all the heck and rest of car is solid - winter project.