• Hello there guest and Welcome to The #1 Classic Mustang forum!
    To gain full access you must Register. Registration is free and it takes only a few moments to complete.
    Already a member? Login here then!

Kats Project

I understand what you're saying Kat! what the heck is she supposed to measure? :shrug I would do trial after trial fitment using Midpacks advise using sheetmetal screws to temp hold things in place, making sure my hood lines up, the fenders, the front glass, etc, before permanent welding. Bascially, you'll be putting the car together only held together by little of nothing! I didn't replace my cowl stuff~ you're in territory I'm unfamilar with, but logically, just using good old common sense and a lot of advise like you're asking, you'll get the job done! Are you up on your welding skills?
I imagine that the cowl assembly holds a lot of things together or in place :confu~ it's a major player for structural support~ so if you lose a 1/4" (seems like an insignificant number) in the way the cowl goes in, results may be magnified down the line of assembly. The only for instance I can think of is the welding of my battery tray, it looked square, but when I put the battery in much much later, it leans a little inward towards the radiator~! So just fractions off somewhere affect things elsewhere that won't be known until later.

"Kats66Pny" said:
Ya'll are confusing me.

What exactly is suppose to be measured? Where? :shrug
Click to expand...
 
I was just going to secure the new pieces with sheet metal screws and/or clamps and put everything together (cowl, fenders, hood) to see how it fits, do any adjusting etc then get someone to weld the pieces on. I just don't understand how any measuring at this point will do any good when the whole engine bay is lopsided/warped/misaligned. Probably from it sitting with no export brace for years. The core support is more than likely going to be replaced as well.

Its 8am and I'm only my 2nd cup of coffee so not much makes sense to me right now. LOL
 
Oh something else. Those square area's we took out on the cowl... those were actually pre-cut areas being held on with a few spot welds and smothered and covered in bondo. When I was scraping bondo & paint off I noticed some seams. It seems someone in the past repaired the inside cowl, and half-assed it. It looks like instead of cutting out the rusted vents, they cut the top cowl out, put some thick bondo & coating inside around the vents, because if you look under the dash, its full of rusted holes that were covered up. :wtf
 
Gosh Kat, at the time whomsoever did the previous "repair", they may have thought they did a pretty good job! Just to do what they did was still quite a bit of work, bought em a few years? may have been done how long ago??
IN the meatime~~
Keeps you on your toes doen't it Kat! I used to lay awake in bed at night just THINKING! I did most of my planning while trying to go to sleep!

I'm not even sure If I'd trust my own welding skills to tackle this~ the metal will need to be bright shiny newlooking metal for good welds! nothing like welding on new metal! I guess weld through primer will be in order!

I've always wondered about the two pieces being welded together and eventual rust factor, and how to prevent, or ward off eventual rust between the parts! So are the new parts coated with something? What will you be putting on the new inner surfaces of the the cowl to preserve them? or what is preferred?

Core support too~ ?? Replacement of one thing leads to another, then another~ and "while I'm at it" factor! lol
 
"Kats66Pny" said:
Oh something else. Those square area's we took out on the cowl... those were actually pre-cut areas being held on with a few spot welds and smothered and covered in bondo. When I was scraping bondo & paint off I noticed some seams. It seems someone in the past repaired the inside cowl, and half-assed it. It looks like instead of cutting out the rusted vents, they cut the top cowl out, put some thick bondo & coating inside around the vents, because if you look under the dash, its full of rusted holes that were covered up. :wtf
Click to expand...

That's actually a fairly common repair route... to cut the ends on and do the "collar repairs". Not with bondo though lol. Seems like I got the car restored by the brother of who did your car lol.
Bill
 
Is your garage floor flat/level? What I did when doing the rear shackle mounts (and trunk floor/tail light panel) was make sure the car was level on stands, then make marks on the floor and take measurements to heights at various identifying points. then make measurements across corners to certain points on the sheet metal. I had drawings showing where I measured and what the dimensions were.

with your project, doing the cowl side panel could make it a bit trickier. You could measure from the floor to the outer lip on that side... maybe measure the windshield opening and the height of the cowl front lip to the floor.
Test fitting to the fenders hood, and windshield would be good...

I guess a lot depends on what the replacement pieces look like when you get them. with that in mind, I'm not sure I'd do much more cutting until you get them
 
I would say your main measurement to worry about would be the left to right gaps. The alignment side to side can be adjusted by installing the fenders and hood prior to welding. There is a center line on the hood that you want aligned. I would at least have a way to say where that centerline is on the front and back of the cowl. The first car I did, between me and the body shop, the car was assembled 9 times to ensure proper body alignments. It is hard to "just do part" depending on what options you have to work with.

The front to rear is kind of set it stone so to speak based on the windshield and firewall frames.

One thing, when that cowl is removed, I would recommend the car be well supported on jack stands and not moved until the cowl is solid again. The cowl is a major stress support. You also might want to get the book that has all the body measurements so you can be sure the rest of the body is square and proper before you take off to much. Again, on my first car, we had problems aligning the front fenders mid way thru the rebuild. After several measurements.....we found the radiator support was 1" to the left from center. We all "assumed" it was good since there was no rust or damage. Later in life, I found a previous owner who said there had been a repair from a minor fender bender. Measure now to avoid problems later.

You might as well start practicing your welding skills...I hear some guy in Ca. travels to teach welding......
 
I wasn't going to take the cowl out anytime soon or cut anything else out. Probably not for another month. I can't do anything until I flip Gert around in the garage so I can get the engine out. Only reason those square pieces came out was because I saw bondo and was curious what was under it that required 1/2" thick of filler. LOL

I've always wondered about the two pieces being welded together and eventual rust factor, and how to prevent, or ward off eventual rust between the parts! So are the new parts coated with something? What will you be putting on the new inner surfaces of the the cowl to preserve them? or what is preferred?
Click to expand...

Since the 65/66 seems to be two whole pieces (SM8181 - 65-66 COWL PANEL ASSEMBLY (UPPER AND LOWER PIECES)) I figure coat the inside with some POR stuff since that seems to be what people use to help prevent rust. :shrug
 
This is just a far fetched thought~ but I've never seen it actually done, the cowls only serve to introduce forced air into the car while it's running down the street~ do you plan to install AC? however, close off the grilled vent with sheetmetal~ clean up the inside as best possible, coat it/seal it. When I park my stang outside(rare event), leaves just find thier way into that darned grill and they are a pita to get out! I'm surprised the cowls lasted as long as they do! Of course you already have the cowl panel~ eh, just a thought. But I'd like to see a stang without the grill for kicks!
 
"Dne'" said:
This is just a far fetched thought~ but I've never seen it actually done, the cowls only serve to introduce forced air into the car while it's running down the street~ do you plan to install AC? however, close off the grilled vent with sheetmetal~ clean up the inside as best possible, coat it/seal it. When I park my stang outside(rare event), leaves just find thier way into that darned grill and they are a pita to get out! I'm surprised the cowls lasted as long as they do! Of course you already have the cowl panel~ eh, just a thought. But I'd like to see a stang without the grill for kicks!
Click to expand...

I saw one at a show once. I thought it looks pretty good.

Um, I thought of using a cowl piece from an 88/89 Ford truck. There are little holes instead of the slots. The piece is way bigger but it could be either messaged in or copied. I think it would look pretty good.

Ed has a bent bar in the cowl opening which I likely will not fix. It would require tons of work for a small imperfection. I may heat it up and try to pull it up a bit.

Mel
 
Filling them in is an option, but you still need a solid bottom half for structural support.

I use a piece of magnetic sign material when parked where crap gets into the cowl.

Mel......you will fix that one bad bar.......we know......
 
That hood is cool but I don't have the funds to get or have it shipped. Plus I like my current hood but since it probably won't work with the e-kit I'll probably go with this hood since it's similar to what I have now.

3" cowl
FS-656C1.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Started the task of removing the engine. Drained the radiator. Ewww! Not suppose to be brown I'm guessing.

4ac0e007-41d3-2da7.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Looks like that is missing the coolant.......and is just a bit old.

Progress.....one step at a time.
 
Are you going to be having your motor/trany ovehauled or are you just pulling it out to service the engine bay/cowl replacment?
dne'
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top