1968 Mustang coupe - need general advice, experience, suggestions on cowl renovation.

geeky2 · Dec 7, 2010

Hello all,

during the process of changing my front and rear fender aprons (along with the PS and DS apron supports) i have been looking over the cowl area of my car (1968 Mustang Coupe). actually a friend of mine who has a 68, suggested that i look at this area very closely, especially while i am working on the sheet metal in the engine bay.

i have been doing some internet research and found a few blogs / sites that show pictures of this being done, either in pieces or as a complete unit with the upper and bottom cowl being replaced.

my existing cowl has debris in it, but it is difficult to tell if the cowl vents leak. visual inspection of the cowl area shows that there is some surface oxidation - but i cannot tell to what degree. the area inside looks like it was never painted.

if anyone in the group would like to give me their advice or experiences or references to the same - i would really appreciate it.

thank you,
mark

dennis112 · Dec 7, 2010

I too wondered about the condition of my cowl (65' Mustang.) I knew that sometimes the floor was wet on the driver's side, but assumed that it was the old cracked windshield gasket. Since the car was garaged 95% of the time, I wasn't too worried.

This was a car I bought in Louisiana over 3 decades ago and the outside body had rust only at the front of the doors. I had replaced the floor pans 7 or 8 years ago for rash that it had when I first got it. A generous coating of Rustoleum back then preserved it in the condition that it was for many, many years.

Finally after driving the car on and off for over 30 years it was time for a repaint. Since I do all the work myself, I decided that it would be wise to visit the cowl area as a preventative measure. Although the hats were fine (actually great), there were holes that I didn't expect at the front of the cowl:

Needless to say, I was glad that I did some exploratory surgery prior to the repaint. All told I will have a little over 50 hours in the repair (and this isn't the first car that I have done.) I may have also gotten carried away with the paint/body work, but having this car so long, it is like a family member to me.

You can see some of what was involved when I patched the cowl here:

http://www.fordmuscleforums.com/makin-progress/500588-65-mustang-gt-body-restoration.html

geeky2 · Dec 7, 2010

wow!

i want to be clear.

which method did you employ to fix your cowl?

did you take off the top and salvage it after repairing the bottom of the cowl?

did you replace the upper and lower pieces?

did you splice in a new piece in the "hat" area?

i guess i need more detail about how invasive you were and what parts you were able to salvage or replace.

thank you,
mark

dennis112 said:
I too wondered about the condition of my cowl (65' Mustang.) I knew that sometimes the floor was wet on the driver's side, but assumed that it was the old cracked windshield gasket. Since the car was garaged 95% of the time, I wasn't to worried.

Finally after driving it on and off for over 30 years it was time for a repaint. Since I do all the work myself, I decided that it would be wise to visit the cowl area as a preventative measure. Although the hats were fine (actually great), there were holes that I didn't expect at the front of the cowl:

Needless to say, I was glad that I did some exploratory surgery prior to the repaint. All told I will have a little over 50 hours in the repair (and this isn't the first car that I have done.) I may have also gotten carried away with the paint/body work, but having this car so long, it is like a family member to me. You can see some of what was involved in my car here:

65' Mustang GT body restoration. - Ford Muscle Forums : Ford Muscle Cars Tech Forum

geeky2 · Dec 7, 2010

is use used replacement parts - where did you source them from?

thank you,
mark

dennis112 · Dec 7, 2010

All I needed were the 2 patch panels and they came from CJ Pony Parts--they have free shipping which was a big plus. The patch panels were made in Canada, which are supposed to be the "better" ones to use.

I reused my upper cowl, but it too had some hidden rust under the factory seam sealer. I simply cut out the few holes and welded in fresh metal. The short connecting panels that join the cowl to the engine compartment aprons were also reused.

I bought a $4.95 spot weld cutting tool from Harbor Freight and it was great. I was able to complete the whole job with just the one. Cheap and highly recommended by me. There were 167 spot welds to break, plus I used the tool to create holes in the new metal when attaching it in place. It still has life left in it.

I could have bought the whole cowl, but was concerned that they are prewelded together. I wanted to be able to treat the inside area to my liking. Besides, for my 65, the price was several hundred $$'s cheaper for the patches, plus the repairs are hidden. The rest of the inner cowl was sound and did not require much work.

You have to be careful welding as the firewall insulation is flammable, as are the wires. I gutted the interior, except for the headliner.

Mark, do check out the link I referenced above for an idea of what was involved with MY car.

dennis112 · Dec 7, 2010

Here is my friend's 67' cowl repair which is quite similar to what I did:

67 Mustang Coupe - Page 2 - Ford Muscle Forums : Ford Muscle Cars Tech Forum

Note that he had to modify the universal patch panel for his clutch linkage. My earlier car uses the same patch panels, but a different clutch pedal setup.

Red5oh · Dec 7, 2010

You can check out my pages on the actual replacement... starts on page 2 or 3 and explains it quite well. Let us know if anything else and good luck

Oh, the page should show up in my signature...

2+2GT · Dec 7, 2010

Here's a page on cowl repair.

Mustang and Shelby Cowl Repair

Here's another one that was so bad it was replaced with a new repro.

1968 Shelby GT500 Convertible

geeky2 · Dec 7, 2010

dennis112 said:
Mark, do check out the link I referenced above for an idea of what was involved with MY car.

hello,

yes - i did go to the link - thank you!

thank you,
mark

geeky2 · Dec 7, 2010

thank you everyone for all of the great links and info!

thanks
mark

chris66dad · Dec 8, 2010

Here is how I did my inspection by "tin canning" the ends. I was lucky and did not have any holes.
Cowl Repair

If we needed to replace the tophats, I was going to follow this procedure:
http://personal.ecu.edu/boydd/tech/cowl/cowl.html

1968 Mustang coupe - need general advice, experience, suggestions on cowl renovation.

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