Cowl Vent Grille And Rain

[SoFlStang]

We had some really heavy rain the last few days here and while driving home, I noticed a waterfall coming from behind my glovebox. After some research, I removed the cowl vent grille and looked inside. I saw a pretty good size rust hole just below where the air intake enters the car. I was considering spraying some flex seal stuff on it, but I think the hole is to big. So, since I don't have a/c and my vents don't blow air anyways, can I just put something over the holes that the grille covers and place the grille back on, or does this area serve another purpose besides for the a/c and vents? Or would i be better to tape the rust hole up and then spray the canned sealer over the tape to seal it? Thanks

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

The holes' main purpose is the allow air into the A/C plenum for your heater/A/C/Defroster. If you have none of that up there any more, then you can seal/block it as you see fit. There is a pretty significant raised ridge that surrounds that hole that normally doesn't allow water to enter the passenger compartment regardless of whether God has decided to flood the planet, so water shouldn't be coming in there unless your whole inner cowl has rusted through.

The proper repair for that is involved, and requires you remove the upper cowl (and probably the windshield) to cut out the rusted area and weld in a new replacement..............but I get you weren't planning on going that far.

 

[SoFlStang]

Thanks for the reply. It appears that raised portion is what has rusted. I can tell the area is raised to prevent water from entering the factory placed airhole, but the rust has put a hole in the front of that raised area, so the water just pours in. From further inspection, it appears the only way to reach the hole is with quite a bit of disassembly, as just taking the grille off wont let me reach the whole hole. So looks like I will seal the area under the vent grille for now, and add this to my list of things to fix the right way once I move to my house with a garage.

 

[mikestang63]

You can fab up a thin piece of sheet metal or stock to cover up the two openings in the cowl area until you address the rust. Spray them with rattle can body color paint or SEM flat black. The plastic cowl cover will cover it up anyway.

 

[Illuminator]

So looks like I will seal the area under the vent grille for now, and add this to my list of things to fix the right way once I move to my house with a garage.

Thats a dilemma I share as well, moving soon and need a decent place to work on the car. My cowl is smashed from a fg hood fly-up....looks terrible on top, but not sure how to approach the straightening and/or replacement depending on what is required..