cowl vent repair kit

[black_demon]

im in the progress of purchasing a 66 coupe and the previous owner has used the inserts instead of replacing the sheet metal.. i dont know how severe the damage is in the cowl, but the car is immaculate so im figuring the damage wasnt too bad if he used these inserts..

how good are these kits?
http://www.trophymustang.com/product_info.php?products_id=2008

thanks!

 

[BarnStang]

This is the cheap, cheesy, low buck way to "patch" a problem. It is not a fix. I have ripped a few of these out. If the cowl leaked, then the floor got wet. Check the toe boards, and front floorboards very carefully. If the patches were put in before the leak got bad then you may not need to replace too much sheet metal.

We did repair the cowl on a car on the rotisserie upside down. I cut the patch panel down and welded it in from the bottom, but the damage was not that bad. Still had good metal two inches out from the hat on one side and an inch on the other. You have to get a spot weld cutter bit and cut the cowl off to fix this. Here are some pictures of my current project. Be happy you are not me...

 

[BarnStang]

Another

 

[Chris H]

When I had my first 66 coupe we tried to repair the cowl. We took off the fender and cut into the cowl to try to cut out the rusty spots. We used a tar like stuff to coat what we could not cut out. We did the best that we could not being experts in the field of rust.

The best thing we used was the plexiglass cover that many shops sell that completely covers the cowl vent. This was ultimately the only thing that ensured water would not enter the cowl. Best of luck

 

[black_demon]

This is the cheap, cheesy, low buck way to "patch" a problem. It is not a fix. I have ripped a few of these out. If the cowl leaked, then the floor got wet. Check the toe boards, and front floorboards very carefully. If the patches were put in before the leak got bad then you may not need to replace too much sheet metal.

We did repair the cowl on a car on the rotisserie upside down. I cut the patch panel down and welded it in from the bottom, but the damage was not that bad. Still had good metal two inches out from the hat on one side and an inch on the other. You have to get a spot weld cutter bit and cut the cowl off to fix this. Here are some pictures of my current project. Be happy you are not me...

the floorpan and firewall have been fully repaired and rust proof coated during the cowl repair ... i just wanted to know if this kit is gonna be okay or when i do purchase the vehicle i should replace it with sheet metal?

 

[John Z]

Without looking at the vehicle there is no way to know if you need to replace sheet metal at this time. The easiest test is to put a paper towel on the floor and pour about a gallon of water through the cowl. If the paper gets wet you have a problem. If dry you are ok - for now! As shown in the photos the entire cowl pan gets rusty because it was never painted by Ford!! As certain as Mustangs are cool, Mustang cowls rust out. They tend to rust around the hat first because crap piles up there and holds in the moisture. But rust will grow and eventually the cap will rust out.