I wonder if this cowl rust is a problem inherent to the fox platform?
Holy crap, one pothole and the car might have buckled in the middle.
Yes it is. I had a coupe that looked and had the same rust damage. I have personally seen several just like that or worse. And these are cars in Hawaii where we don't have road salt. I have heard itbis the lack of paint coverage in the cowl area and the poor drainage that leads to the rust starting there.
This was a coupe I had. I started chipping away at a tiny little rust spot......it turned into this. It was actually MUCH worse upward into the cowl area. The rest of the car was completely rust free. It sucked!
You guys have me nervous as hell after I found a somewhat rotten shock tower on my car a couple months ago.
I know. First thing I wanna do when I get back is pull off the cowl and have a looksee. My car has the moon roof and it drains through the a-pillar. I've never really liked the moon roof, and it would make rust more likely, I'd imagine.
It appeared to me that the seam sealer in there had dried up and cracked over the years and under the seam sealer is bare metal. One of the problems is it is hidden. You don't see it unless you pull your fenders. Because of that it just gets worse and worse without you knowing.
Door pillars and cowl is the first thing I check when buying a fox. If there is rust in there I walk away.
Door pillars and cowl is the first thing I check when buying a fox. If there is rust in there I walk away.
sadly it is. The design of the cowl area tends to lead to this kind of rust. Ford did a crappy job of sealing up the area. Couple that with cars in the South- especially by the ocean rust from the top down due to the salt in the air vs up north due to the salt in the road.
I had two options- part it out or fix it and seeing its my baby,,,, i'm going to try and save it.. Luckily my buddy has tackled this type of job many times and is taking the time to do the job right. I should have more pics this weekend when I go see the car
Pretty scary
did you end up repairing or scrapping it? If you saw pics of my car, you would have never imagined this carnage underneath. The car is mint otherwise
Yeah, you are super lucky you caught it. It can definitely be repaired and be as good as new. Just takes time and a lot of work. I'm glad yours is getting repaired.
thanks for the support and comments so far guys. I've owned 9 of these cars including an 86 T Top I bought this year and not one had rust issues. Now I am dying to rip the fenders off my 86 T Top car but not really
I fixed mine, and sold it. I was completely 100% honest with the guy I sold it to. That's the only way I do things. He was fine with the repair as he was just using it as a driver.
Honestly, I would pull the fenders off your 86 and spray undercoat on the seams. That's what I did with my 93 coupe. I just feel better knowing it had fresh protection.
At least you have someone working it who knows what they're doing. Better to find and fix it now than when the car has trouble staying together.
back to the jy to salvage some replacement parts off a donor car
driver and passenger side inner fender frame, sheetmetal, and both side windshield frames...
driver and passenger side inner fender frame, sheetmetal, and both side windshield frames...