Smoothed Cowl

cjperry81 · Jul 21, 2010

I have a 66 Inline 6 that i am doing some body work to. I have seen a handful of stangs with a smoothed cowls where the vents are deleted. I really like that look and would love to do that on mine. However, all of the ones I have seen just so happen to have AC. What actually happens if I close off that cowl? Is this not a good idea. I just like it because it looks clean.

CP

2+2GT · Jul 21, 2010

It's the air intake for fresh air, heating, and defrosting. With the top sealed, fresh air intake will be zero. Output and effectiveness of the heater and windshield defog will also be dramatically reduced. Easy to check, just drive the car with a 'cowl cap' installed. Under dash AC will not be effected, but factory 67-73 AC (or ACC 64-66 "Perfect Fit" AC) will suffer as much as the heater.

That stock cowl looks cluttered?

latamud · Jul 21, 2010

When you open the air vent flaps on either side you won't get the rush of air when you drive. The heater/defroster will still work. The fan will draw outside air in and through the heater core. Yes, outside air, even though the cowl vents are deleted the cowl is still open on the sides. I didn't delete the vents on top of the cowl, but the hats underneath on my car were rusted away so I fiber-glassed then shut. In the summer it get's hot and I miss the rush of air. I'm redoing the cowl eventually.

iskwezm · Jul 21, 2010

my cowl is shaved, but i dont miss the fresh air

2+2GT · Jul 22, 2010

iskwezm said:
my cowl is shaved, but i dont miss the fresh air

Do you miss having a good windshield defogger?

tx65coupe · Jul 22, 2010

I agree that on some cars it does look cool.

My friend has a 68 with the cowl shaved/smoothed. His underdash vents do actually let in a slight amount of air flow at highway speed.

I won't be doing it to mine though. I really like the underdash vents. I think its better off left alone. Even though the defrost/defog doesn't work all that spectacular on our classics, I wouldn't want it to be less effective. I also like that in the cool weather, I can turn it to heat but not turn the fan on and still get warm air.

Bitter · Jul 22, 2010

Replacing the cowl is not that difficult, even for a novice, if you have a welder. I assume anyone that is serious about restoring a classic has one, even a cheap one. I've done it with no prior welding experience. What it does involve is time (perhaps 4-6 hours in total) and the ability to afford a replacement cowl ($200). Eliminating the vents is an option, but one I thought was not worth doing for the reasons 2+2GT mentioned. So, if it's not time or money that's holding you back, we can walk you through it. It will greatly enhance the resale value, not to mention the benefits of functional vents.

dmoody · Jul 22, 2010

Bitter said:
Replacing the cowl is not that difficult, even for a novice, if you have a welder.

Replacing the cowl IS difficult. It doesn't require as much skill since the welds are flat however there is a lot of labor involved. I'm replacing my third one on a classic mustang. Floorboards, quarter panels and cowls are possibly the hardest pieces of sheetmetal to repair/replace on a classic mustang. The only way I could imagine replacing a cowl in 4-6 hours would be to take a saw and cut the cowl off, grind the lip off then buy a new inner and outer cowl. I've always drilled the spot welds off the factory cowl because they tend to be in good condition and factory parts always fit better. If you do buy a new outer cowl then you would need to drill and plug weld a lot on the new sheetmetal. The cowl is considered a structural part of the car just like the frame that is why Ford put a zillion spot welds in it. Also the cowl runs underneath the front windshield so the only way to properly replace it is to remove it.

david

Pony66 · Jul 23, 2010

If you block the cowl, you can simply open the little door on the passenger side. Everything will work just fine, except the powerful fresh air. For that simply use your wing windows. I got a piece of magnetic sign from a sign shop. I cut it to fit the cowl vents and no more leaks. It does not fly off because wind actually pushes down on the cowl area.

Bitter · Jul 23, 2010

When I say it isn't difficult, I mean there isn't a lot of skill required. Painting a house is time-consuming but it isn't difficult. I'll grant you that I didn't factor in the time to remove my windshield as it was already out. That will obviously add to the time and expense and I may not have done a full replacement if I had to remove it. I did mine quite awhile ago so I my be light on my time estimate but I don't recall it being much more than that. Perhaps I'm wrong. It is clearly not a pleasant job or a quick one, but I can say that about quite a few of the repairs I've made.

Wildbill3 · Jul 23, 2010

Im in the middle of ours now on the 66 I had rust on the fire wall so I cut that out only to find rust holes in the lower Cowl yea..Were doing a smoth firewall I hadnt condsiderd smothing the cowl also I would like to see some closer pics before I comitted to it..Good thread

iskwezm · Jul 23, 2010

2+2GT said:
Do you miss having a good windshield defogger?

i guess i would if i had a heater, but where i live, i dont need it.

rusty428cj · Jul 24, 2010

Wildbill3 said:
Im in the middle of ours now on the 66 I had rust on the fire wall so I cut that out only to find rust holes in the lower Cowl yea..Were doing a smoth firewall I hadnt condsiderd smothing the cowl also I would like to see some closer pics before I comitted to it..Good thread

Wildbill3 · Jul 24, 2010

Thanks Rusty nice pics Great car!

Pony66 · Jul 24, 2010

That is one good looking car. I love the smooth cowl. What do you plan to do with the vents between the grill and headlights?

Bitter · Jul 24, 2010

That looks great, Rusty. However, while I can appreciate that the southern climate doesn't require heat or defrost, you limit the marketability of the car to the south. Here in the north, we need heat in the winter and air in the summer. Perhaps I'm a purist, but I think replacing or repairing the rusted cowl is a worthwhile venture, even if you only open the sides rather than replace the entire cowl.

zigmont · Jul 24, 2010

Bitter said:
Replacing the cowl is not that difficult, even for a novice, if you have a welder. I assume anyone that is serious about restoring a classic has one, even a cheap one. I've done it with no prior welding experience. What it does involve is time (perhaps 4-6 hours in total) and the ability to afford a replacement cowl ($200). Eliminating the vents is an option, but one I thought was not worth doing for the reasons 2+2GT mentioned. So, if it's not time or money that's holding you back, we can walk you through it. It will greatly enhance the resale value, not to mention the benefits of functional vents.

It seems to me that I drilled out about 114 spot welds to remove my cowl. Yes, it was not too difficult, but it sure took some time to do. Especially welding 114 plug welds to replace it. I'm not too fast, and I had other repairs on the firewall to do as well. In all, I spent the better part of 3 days to complete the job.

rusty428cj · Jul 24, 2010

Pony66 said:
That is one good looking car. I love the smooth cowl. What do you plan to do with the vents between the grill and headlights?

Bitter · Jul 24, 2010

Beautiful car, Rusty. I wish I could do work like that.

horseballz · Jul 24, 2010

Mr Gillis,
Where in "H-E double hockey sticks" are you finding those 454 wheels? Did you buy up the whole last run of them, or are those the ones off your 68? What size and backspace are they and would ya help me find some?
Cool Pics, Thanx,
Gene

Smoothed Cowl

cjperry81

Member

2+2GT

latamud

iskwezm

2+2GT

tx65coupe

Active Member

Bitter

New Member

dmoody

Pony66

New Member

Bitter

New Member

Wildbill3

New Member

iskwezm

rusty428cj

Wildbill3

New Member

Pony66

New Member

Bitter

New Member

zigmont

Member

rusty428cj

Bitter

New Member

horseballz

Similar threads

Smoothed Cowl

Member

Active Member

New Member

New Member

New Member

New Member

New Member

New Member

New Member

Member

New Member

Similar threads

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency