'64-'66 Abody Cowl-How did Factory Make it Water Tight?

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dibbons

dibbons

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We drilled away all the welds on the '65 Formula S cowl, removed the cowl. made various rust repairs, and now it's time to re-attach it. Using just spot welds, it seems to be it will be leaking here and there.

How did the factory waterproof it?

How does the crew here (who have experience) re-attach and seal the cowl?

Thank you.

DSC05283.JPG
 
dibbons said:
We drilled away all the welds on the '65 Formula S cowl, removed the cowl. made various rust repairs, and now it's time to re-attach it. Using just spot welds, it seems to be it will be leaking here and there.

How did the factory waterproof it?

How does the crew here (who have experience) re-attach and seal the cowl?

Thank you.

View attachment 1715239845
Click to expand...
The factory used a type of foam sealer that went between the spot welded flanges. There must
be some product sold today to duplicate it. Check with automotive paint stores. Since most DIY's
don't have a spot welder it will most likely be plug welded.
 
I think someone who was doing the same repair you’re doing suggested an adhesive panel bond.
 
65 Dartman said:
I think someone who was doing the same repair you’re doing suggested an adhesive panel bond.
Click to expand...
Panel adhesive would work well. You would have to weld up drilled spot weld holes in your donor cowl. Use a lot
of clamps with the panel adhesive and weld the bottom windshield flange. The ends of the upper cowl are welded
to the bottoms of the A pillars. Those seams were filled with lead from the factory. Unless you're familiar using
lead, use a fiberglass product, like Kitty Hair to fill in those seams. Once the seams are filled with fiberglass, finish
the area with plastic body filler like you would any other body work.
 
These vents are not water tight. You can flood the cowl with a garden hose and the water will come up and over those 'stacks" and into the car. Ask me how I know.
 
maybe so but just to the outboard of the stacks are drainage channels that dump behind the fenders, or on some models there are vents in the firewall. Those channels get plugged with all manner of detritus.
 
OR you could make the cowl removable, like a lot of GM cars in the same era. It wouldn't be very hard to do.
 
GM removable cowl panels are nice, but they screwed it up with their "flush and dry" rocker panels. Yeah, the water can get into the rockers to wash them out, but so can leaves and pine needles and dirt, and all that turns into a nice sponge when the water hits it. My Corvair rockers were wrecked right at the intersection of cowl and rocker.
 
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