any tips on cleaning out the cowl?

[diymirage]

since I don't have the A/C hooked up yet I opened the fresh air doors on the duster a few days ago and a ton of little leaves and what not came blowing out
I stopped in at the local car wash and shoved a vacuum hose in there as far as I could and as soon as I got back up to about 80 a bunch of junk came flying out of there again

so, is there a trick to cleaning the cowl out?

 

[lilnoah]

goggles on and an air hose or drive with fresh air doors open at 80 or faster

 

[Alaskan_TA]

Vacuum cleaner in one side, pack rags or something similar around it. Use an air nozzle hooked to your air compressor in the other.

Switch sides at least once.

 

[diymirage]

that might do the trick...ill have to try that

 

[BigBlockMopar]

Drill hole
Scoop
Done

 

[Rocky_JS]

Ouch! I would have removed the heater box and left air box and reached up through the hole and scooped/blown/rinsed/vacuumed that stuff out. I've seen a lot of similar stuff here with all the pine needles and mold - turning to mulch.

There are caps on each side of the cowl in the hood hinge area where they drain make sure they are not packed with debris.

 

[WildCat]

Ouch! I would have removed the heater box and left air box and reached up through the hole and scooped/blown/rinsed/vacuumed that stuff out. I've seen a lot of similar stuff here with all the pine needles and mold - turning to mulch.

There are caps on each side of the cowl in the hood hinge area where they drain make sure they are not packed with debris.

Think removing air box would be best way also

 

[Cartboy67]

You guys got me thinking. I have had the front and rear glass seals replaced but still getting water inside. I took the heater box out and the air box to cowl seal was only half there. I have some left over trunk seal left that is going to be my new seal. The box and cowl area were clear of debris so I will do the same on the left side air box. Gonna be a full weekend job with the cookout interruption today. Will shoot back to post what I find on the other side.

 

[jbc426]

I used the garden hose and some various shaped wires to break stuff loose and clear the drains. I did this when I had the front fenders off, the windshield wiper motor removed, and the carpet out. I was amazed at how much more junk came out of there with water even after using air to blow it out.

 

[72bluNblu]

Remove the front half of the heater box to get at the passenger side, and the vent on the driver's side and just reach up there and pull everything out. No hole drilling or welding required. When you're done you can pressure wash the inner cowl clean.

This is what came out of mine not too long after I bought it.

And here's the vents you need to remove to get up there

 

[66Dvert]

Ouch! I would have removed the heater box and left air box and reached up through the hole and scooped/blown/rinsed/vacuumed that stuff out. I've seen a lot of similar stuff here with all the pine needles and mold - turning to mulch.

There are caps on each side of the cowl in the hood hinge area where they drain make sure they are not packed with debris.

on my 66 I had to replace the cowl and if trying(if you can) to reach up from inside to remove stuff then you have a bigger problem than leaves. here's a picture of my 66 with the top cowl off.
there is less than 3 inches clearance after the top is on and I darn sure can't bend my old brittle fingers that much. A bent copper airline hooked to the blower nozzzle just blows it around and a vacuum is just not gonna fit in the top hat cowl area. wet stuff does not move real easy, dry does but it does not come out the darn holes easy at all. the slimline nozzle on the vacuum does fit in the oval holes but can't get the lower corner stuff behind the top hats.


View attachment DSCF2038.jpg

old inner cowl vs new inner cowl lots of spot welds $#%#

View attachment DSCF2011.jpg


new outer cowl with clean out plug holes.
View attachment DSCF2013.jpg


I pulled a ton of garbage out of the cowl areas before I took this picture. I had a problem drilling out all the spotwelds and it caught the junk in there on fire,causing a major panic attack on my part. The junk was still smoldering when I finally did get the top cowl off 2 day later.
yep there was a minor water leak
View attachment DSCF2008 50-50.jpg


there used to be a small opening on the side of the top cowl near the upturn part of it that would drain out water into the fender/door opening area (I couldn't find it on the old one but it was on the replacement parts from another car that wasn't rusted as bad).


if I had a good cowl(and wasn't going for factory correct looks) and was sure the top hats were sound,then I'd cheat and drill out holes like in bigblockmopars post and then just plug it with plastic plugs.

 

[Rocky_JS]

I didn't really have any problems getting the stuff out from around the hats. I dont have long fingers either. I used a leather glove and just went around the hats, blew with air from any place I had access and when I thought I had all the big stuff out (side drain holes coming clean) I used water to rinse out the remainder.

Also on the side of the cowl in the fender/hood hinge area there are caps on each end. They do reproduce those. If removed they give good access to the cowl vent areas. The fender(s) would need to be removed to get to them though. Not sure what the OP is really dealing with though trapped debris or rust - two different beasts!



Nice job on that repair that is a lot of work. Your old cowl sure was ugly! .

 

[spl440]

Drilled two holes, one on each side of cowl,then made a dual snorkel air cleaner to fit the holes, now have a cowl induction setup with flat hood. And a lot easier to keep cowl clean, not just a one time deal.

 

[BigBlockMopar]

The pics in my earlier post are from my '73 Dart.
There's no hole or access at all on the leftside there. Anything that ends up there is there to stay.

 

[RzeroB]

Drilled two holes, one on each side of cowl,then made a dual snorkel air cleaner to fit the holes, now have a cowl induction setup with flat hood. And a lot easier to keep cowl clean, not just a one time deal.

Hey! Now that is pretty ingenious! I like it! rayer:rayer:

 

[lilnoah]

That looks sweet. Did it make a noticeable difference in engine performance?

 

[spl440]

That looks sweet. Did it make a noticeable difference in engine performance?

Yes, carb temps are lower, even in stop and go traffic. And at HI way speeds, the ram air also makes a difference, almost like a poor mans tunnel ram. Have not put a pressure gauge on it though. Since my daily driver and no choke, when temps fall bellow 40 degrees, I run an open air cleaner to get some engine heat.

 

[RzeroB]

Guess once you get it cleaned out you have to keep it cleaned out or your engine will be sucking all the crap out of your cowl and into the air cleaner element! Still, I like it!

 

[spl440]

Guess once you get it cleaned out you have to keep it cleaned out or your engine will be sucking all the crap out of your cowl and into the air cleaner element! Still, I like it!

The air cleaner does the cleaning for me! Stored in garage when not driving, so very little accumulates, not more than usual, as not going down a lot of dirt roads, or sitting under pine tree's.

 

[RzeroB]

It's quite ingenious the way you have that rigged up. If you really wanted to get fancy you could rig up a couple of bypass actuators and doors like a real cowl induction or air grabber hood to get warm engine compartment air when the engine first starts and cool cowl air when you stomp on it :burnout: I still think that is pretty a cool setup though just the way it is.

Like your helo too. What is that? EMS? I'm a former helo driver so that's why I'm curious.

 

[spl440]

It's quite ingenious the way you have that rigged up. If you really wanted to get fancy you could rig up a couple of bypass actuators and doors like a real cowl induction or air grabber hood to get warm engine compartment air when the engine first starts and cool cowl air when you stomp on it :burnout: I still think that is pretty a cool setup though just the way it is.

Like your helo too. What is that? EMS? I'm a former helo driver so that's why I'm curious.

Sorry for the hijack. It is a Agusta 139, 12 pass with 2 P&W PT6c67c engines 1300 HP each or 1800 plus on one engine. first twin engine mid size helo with true single engine fly away. used in offshore oil and EMS/RESCUE. PM with contact, we will talk.

 

[318MoparGuy]

Rocky JS...do you or anyone else have a picture of the location of the side drain holes location on my 73 Dart? I looked all around the cowl area and can't find them. I want to see where they are so when I remove the heater box and driver side air box then I will know what area to work towards. Thanks....

I didn't really have any problems getting the stuff out
from around the hats. I dont have long fingers either. I used a leather glove and just went around the hats, blew with air from any place I had access and when I thought I had all the big stuff out (side drain holes coming clean) I used water to rinse out the remainder.

Also on the side of the cowl in the fender/hood hinge area there are caps on each end. They do reproduce those. If removed they give good access to the cowl vent areas. The fender(s) would need to be removed to get to them though. Not sure what the OP is really dealing with though trapped debris or rust - two different beasts!



Nice job on that repair that is a lot of work. Your old cowl sure was ugly! .

 

[Rocky_JS]

Here are a couple I just took. They are the same at least from 67 to 76 (checked my 75 to be sure)

 

[318MoparGuy]

Thanks Rocky JS for the pics....I saw those but didn't realize they were the drain holes. When you flushed it out with water at the end of cleaning, did you just flush from the top of the cowl by the wipers or from somewhere else....Thanks again for your help.

 

[Rocky_JS]

Yes, for the most part just ran water through the outside cowl vents. I had an advantage in that the fenders, and glass were out of the car as well as the complete dash assy, heater and vent boxes.