any tips on cleaning out the cowl?

-
Thanks Rocky for the info...PO (original owner) had it in the garage most of the time as the black dash pad, door panels and really the whole interior is in perfect condition except for the new carpet. People at the car shows are always amazed when they look at the inside. So I am hoping it just needs a good cleaning in there.
Thanks again....
 
I guess i got lucky my car spent its whole life in west texas. So not too many rust issues there, However i dissassembled the whole car for its redo. With both the left and right air inlets in the cowl accessable with everything removed i kept reaching in on both sides and digging i got a pile of leaves and dirt out. I then rolled the shell outside, and used a 2 foot long thin tube air blower to go inside the cowl drain out holes and blow the remaining leaves and dirt around. I had leaves and dirt coming out the cowl vent, inlet tubes and such. Kept working with the air blower for about 30 kinutes until i got no more dirt and leaves to come out. At this point i swept up all the dirt and leaves. Almost 10 pounds of red clay texas dirt. I then rinsed the cowl out with a garden hose till i got clear water.
 
I read the posts on cleaning out the cowl debris, but I can't find the air boxes with the handle to open up on my 73 A/C Dart to get to cleanout areas. Am I looking in the wrong area under the dash or is the underdash venting setup different on a 73 Dart? Always enjoy gaining knowledge reading the posts on all forums.
Thanks
 
thanka for all the replies guys

(I'm out of the country for a few weeks and internet here sucks and on top of that I'm on a n apple which sucks)
 
I ended up cutting my cowl off. I'll post some pics on my thread. It was a wreck. I'd love to know why they did what they did.
 
spl440 said:
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.
Click to expand...

Shades of Nascar!
 

Attachments

  • superbird intake.jpg
    28.4 KB · Views: 482
lilnoah said:
goggles on and an air hose or drive with fresh air doors open at 80 or faster
Click to expand...

Last summer I was cruising down a long road out in the middle of nowhere and decided to open up the throttle and see what she'd do... at about 75 mph there was an explosion of pine needles and old leaves that blew out from under the dash from those doors. Hasn't happened since so I suppose this is a viable way to clean the sucker out.
 
I guess you probably should wear a pair of swimming goggles if you are gonna do the 75mph blow out.
 
I got it figured out :)

(well, mostly)


meet my "new" fresh air doors











that should catch all but the smallest particles
(the screen is metal, it used to be on top of a terrarium)

I figured this way I can ride it, and the big stuff will get caught in the screen
when it fill up I can vacuum it out and be good again


ill most likely cut a few covers from sheetmetal to put behind there for the colder evening
 
RzeroB said:
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.
Click to expand...

My buddy had a 'Lil Red Express and the dual snorkel air cleaner had a vacuum pot on each side. One was to close one of the vents, the other was to toggle between the fresh air and manifold heater. Under cruise, there's enough vacuum to hold the doors open for manifold heat, get into the throttle and the fresh air doors open up. My '72-style air clean has a similar setup but a big trap door at the back of the cleaner base.

Could be a cool idea. :cool:
 
jay 340 extremely intrigued by your idea is there way you can show a drawing since i will probably or most likely will be doing this type of set up
 
josekh7 said:
spl440- do you have any issues with AC and your set up?
Click to expand...

No issues with the AC and the air cleaner. If you notice on the passenger side air cleaner tube, it rises up just a little then back down to clear the AC hoses. The tubes where hand rolled then welded on a old air cleaner I had sitting around. Then just some foam glued to the end tube plates pushed up against the cowl.
 
what about any noticible cahnges in engine performence while runing ac, i ask because it seems to me it would deprive the engine of air while the AC is runing, right? doesn't the cowl feed the ac ventilation system?
 
josekh7 said:
jay 340 extremely intrigued by your idea is there way you can show a drawing since i will probably or most likely will be doing this type of set up
Click to expand...

Hmm. Not sure my MS paint skills are up to snuff for that, but I could try something lol.
 
josekh7 said:
what about any noticible cahnges in engine performence while runing ac, i ask because it seems to me it would deprive the engine of air while the AC is runing, right? doesn't the cowl feed the ac ventilation system?
Click to expand...

In the south only run recycle a/c, which means that no outside air is induced, only recirculates inside air. even when cruising and wanted to run with outside air and a/c do not see a problem because of low throttle needed for cruise. Added a throttle switch for over 3/4 throttle to cut the a/c for my car.
 
I know when I cleaned my duster cowl vent out the only way I could get totally clean was to remove the fenders.
All the crap you blow out of the cowl will end up in the bottom of your fenders.
Rotted cowl or fender bottoms, take your pick.
 
Would it be ok just to seal the cowl vent openings. I would be using an aftermarket a.c. system. Or is that asking for trouble. Please no laughing :)
 
I would like to know this also. it's been raining and i have water gushing out of the boxes
 
Cdagger275 said:
Would it be ok just to seal the cowl vent openings. I would be using an aftermarket a.c. system. Or is that asking for trouble. Please no laughing :)
Click to expand...

If you're talking about sealing the holes on the bottom side of the cowl, you're asking for trouble. If the cowl stopped draining, it would fill up with water and you wouldn't know it.

If you really wanted to eliminate the inside cowl vents, the best way to do it would be remove the upper cowl vent opening (the grille behind the hood) and replace it with sheetmetal. Of course, your A/C would have to be able to recirculate cabin air for that to work, there'd be no fresh air intake on the outside of the car.

cuda_roller said:
I would like to know this also. it's been raining and i have water gushing out of the boxes
Click to expand...

That's because the cowl isn't draining properly. The inside vents have a raised lip on the inside of the cowl, if water is coming in it's because the cowl drains are plugged and the water is coming in over the top of the ~1/2" tall lip. You need to clean out the cowl and drains. Either that or the lip is completely rusted out. Courtesy of 66Dvert from earlier

What the inside of the lower cowl should look like. The lip should keep water from coming in the vents....

attachment.php


What can happen if crap sits in the cowl for too long. Water would definitely be coming in the vents on this one. Plugging the vents would not fix this!

attachment.php


Here's another one from another thread, showing a rusted out lip on the inside of the cowl...

attachment.php
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top