Crud in the vent, how do I get it out?

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Project_Fish

I'm on a Low Budget!
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67 Barracuda with years of leafs trapped, how do I clean?

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Fashion a vacuum hose and stick it up the fresh air vents. You may have to "remove stuff" If you feel like pulling the front fenders, there are some little drain gizmos at the ends of the cowl cavity. Too bad, isn't it, that Mopar did not give us a removable grille panel there?
 
Fashion a vacuum hose and stick it up the fresh air vents. You may have to "remove stuff" If you feel like pulling the front fenders, there are some little drain gizmos at the ends of the cowl cavity. Too bad, isn't it, that Mopar did not give us a removable grille panel there?
I opened up the vents and spun her up to 70. The stuff blows out. LMFAO! Open the doors, reach up inside and grab what you can. Vacuum out what you can. You might have to remove the vent assemblies to get up inside to blow it out with compressed air. Oh it leaves a mess but much better than the leaves holding on to the moisture after a rain or a wash. Bad for cowl rust.
 
Fashion a vacuum hose and stick it up the fresh air vents. You may have to "remove stuff" If you feel like pulling the front fenders, there are some little drain gizmos at the ends of the cowl cavity. Too bad, isn't it, that Mopar did not give us a removable grille panel there?
Dang. More difficult than I was expecting. Thanks
 
Depending on your car you can cut a good sized hole from the engine compartment side or cut a large hole from the door hinge side. That will give you great access so you can clean it out properly then undercoat everything. Then you just weld up the hole and paint. But some folks don't like cutting up their car. I would much prefer to get the area good and clean and undercoat because IT WILL RUST in there!!!

OH, I forgot......the cowl drains (including all the crud) into a pocket at the back (bottom) of the front fender. So if you don't also clean out that pocket the rear/bottom end of the front fender will also soon rust!!!!
 
I'll tell you how I plan to do mine. It has some surface rust in the cowl area.....thank goodness no worse than that. I plan to eventually remove the fenders as I do the body work. Once removed, I am going to cut access holes on either side of the cowl so I can get in there and blast the rust out epoxy prime the hell out of everything and then paint it. I'll probably paint it with a heavy coat of Rustoleum black.
 
I'll tell you how I plan to do mine. It has some surface rust in the cowl area.....thank goodness no worse than that. I plan to eventually remove the fenders as I do the body work. Once removed, I am going to cut access holes on either side of the cowl so I can get in there and blast the rust out epoxy prime the hell out of everything and then paint it. I'll probably paint it with a heavy coat of Rustoleum black.
That's not fair......you read my post!!!!!!!:mad::mob::poke::BangHead:

Brush on undercoat will last a lot longer!!
 
That's not fair......you read my post!!!!!!!:mad::mob::poke::BangHead:

Brush on undercoat will last a lot longer!!

You think so? Really? I don't know. Maybe. And I didn't to either read your post. lol
 
I'll tell you how I plan to do mine. It has some surface rust in the cowl area.....thank goodness no worse than that. I plan to eventually remove the fenders as I do the body work. Once removed, I am going to cut access holes on either side of the cowl so I can get in there and blast the rust out epoxy prime the hell out of everything and then paint it. I'll probably paint it with a heavy coat of Rustoleum black.
Please post picks once you do this, I would like to see.
 
I’ve thought about drilling holes and using rubber plugs from McMaster Carr
 
I used compressed air when I was tearing down my car. It was full of mouse piss and poop and nests. It was nasty and I think it is still making me itch just thinking about it! Nasty! That stuff was flying everywhere!
 
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Run it down the highway, open the inside vent door at about 60 MPH, just be sure you're wearing safety goggles. LOL
 
What debris that does go out the little drain openings ends up behind the dog leg section of the fender. Spacer washers and 2 bolts in the frame rail provide very little opening to the ground. You can remove those bolts and spacers. If no rocker molding you can pull the fender outward a bit too.
 
I just had an epiphany....my valiant/dart are drivers. So what I just did is ordered two trunk plugs. I will cut a round hole and feed a shop vac in. Then I’ll plug it with the rubber trunk plug. I’ll post up once I get it done...I’ll do it to the valiant first to see proof of concept
 
When that space has been full of crud for years it turns into mush from the rain and snow. Once it becomes mush it turns into a paste and then it hardens. Best solution is to cut out a large circle (8 to10) inches in diameter on each side so u can get ur hand in there and scrape all the hardened crap out of there. A vacuum won't get all the hardened crud out of there. Once it's good and clean all u need to do is get a brush and some good undercoat and cover every inch inside there. Even with the big hole I still had to attach the brush to a long stick to get into all the nooks and crannies. Then u weld up the piece that u cut out, grind the welds and paint.
 
I just had an epiphany....my valiant/dart are drivers. So what I just did is ordered two trunk plugs. I will cut a round hole and feed a shop vac in. Then I’ll plug it with the rubber trunk plug. I’ll post up once I get it done...I’ll do it to the valiant first to see proof of concept
You'll defeat the firewalls function.
 
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On a related subject, if you got a bunch of stuff there, your heater box probably looks just like it!
 
When that space has been full of crud for years it turns into mush from the rain and snow. Once it becomes mush it turns into a paste and then it hardens. Best solution is to cut out a large circle (8 to10) inches in diameter on each side so u can get ur hand in there and scrape all the hardened crap out of there. A vacuum won't get all the hardened crud out of there. Once it's good and clean all u need to do is get a brush and some good undercoat and cover every inch inside there. Even with the big hole I still had to attach the brush to a long stick to get into all the nooks and crannies. Then u weld up the piece that u cut out, grind the welds and paint.
You guys were supposed to tell me to reach under the dash, remove a cover, clean, put the cover back with two small screws????
Why Mopar Why???
 
On a related subject, if you got a bunch of stuff there, your heater box probably looks just like it!
Yep. Pretty sure I set some kinda record for a heater box tear down when mine started smoldering...:eek: :wtf:
 
high pressure water can remove that from the cowl area but just remember that all that crud ends up at the bottom of the fenders at the front of the doors . you must unbolt the bolt the bottom of the fender wheel splash shields to get that crud all the way out of it rusted the bottom of the fenders and sills

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