Anyone seen a sealed cowl?

[LUCAFU1]

ive been searching but no joy. Im thinking about welding shut my cowl since i removed everything under the day and have no need for it really. there isnt any rust in there just a bunch of straw (from palo verde trees......AZ thing). i was think about cutting the grill out and welding it shut after. maybe i can hid some wiring in there or something.

anyway has anyone seen this or have some pics? thanks

Luis

 

[Ronstang]

I have seen it done before but I do not like the look and I like the vents myself. Your call.

 

[frost0100]

couldn't you just weld something up and paint it black - I think it would look pretty much stock but get you where you want to be to run hidden wires. I've seen some people put their MSD box in there to hide it.

 

[tweet66]

I did it years ago to my coupe. I'll take some pics today and post them. The biggest problem was in suppling air to the heater to keep it functional. I ran flexible tubing under the front fender to just above the tire. I tried varying the length of the tube to get the best flow/pressure through an open vent door and directly above the wheel seemed to produce the best air flow. It's not as efficient as the cowl for airflow but it'll defrost the windows well enough.

 

[LUCAFU1]

I did it years ago to my coupe. I'll take some pics today and post them. The biggest problem was in suppling air to the heater to keep it functional. I ran flexible tubing under the front fender to just above the tire. I tried varying the length of the tube to get the best flow/pressure through an open vent door and directly above the wheel seemed to produce the best air flow. It's not as efficient as the cowl for airflow but it'll defrost the windows well enough.

thanks, that would be great. I dont have a heater BTW>

 

[iskwezm]

mine is welded, and most people cant even tell

 

[LUCAFU1]

mine is welded, and most people cant even tell

sweet. if possible can you post some pics? thanks

Luis

 

[iskwezm]

sweet. if possible can you post some pics? thanks

Luis

View attachment 462906

 

[LUCAFU1]

Thank you Very Much!!!!!!!
those pics convinced me =)
very nice!

 

[PJx5x]

im thinking about doing this to my car as well, but i thought about running beads in it, to make it look like a vent. how do you guys think that would look?

 

[reenmachine]

I tried varying the length of the tube to get the best flow/pressure through an open vent door and directly above the wheel seemed to produce the best air flow.

Interesting that you should observe this. In fact, the wheel acts as a pump in the wheelwell and creates a high pressure area above it. This is why you see vents in the bodywork directly above the wheels on many racecars. You're harnessing that high pressure area.

We smoothed the cowl on a customer's 67 recently. There's no fresh air vent anymore anyway, and the Classic Auto Air A/C is recirc only so the vent isn't missed. It looks killer IMHO and it's one of those subtle things you wouldn't even notice unless someone pointed it out to you.

 

[67Dylan]

View attachment 451021

That looks very nice and have convinced me as well. What color is that? I really like it

 

[sc0ttiej]

i've sealed my 70. process is a bit different than on the earlier models. there's a removable cowl cover, so once the car's painted, you won't be able to tell that i've changed anything. below the exterior cowl cover, there's the actual cowl lid with two large access holes for the wiper motors, those have to stay accessable, so i just fabbed some covers that should seal well with some strip calking.

while the inner cowl lid was off (had some serious rot to fix), i also sealed the side vent cavities, so i could install speakers without worrying about water coming in. i installed small drains and hoses at the lowest point on both sides just in case any water should get in. air circulation is achieved by a vent under the drivers side fender that accepts a plastic garden irrigation fitting to act as a scoop (which also allows me to run a 5" flexible tube to the front should i run into any air restriction problems). i should defintitely have some serious air flow while i'm moving, though i'm a little concerned about the flow at a stop. hopefully it won't put a drag on the fan motor. unfortuntely none of this has been put to the test, since i'm still finishing the build, but i hope i covered all the bases.... though if anyone see's anything i missed, PLEASE tell me now thanks

 

[chromedog]

even though i like the look of the filled cowl pictured, i went to the trouble ,and expense of finding a clean replacement panel, drilling a ton of spot welds, and welding a new one in.in retrospect, i think i would be just as happy filling it in...(as a bodyman/painter by trade, i would say thats house of colors tangerine pearl...)

 

[iskwezm]

That looks very nice and have convinced me as well. What color is that? I really like it

its HOK Tangelo Pearl over a white base with a little gold to make it different.

 

[1965stangcoupe]

Do you have any pictures that shows the sealed cowl from farther away?(actually pictures from all angles of the car would be cool!) What did you do to get air to the heater?

 

[iskwezm]

Do you have any pictures that shows the sealed cowl from farther away?(actually pictures from all angles of the car would be cool!) What did you do to get air to the heater?

the heater works fine since its not completely air tight in the cowl, just no fresh air, but the smell of 100+ octane is good enough for me

I'll have to get some pics for you, this is all i have right now.

 

[67 GTA]

I was thinking about doing that to my fastback until I saw this pic. It is supposed to cool the engine compartment by 20% more with the cooling slots in the cowl. Now I can't decide.

 

[1965stangcoupe]

I was thinking about doing that to my fastback until I saw this pic. It is supposed to cool the engine compartment by 20% more with the cooling slots in the cowl. Now I can't decide.

I supose if I were to seal my cowl vent then these slots would provide plenty of air to the heater? Any feedback would be cool! I was wondering also is this at all a structural area?

Iskwezm

Did you do anything for extra air to the heater or do you just have the drains on each side going into the fender area?

 

[67 GTA]

I haven't done anything to mine yet. This was a pic of someone else's car. If you cut the slots then you leave the cowls open and direct air over the engine through the slots. I have bypassed the cowls for my heater. That was why I was looking at sealing them off, but this pic has almost changed my mind.