Upper Cowl Alignment Help

[tim95gt]

Hey guys,

Been a while since I have posted anything on here. Sorry I don't have pics but I could use some advice from the more experienced here. I have been working on my 66 trying to repair the cowl. I have the patches welded in and I am trying to get the upper cowl back in to position to weld it in. I can get it to line up on the front lip from upper cowl to firewall and I can get it to line up from upper cowl to dash. I am having trouble getting the upper lip of the lower cowl to line up nice and or flat with the horizontal lip of the upper cowl right near where it gets welded to the dash. I have tried some screws to hold it together and pull it together better but no luck. when I try to line it up the holes where I drilled out the spot welds leave a gap to the lower panel and only line up halfway so that the curve to the sloped section is right in the middle of the hole to weld in. As I said I have tried screws and even tried pressing on the lower cowl from underneath to try and get it to line up and then screw it together but I just cant get them to line up well/ Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[horse sence]

Some pics would really help .Try clamps to pull everything in place .These panels usually set pretty close ,is something bent ?

 

[tim95gt]

Nothing seems bent. I will try to post some pics later tonight. The problem with clamps is that you cant get clamps between these to panels. Thats why I was trying to push them together and use screws. To hold them.

 

[tim95gt]

The dash is on the left and the flat part of the upper and lower cowl are on the right which us what I cant line up

 

[horse sence]

It looks like the lower lip the cowl sets on is bent down away from the cowl .bend it up until the cowl rests on it . what you need to pinch the lip together is a pair or two of clamps with the wide blade type jaws for clamping edges . you can get them at home Depot or any welding supply store.
This first pair is for plug welding the second pair is for clamping an edge .

 

[horse sence]

A pair of the long jaw clamps will help in some areas

 

[tim95gt]

thanks for the quick replies.
I can try bending it up to get that one part screwed together but I cant see any way clams will fit that area as they would have to reach all the way around and under the dash to try and press them together. If I bend it up though I don't think the flange to the dash will fit back correctly.