Cowl Clean-out

speedbanana1977 · Aug 21, 2019

Has anyone used a hole saw to cut an opening at the top of the firewall in order to clean out the cowl opening? Mine is full of 50 years of garbage and I don't want to take the fenders off. I see a few places where people have cut that section open and then welded it back up, but would cutting a 1"-2" hole and then using a rubber body plug be a good idea?

Darter6 · Aug 21, 2019

Sure it can be done. I used a flexable air gun and snaked it as far as I could. I was doing a 64 Dart and the cowl plugs were already there.See Photo. It is a messy job.Using air from the top cowl vents and back again thru the plug openings. Don't for get to open the kick panel vents too and blow them out.

R413 · Aug 21, 2019

NO! Don’t cut any holes, and removing the fender does nothing for access.

Remove your heater box and the drivers side vent, then you have two huge holes to access the cowl and clean it out. They are smooth and you are not going to cut yourself.

You can reach in and pull out the bulk of the debris, then shop vac it out. Then run water in there, there are drains holes on each side. There is a raised up dams around both these huge holes so water won’t get inside the interior.

Top pics is pass side, bottom pic is drivers side.

66 Sat · Aug 21, 2019

Yeah I did. I cut an opening big enough for my hand to go in, and kept the piece I cut out to put back in. I had a huge mouse nest both sides, as well as leaves, sand etc. It fixed the leaks I was having. I was able to get a wire brush in there and clean the area thoroughly before painting it. There was only surface rust remarkably and it all came out well. Much easier than removing the windshield, top of cowl etc on a '66, plus I was painting the engine bay anyway.

R413 · Aug 21, 2019

The holes you cut are smaller than the factory holes underneath the cowl.

Time consuming? How about the time repairing the damage done to your car?

If you can Remove the heater and vent boxes, clean the mess and put it back together and it takes you all day, you are time ahead on fixing the damage pictured above. And you are slow! LOL

747mopar · Aug 21, 2019

R413 said:
NO! Don’t cut any holes, and removing the fender does nothing for access.

Remove your heater box and the drivers side vent, then you have two huge holes to access the cowl and clean it out.

You can reach in and pull out the bulk of it, then shop vac it out. Then run water in there, there are drains holes on each side. There is a raised up dams around both these huge holes so water won’t get inside the interior.

If doing this get a kids help, your wrist gets all distorted reaching over the extension inside. They have fairly decent sized holes in the front corners under the fenders, I'd try flushing enough water through it to loosen things up and hope it drains. Those holes are way bigger than the vent openings so went in should come out once loosened up.

66 Sat · Aug 21, 2019

R413 said:
NO! Don’t cut any holes, and removing the fender does nothing for access.

Remove your heater box and the drivers side vent, then you have two huge holes to access the cowl and clean it out. They are smooth and you are not going to cut yourself.

View attachment 821479 View attachment 821480

You're right and I agree that's a better way to do it on a really nice original car. Saying that, disconnecting everything and pulling the heater box is no easy task on a car with a full interior, and where I was at with my project it suited me better to go from the engine bay side which was a real mess anyway.

Cowl Clean-out

speedbanana1977

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Darter6

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R413

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66 Sat

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R413

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747mopar

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66 Sat

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