Another B Body cowl rust story.

[Redpolara]

Well here it is and it's not good, I knew I was in for a battle when I bought the car a few years ago......now i've finally bitten the bullet.
I don't have a camera at the moment, so i'll be getting a friend to take pics when he drops in with camera in hand.

You can see the upper cowl above the brake booster has issues.....it gets worse much worse.
Check out the fiberglass ridden cowl/firewall seam........oooh yeah this is gonna get ugly.

 

[Donny]

Huh? Yank that puppy off, so we can see the real rot underneath!!!

 

[Redpolara]

Stay tuned Donny, all will be revealed.......unfortunately.

 

[1badgtx]

Bummer man...I guess we in calif are lucky...Most of the cars we find are not that bad...
Petty Blue 67 GTX

 

[Polara Pat]

This is a pretty common sight for cars that we pick up in the Pacific NW. I am currently breaking down a '64 Belvedere wagon right now with a really descent looking cowl. Unfortunately, shipping South of the border would rarely make it worth while and Australia would be ludicrous for shipping.

 

[Redpolara]

This car spent part of it's life in Bradenton Florida but was pulled from a wrecking yard in Georgia around the mid 90's.
Strangely enough, it's factory RHD but......Canada didn't build 500 series Polaras in 64.
You'd think someone??? would remember seeing a RHD 64 Polara in Florida or Georgia.

 

[65-440]

another crappy story..... good luck to ya bro, i know thats a pain in the neck job !!

 

[Endangered Species]

My 65 Plymouth has rot in the same place, I'll bet you'll find insulation where the heater box sets against the fire wall. You're probably going to have to pull the dash to see how bad it is, the inner cowl probably has some rot also.
Hit it with a wire wheel and you'll find the bad spots.

Keep us updated.

Kevin

 

[Al K]

This car spent part of it's life in Bradenton Florida but was pulled from a wrecking yard in Georgia around the mid 90's.
Strangely enough, it's factory RHD but......Canada didn't build 500 series Polaras in 64.
You'd think someone??? would remember seeing a RHD 64 Polara in Florida or Georgia.

I'm glad you clarified that RHD thing;I looked at that first pic and thought that something I may have ingested back in the '70's was coming back to haunt me...:whew:

 

[detmatt1]

I'm glad you clarified that RHD thing;I looked at that first pic and thought that something I may have ingested back in the '70's was coming back to haunt me...:whew:

Caught me off gaurd too, WTF is the master cylinder doing on the passenger side?, then I saw it was posted by an Aussie.
Keep us posted on your progress, sorry about your rust, I can relate.

 

[Redpolara]

I'm glad you clarified that RHD thing;I looked at that first pic and thought that something I may have ingested back in the '70's was coming back to haunt me...:whew:

Sorry about the flashback Al :hippy2:

 

[Redpolara]

Here's another pic, the cowl drain area (below the starter relay) is completely constructed of fiberglass, including the entire corner where it meets the inner fender.....it looks rough even in this bad pic.

 

[khryslerkid]

It's not as bad as some I have seen. It will look worse when you start to strip off the paint and fiberglass but you can do it! On a firewall you can fabricate your own pieces to replace whats bad and it will look just fine.

I had a '64 that I don't think kemo would have helped it, the rust was so bad. I sold it thinking it was too much for myself to take on. After seeing some of the car restos on this site I kinda wish I would have hung on to it and gave it a try. Check out some of these '68, '70s RRs on here for some self motivation. You won't believe your eyes!

This is the one that I sold. Check out the factory tach!

[/ATTACH][/ATTACH][/ATTACH]

 

[Redpolara]

**** oh dear, is that bondo and flyscreen on the outer cowl?

 

[khryslerkid]

Your's is looking better already!

 

[Satellite65]

Geez, that's even worse than mine was. I had to make an inner cowl patch, the outer was available from Kramer but only the drivers side got hammered with rust. The pass side stayed pretty clean for whatever reason. The rest of the car looks about the same as mine did 14 years ago. How long ago were these photos taken?

 

[WmBaldwin57]

Dude, sorry krysler kid, mine looks like a show car now I have a hidden gem, some guy threw some paint over it to make it look good bud obviously did no body work, it is bubbling up in a number of places... But we can rebuild it, we have the technology

 

[Propwash]

Yikes...Looks like you got your work cut out for you Red. Gotta love prior owners so called "good ideas." Looking forward to watching the fix.

 

[Redpolara]

Your right Propwash, there'd be thousands of cars out there that would've been better off left original as opposed to dickheads doing this kind of "Budget Build".......or whatever they call it.

I spoke to the previous owner recently, apparently he paid someone to do the cowl repair........geeeeezuz.....the owner should've been paid compensation instead.
The fiberglass wasn't exclusive to the cowl,nooooo....it was dripped all over the old throttle linkage, bellhousing, engine block, rocker covers, brake pipes. He must've been on a roll by then and figured........hey why not chuck some on the starter motor for good measure.
Luckily I can see the funny side of this type of skill deficiency.

 

[crossram 426]

Geez....I'm glad mine was from LA and when I pulled the front guards it was sweet as...
good luck with the job....there's been some cheapish phoenixs out here for sale recently may be able to pick one up and pinch the complete firewall.