Louvered cowl prep???

[Randy Marsh]

Well I just realized that I've never done a complete spray out on a car with a louvered cowl. What's the best method to clean this out? I'm figuring a combo of air and water, then internally coat it with frame coating. I can picture someone not doing this would get a rude surprise when they went to spray this(**** blowing out all over fresh paint).

 

[Moparfiend]

Not sure but possibly some colon prep? Cleans that **** out real good!

 

[Randy Marsh]

Not sure but possibly some colon prep? Cleans that **** out real good!

I shot sample boards with exlax and fleet...both had adhesion problems.

 

[Moparfiend]

The factory painted theirs. A good rust protective barrier is paint. I have used por15 good luck getting that **** off anything you don’t want it on including your skin. And it aint cheap.

 

[Randy Marsh]

The factory painted theirs. A good rust protective barrier is paint. I have used por15 good luck getting that **** off anything you don’t want it on including your skin. And it aint cheap.

Been screwing with cars my whole life and I have never used that crap. Not gonna start on this one. I just want to know how other guys are addressing this semi-enclosed area. Thanks

 

[Jerry Hall]

Most people wash a car good before putting in the booth for paint. That means water goes through the louvers and runs out the drains just like when raining. We do final body prep then wash the car thoroughly. Next the booth is cleaned and the car is pulled in, taped up and draped as necessary. Then it's ready to paint.

 

[Randy Marsh]

Most people wash a car good before putting in the booth for paint. That means water goes through the louvers and runs out the drains just like when raining. We do final body prep then wash the car thoroughly. Next the booth is cleaned and the car is pulled in, taped up and draped as necessary. Then it's ready to paint.

Thanks. This is the one area that's impossible to mask off so I was concerned with blow back. As you know wheel wells, jambing out, ect can bite you without proper prep.

 

[YY1]

Blow it out with air as good as you can several times, and get a good light to look in and make sure there's not still clumps of stuff.

Painting inside is probably not gonna happen unless you have a long wand attachment, and even then it ain't gonna cover the rust prone vent bases well.

 

[YY1]

Even on a 71-74 where you can remove the screens, it's very difficult to get any paint around the outboard vent base areas.

 

[dvw]

Its a difficult area to clean and spray nicely below the cowl vent. This area gets filled with a lot of debris. Especially early B body and E body. Clean with anything you can get down there. Flexible air hose works well. Make sure the drains aren't plugged under the fenders. As far as POR 15 being (crap). We've found nothing seals inaccessible old body seams better. Spray it in with a hand pressure weed sprayer. Let it bleed through the seam. We tape the lower firewall as it will run over it. Almost impossible to remove once its dry Otherwise tell me how you are going to seal the upper to lower cowl, outer 1/4 panel to wheel house? Works great in the lower doors as well.
Doug

 

[69L48Z27]

That cowl area is difficult for sure. Last car I did was sand blasted and I blew it out about 100 times. Even used a pressure washer after primer and block sanding was down. When you seal the car just blow some down in there and then repeat with paint stages. I only had a little blow out with sealer stage. We de-nibbed those couple pieces of sand and painted the car. If your planning to wet sand and buff you can dig a little trash out. As fas getting down in there I wouldn’t worry about it. If the car lasted 50 years without issue, sitting in the garage and seeing an occasion wash and rain storm isn’t going turn the car to rot.

 

[Ski 61701]

Eastwood makes a zinc primer in a spray can. It has a flexible hose and the end of it has a metal nozzle that gives a fan like spray pattern. I'll grab a piece of welding wire and tape the hose to it, thus giving you control of the spray. I've done several cars with this and it works very well. You can have runs via the cracks /gaps of the seams. So if your top coat matters, be careful, this paint will not wipe completely off. I have a better piece of mind now knowing metal in the cowl is covered.
Like others say, clean clean clean it out, dry it real good and spray away.
I have also coated the inside of doors, in the support webbing of the hood and decklids also.

 

[khryslerkid]

I used what Ski used from Eastwood but I'm thinking it was a encapsulater.

I rigged up a 1/2" rubber hose on my shop vac and went in through the hole on the firewall. I must have pulled out a 2 gal bucket full of mulch type of debris out of there. Rigged up air hoses the same way and blew it out both sides into the top of the driver's side fender and down into the passenger side fender. Removed the fresh air duct under the dash where it goes into the kick panel and vacuumed out that spot also. If both fenders were off it might be easier to get at any debris that you blow out.

This is what the inside looked like after cleaning out the debris.

Then I taped up the louvers. Takes a little time but there's a trick to it. Tape completely over them, then use a razor to cut in the middle of each louver and fold it down.

Then I used the encapsulator through the hole in the firewall in both directions and sprayed though the louvers for the rest of it. I did this right before painting the engine compartment. As I painted the engine compartment I sprayed that paint into the louvers. This way you don't have to worry about paint build-up on the louvers because they are taped. Remove the tape and paint the rest of the car when you are ready.

 

[Randy Marsh]

The product several of you mentioned is probably internal frame coating from Eastwood. I've used it on many internal structures, and was planning on using it in this situation too. Thanks

 

[khryslerkid]

The product several of you mentioned is probably internal frame coating from Eastwood. I've used it on many internal structures, and was planning on using it in this situation too. Thanks

I'd have to look through my receipts but I do remember it was paintable. They were changing things with the product back then and the new can didn't have a hose attached anymore. I had to search several places for the original can. It was a paintable rust encapsulator that came in white.

I had some left over and painted the underside of my push mower. It's still on there and it shows no signs of coming off.

 

[Jhn824]

Its a difficult area to clean and spray nicely below the cowl vent. This area gets filled with a lot of debris. Especially early B body and E body. Clean with anything you can get down there. Flexible air hose works well. Make sure the drains aren't plugged under the fenders. As far as POR 15 being (crap). We've found nothing seals inaccessible old body seams better. Spray it in with a hand pressure weed sprayer. Let it bleed through the seam. We tape the lower firewall as it will run over it. Almost impossible to remove once its dry Otherwise tell me how you are going to seal the upper to lower cowl, outer 1/4 panel to wheel house? Works great in the lower doors as well.
Doug

So...how do you get that weed sprayer clean? or is it a one time use and toss it?

 

[dvw]

Throw it away when done.
Doug

 

[Jhn824]

Throw it away when done.
Doug

Haha...thought so ..POR paint is some serious stuff when its dry... even on your skin! Its like a 2 week wear it off!!