I have water coming in and dripping down on my fuse box in my 66 f250 4x4 when it rains or i wash the vehicle. I dont have a hood to cab gasket right now. One should be here tomorrow, but i have a feeling it's not going to fix the problem. My windshield gasket looks new so the next place is going to be a rusted out cowl. And with my luck thats what it will be. Is there a way to fix them without messing the paint up? I know mustangs you can cut in the engine compartment and fix it. Can i do the same on my 66?

 

Theres a lot of crap in there too.

 

I hope it's not a rusted-out cowl. Most leaks in that area are caused by a failed wiper drive gasket. If that's it, you're in luck.

 

Mine leaked around my new windshield gasket. I had a glass company ad some sealer that you cannot see and it took care of it. Good luck.

 

I read about those gaskets last night. I'm not even sure i have any gaskets at all. The guy that owned the truck before me got a pretty crappy restoration done on the body. It looks good from a distance but once you really look at it you see all the issues. But thats OK. I was looking for a project. The cab to hood gasket is missing right now too. I got one on the way but i don't really think that will fix where i see the water coming in. I eventually have to paint it again anyway but don't want to do it for a few years. If i can go in from inside the engine compartment i will be ok with that. I can always weld my holes closed or make cleanout doors. I haven't checked it out real good yet since i just got the truck.

 

Hey, i just went out and looked and there are already little square cleanouts where i can hopefully get in there. We will see.

 

While reassembling my 65 I came across this article and surprised to find considerable amount of water is routed thru various relief channels and cavities; cowl, fenders, cab, etc, and on my 65 were blocked with dirt or debris, restricting the out flow of water run off. IMO, article was very helpful and would suggest one tour the other articles; particularly if considering the F100 Disc. upgrade. Anyhow, food for thought?



f100rust

 

I got some done on the old girl today. Took apart a lot of the stuff bolted to the firewall so i could get up in there and find this leak. I took out the clutch and brake pedals and moved a lot of the wires out of the way. It all went really easy. Only issues i had were when i pulled one of the connectors apart one of the prongs broke off. Then i noticed a wire that broke off the brake master cylinder. Im assuming that was for my brake lighrs. I hope i didnt cause any other electrical problems because i plan on rewiring but not for a while.

I found the leak. There is a hole in the top piece of metal in the seam. Unfortunately that is inside the cowl. Then another piece of metal is layered over it. I really dont know how im going to fix it. I want to fix it so its good for a really long time without ripping off the whole cowl. The only thing i have come up with so far is to cut the area under the hood where there is already a cleanout but out to the sides more. Unfortunately to get in there to work the holes will probably end up big. I can weld so i guess thats a good thing. Some people say to just spray bed liner in there through the grate but i just can't bring myself to do that. I want to save the truck not hide the rust so it can spred without being noticed. Plus there has to be a drain in there somewhere and if you spray it full of bed liner then you will have a bigger problem then before.

Anybody have any good ideas on how to fix this? Where the water comes from. Outside of leak area Uht oh. Something stayed that wasnt supposed to. Looks like a big can of worms just got opened. I suppose i can just splice the wire outside of the connector to get me through until i get a new harness. Stripped everything down.


Found the problem. Just as i suspected a hole in the cowl. If you look just a little to the right of the rectangle hole you will see a little area hanging down in the seam. Thats where the hole is. And if i poke in there i can feel the metal is thin around the hole. Now what!!! Cleanout in the middle of cowl. I think i might have to make some new ones on the sides. The ones that are there don't go to the cowl, they go to the inner fender door jam area.

 

I had to remove my cowl to repair some rust inside of there ........ NOT and easy task . It requires drilling out all of the spot welds along the front lip above the firewall , spot welds all along the edge where it folds up above the fender , all the spot welds along the lower windshield channel which means pulling the glass , and more spot welds all around the A pillar area, and where the cowl wraps into the door pocket top hinge area . I stopped counting at 130 spot welds and 3 cutter heads and a day and a half later it was off the truck . by the way my hood and fenders were already off so factor that time in as well , it is No easy task to pull a cowl .

 

So today after work i decided to go for it and cut this beast up! Magically some new cleanouts appeared that help me get right to the rusted area. I really wish i didnt have to cut holes but i couldn't come up with any better way to get to the leak and not destroy my paint. Ive decided i will make one big cover for each side to cover the holes. I was planning on welding the holes back up but i think it might be nice to be able to get in there to clean things out every once in a while.

Now i need to figure out how im going to deal with the rust holes. Not sure i would be able to get in there to weld, i would like to clean the rust out of the whole cowl area. I definitely want to seam seal the whole front edge. I should be able to do that with no problem but the fun part is going to be cleaning the rust out of the seam so im not covering up bad. The good news is its not rotted all the way across. Just the one spot. Anybody have any good ideas for me?

 

Sand or soda blast the inside area, spray in a good rustoleum/rust converter product and then seal and paint. I like the access holes you made. Nice, clean and uniform. I may have to do the same thing to one of my trucks.

 

did you ever fix the hole?

 

I'm hoping those holes are now covered by a Nascar-style cowl plenum air intake...

 

.....that feeds a NASCAR S-code, BOSS 429 powerplant!

BarnieTrk