At least I can say I got something done over the winter, just not what I would like to have done..

 

I like it John.

 

Looks nice

 

My intentions for this build was to keep it fairly stock looking but after reading through bjmayberry2's thread on cowl seal https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...vent-seal.html
I went out and dry fit the seal on my cab



You'll notice I bought the top quality one


These damn things are not the easiest contraptions to install and can see where you'd have to be careful not to chip any paint


Not the greatest picture here but as hard as I pressed down I couldn't get the vent lid to lay flush with the rest of the cowl.
So the next step is to do what I did to the other builds and close it off completely


Cleaned up a spare vent , cut the underside screen off and will start welding tomorrow..

Hoping my decision to keep the vent windows isn't a fail either...lol

 

My 54 cowl vent lid lays flat and doesn't leak. But the rubber gasket was put on on 1999. And it was hard to put on correctly.

I got my 55 painted in 2018. I bought a cowl vent rubber to put on. But I didn't take the original one off. And it doesn't leak.

Maybe I'm lucky.
​​​

 

tack welded the lid in place and used a piece of 1/8" thick flat bar to fill in the front portion..


finished welding it in place and then cleaned up the welds


Then hid the mess with some body filler..



touched up a few divots and will spray again with some epoxy tomorrow..

 

Did you cut out the structure under the lid, or just weld the cap over it?

 

I cut all the screen under it, the lid is a double layer of metal. I kept the one that came with the Mercury. The one I used the screen was damaged..If you're talking about the area that holds the rubber , it's still there..

 

Nice work sir!

 

Good job John, looks great!

 

I bet that won't leak.....

 

I'll keep an eye on it Mike...

 

Are you planing on ac in this one John ? It's unfortunate that these vents are so trouble some because they do flow a huge amount of air . My coupe's rear window goes down ( not sure if this was to talk to people in the rumble seat or ventilation ) but with the small window area and the huge amount of air movement it really doesn't need ac .

 

A/C is a must Ted, have it in all my vehicles that's why I'm closing it off..

 

Few more pieces of the puzzle arrived today


Windshield trim moldings and my new grille