from arrowheadfred "I was thinking about boxing it in under the dash and making a air induction system out of it."
WHAT A GREAT IDEA !
If you used something like an old caddy air cleaner turned backward.....wheels are squeakin
ED

 

True same thing here, I thought I was fitting the cover wrong, Julies, do you have pics of what you used?

 

I've tried a couple things. I initially used a piece of 3/8 rubber hose - like vacuum hose not the gas line. And it worked well.

I also tried a piece of the sponge rubber fender to cowl welt off the 51/52. That worked great! But it eventually conformed to the shape of the vent lid and started to leak - a little too soft.

So what I have on there now is an aftermarket seal, but I trimmed 1/8 inch off the bottom sealing surface and glued it down with 3M. It seems to be doing well, but I'm waiting for a good rain to test it.

I'll see if I can snap a photo later today!

 

"Gracias!"

 

I have the mid-fifties power vent set up [I think?] with their rubber seal. I read a tip many years ago about getting vent seal to seal and I followed it, no leaks yet. When I glued the vent seal in I stacked a good deal of weight [couple of phone books maybe] on top of the vent door in the closed posistion with out the power linkage connected and left it setting that way for several days. Seems to creat it's own "seat" in the rubber.

 

That didn't work for me.. I had my cowl closed using the manual lever for about a yr with a new gasket.. all from MF..

then we installed the power kit, and the motor can't quite pull it flush..
I don't know if it would leak as it is..

Sam

 

Sam,
Can you lengthen some of the linkage so it gets a little more leverage? Just a thought !

 

no.. we tried different lengths and none were successful at the full pulldown. it looks ok, but about 3/16 of an inch mis alignment at the front edge.

so I'll me looking for a softer gasket material.. that thing is a PITA to install tho..

Sam

 

Back to the original question: I bought the kit from Sac Vintage Ford for my 54. The installtion was straight forward. I removed the pin from the original handle extention and connected the electric accuator directly to the curved push arm. Good luck, Jag

PS, the ram air idea sounds great except for the rain into the carb problem.

 

You'll have way too much ram air pressure coming through the front of the truck to use the cowl vent as a scoop unless it's 100% closed system. An opening that size in the firewall (even with a box running through it) is an invitation for Carbon Monoxide poisoning!