PINTO CAR CLUB of AMERICA

Shiny is Good! => General Pinto Talk => Topic started by: Vicrydr on August 13, 2016, 11:35:06 AM

Title: Cowl vent cover
Post by: Vicrydr on August 13, 2016, 11:35:06 AM
Wondering if anyone has come up with a cowl vent cover to keep rain water from coming into interior. Something classy that would fit over the vent area. Or has anyone just covered it over? I cleaned out all the junk from the cowl but still get some water coming in thru heater when it rains hard.
Title: Re: Cowl vent cover
Post by: Reeves1 on August 13, 2016, 05:14:54 PM
You have a rust problem then......
Title: Re: Cowl vent cover
Post by: Wittsend on August 13, 2016, 06:53:06 PM
This may not work because, one I rarely drive my Pinto, and two, California has a designated rain period that into our fourth year of drought it rarely rains - anyway.  But, I use those rubberized magnetic strips like refrigerator door magnets to hold down plastic over the vent when it rains.  For those of us who park outside I feel there is a market for a rubberized magnet screen to cover these vents and keep all the leaves and stuff out. Too bad Billy Mays is dead. I'm sure he could have sold them.
Title: Re: Cowl vent cover
Post by: Reeves1 on August 14, 2016, 05:21:33 AM
http://www.fordpinto.com/index.php?topic=20385.60

Look through this & the next page of that topic for pictures.


http://www.fordpinto.com/index.php?topic=22522.90

This one as well.
It will show rust areas that you MAY be dealing with.
If I were you, I'd remove the hood / hinges. Using a remote diagnostic camera , with the flex end , look through the area under the windshield cowl.
Title: Re: Cowl vent cover
Post by: Vicrydr on August 14, 2016, 09:59:50 AM
More good info on Pinto's. Thanks. There could very well be some rust holes around that heater intake hole. Now I have a better idea why the floorpans are so rusted out all the time.
Title: Re: Cowl vent cover
Post by: Reeves1 on August 14, 2016, 02:32:16 PM
Leak onto floor can also be a heater core or old leaky hoses.....

Best to strip it & fix ALL leak areas.
New heater core at that time is not much $. New hoses not much $. Used banded hose clamps.

Do it right & it will out last you & several more owners !
Title: Re: Cowl vent cover
Post by: 74 PintoWagon on August 15, 2016, 09:38:19 AM
Do it right & it will out last you & several more owners !
YES indeed!
Title: Re: Cowl vent cover
Post by: russosborne on August 19, 2016, 03:52:35 PM
Back to the vent cover question (just to put this out there while this idea is in my head, not sure if it would work)
.
How about cutting a piece of magnetic strip to cover the whole hole? I am talking about the stuff I think you can get at craft stores and the like. Or one of those magnetic advertising signs that are on car doors.
It "seems" like that would seal better as it would be "stuck" to all the parts of the vent.
Don't know for sure though.

Russ
Title: Re: Cowl vent cover
Post by: enzo on August 19, 2016, 10:46:08 PM
Russ,
Perfect idea.
 I park where there is debris falling everyday.  And, I have to sweep the debris
off everyday!!
I have been wracking my brain for a solution for debris in the cowl vent, and
I had all sorts of elaborate designs for the fix, but, I was not happy with them.
Ugly, expensive or unreliable, all of them.

That is SO simple and easy! Thank you!!
Enzo.

Title: Re: Cowl vent cover
Post by: russosborne on August 20, 2016, 12:29:52 AM
Wow, two days in a row that I have been able to help someone (other one was not here).
And a job offer.
Maybe my life is getting better.

Seriously, I hope it works for you. I'm a long way from needing to worry about that with my car.
And I may have heard of that somewhere else, I honestly can't remember.

Russ
Title: Re: Cowl vent cover
Post by: dennisofaz on August 20, 2016, 10:12:19 AM
Way to go Russ!
Title: Re: Cowl vent cover
Post by: robertwwithee on August 20, 2016, 12:14:09 PM
Besides the the magnet cover I seen some clear plexiglass pieces with seal foam around the edges attaching with a 90 degree thumb screw.  Unsure of maker but looked neat.  Magnet cover painted to match car would be neat too

Sent from my SPH-L720T using Tapatalk

Title: Re: Cowl vent cover
Post by: dga57 on August 20, 2016, 07:51:05 PM
I seriously like the magnet cover idea.  Simple, yet genius!


Dwayne :)
Title: Re: Cowl vent cover
Post by: russosborne on August 21, 2016, 12:07:47 AM
then for sure I heard of it somewhere.
Russ
Title: Re: Cowl vent cover
Post by: dga57 on August 21, 2016, 03:38:16 PM
then for sure I heard of it somewhere.
Russ

Not necessarily... we all have genius ideas at some point in our lives.  The problem is we're usually too dumb to act on them ::) !

Dwayne :)
Title: Re: Cowl vent cover
Post by: pintogirl on November 15, 2016, 07:35:05 PM
Hey everyone, I stop by from time to time to see what is going on. I just happened along to this thread and saw the question was already answered, but wanted to show my fix. Which is the suggestion above. I park my new to me truck where a tree from the neighbors yard tends to drop leaves and such in it. When I drive off, the leaves blow inside the cab. Not my ideal thing when I want my cab floor to stay clean. I did just what was suggested. I took a door advertisement sign and cut it to fit the cowl.

(http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m247/myhrdly/1969%20F100/IMG_7360_zpsqvhljllm.jpg) (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/myhrdly/media/1969%20F100/IMG_7360_zpsqvhljllm.jpg.html)

Painted them white to get rid of the writing.

(http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m247/myhrdly/1969%20F100/IMG_7383_zps6lleaysx.jpg) (http://s106.photobucket.com/user/myhrdly/media/1969%20F100/IMG_7383_zps6lleaysx.jpg.html)

In the last pic one is missing. The nice thing about them is you can remove one to get just a little bit of air out of the vents. Does wonders in cold weather days. Just leave them on and no cold air leaks through the 48 year old vent system. :D
Title: Re: Cowl vent cover
Post by: dick1172762 on November 19, 2016, 12:17:54 PM
Pintogirl! Good to see you back. Please do not stay away for such a long time. We miss your posts.
Title: Re: Cowl vent cover
Post by: Reeves1 on November 19, 2016, 02:07:31 PM
Pintogirl! Good to see you back. Please do not stay away for such a long time. We miss your posts.


What he said !  ;D
Title: Re: Cowl vent cover
Post by: dga57 on November 19, 2016, 04:10:05 PM
ditto
Title: Re: Cowl vent cover
Post by: pintogirl on November 19, 2016, 06:30:38 PM
Thanks guys!! :D 
Title: Re: Cowl vent cover
Post by: dick1172762 on November 19, 2016, 11:11:55 PM
Thank you Kim.
Title: Re: Cowl vent cover
Post by: Wittsend on November 20, 2016, 03:31:42 PM
I had a similar idea, but with a fine wire mesh in the center area to still allow air flow. Make them generic sizes with screen embedded in a silicone perimeter with magnets.  Some Cowl vents (like on my Studebaker and Datsun) are removable.  There I just remove, cut some hardware cloth to fit and screw the cover back down. It is nice when they are removable because it makes it so much easier to clean. And, yes it is nice to a long time forum member back and posting.
Title: Re: Cowl vent cover
Post by: pintogirl on November 21, 2016, 02:17:31 PM
Thanks again you guys! Sorry for the lack of posting. Sad to say, I haven't been driving my Pinto's lately. So I really don't have much to talk about, unless it is VW or Ford Truck related. LOL I do come and read the posts though. If I see something I can contribute to, I will post. :D Guess I should go start a thread on my truck in the Other projects area. :D

Back on topic, another nice thing about the solid magnet covers, rain stays out of the cowl area! :D
Title: Re: Cowl vent cover
Post by: Reeves1 on November 21, 2016, 05:38:54 PM
Kim

After (should have been before) I bought Ugly Yellow, I inspected under the cowl with a remote camera / diagnostic tool. It's how I found all the rust areas.

Curious if you , or others , have used such a tool to see / check for problems ?

Did the same with the blue 72. All I could see with the fenders off & through the top of the cowl looked real good.
If you look back in the blue 72 topic , you'll see I was mistaken. Big time.

Having said that , cowl covers will help prevent further damage & give a person time needed to plan for the repairs, if needed.
Title: Re: Cowl vent cover
Post by: pintogirl on November 21, 2016, 06:36:52 PM
I have never used a tool like that but when I had to replace the heater core in the Green Machine, I noticed the hole where the box connects too, was rusted. I can't tell you how bad it is, but I know it is bad enough that will will most likely leak in the rain. So maybe if I ad covers to the cowl, I could drive it in the rain and not worry about the leakage? Worth a try someday I guess! :D
Title: Re: Cowl vent cover
Post by: dick1172762 on November 21, 2016, 11:17:07 PM
Kim! Sounds good to me. I though it had stopped raining in the land of fruit and nuts.
Title: Re: Cowl vent cover
Post by: C. M. Wolf on January 01, 2017, 11:51:56 AM
Since it's been brought up...

That Rubberized Magnet Material can be bought in good sized sheets/rolls. By painting the out-side, a person can add some decent accent-graphics or stripes to a vehicle that can be removed at any time(unless a person leaves 'em long enough to fade the paint on the car except where the magnets are placed). ;)

It's just an "idea".

Michael
Title: Re: Cowl vent cover
Post by: Bo Bailey on January 06, 2017, 05:55:43 PM
hey guys I used

 screen door repair strips then bondo resin with hardner and fiber glass filler  looks great