I finally go around to shooting some water down the cowl of my Pinto today. about 1/3 of it came pouring down the inside of the firewall. I can see oads of pine needles and junipers bits in the cowl. Theproblem is that the cowl grille openings are too small to effectively clean it out.
How do I clean out the cowl? Where are the drain holes located? I know I probably need to pull my fenders, but then what? Any pictures would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks! :laugh:
Wow, thanks! Now I know where to work. It looks like both sides of my cowl are clogged solid from the bottom of the fender up to the cowl. >:(
Search "cowl clean".
http://www.fordpinto.com/smf/index.php?action=search2
Bill
Reed:
Obviously, you and I are in a race ;D. I just cleaned my cowl recently, removing the hood was my first step (this opens up two holes forward of the cowl that make access better), though you really do need to remove your front fenders and get access to the drain holes as per Pintony. Be prepared, you may have some nasty rust on your cowl (I certainly do, even after cleaning my cowl I found a nice gaping hole at the lower corner of my wiindshield where the water is entering).
Have fun!!
Chris
Well, from the overall condition of the car I am guessing that the original (and longest) owner kept the car garaged. There is only very minor rus on the firewall and the rust on the floor was also minor. This leads me to believe that the plugging of the drain was a recent thing and makes me opeful that the cowl will not be rusted out. I can hope anyway. :rolleye:
You will probably win this race since my brother just dropped his van off at my house for a tune-up and that will take first priority. I probably won't get back to working on my Pinto until next week. :mad:
I am curious, would there be anything wrong with enlarging the drain holes to alleviate the blockage problem? Wouldn't larger holes allow more debris to flow out of the cowl rather than getting stuck?
to be honest nothing will preform with out annual maintenance even if you could make the clean outs bigger(I don't think these much room) you just need to take the car to the power washer once in a while or don't let it sit under trees!
FrankBoss
OK, thanks. I will just have to see what I have when I pull my fenders....
hope the best... & Good luck
FrankBoss
Finally got my brother's van done and out the door (needed way more than just a tune-up). Pulled the fenders on my Pinto today and discovered that the area under the fender is solid! Yay! :D However, after i cleaned the drain holes out I discovered i still have a leak on each side of the car. So somewhere under the dash I have some rust-out. :P I need to pull the dash to paint it anyway, so I will dig out my POR-15 floorpan kit and go to town.
Can anyone recommend a good method for getting some rust neutralizer and POR-15 up into the cowl area without cutting and patching? Thanks!
I was lucky, for my 73 I just had to pull open the vents and drive at 80 mph :lol:
Everything was blowing into the interior while I moved the vents...leaves, sticks, the like.
I had to get the shop vac out to clean the interior there was so much.