[Stangman196700]

i was wondering how hard is it to replace the cowl panel on a 67 mustang, i just noticed that my car is rusting from the cowl panel which is common on these mustangs.

http://www.hotrodders.com/forum/jour...ournalid=15814

theres a link to my project journal that shows the rust hole i found a week ago.

i was going to have a body shop replace this area like my radiator support but found that they want a #### load of cash for a project like that.


is this a project that someone that has never welded before can handle or should i just give up and find a new home for the stang?

[wildthing]

that is not a project a non welder can do. i have a 68 cougar and my first car the cowl area was shot and rusted the floor panels. i sent what was left of that car to salvage.you can go back to the beginning of my journal to see what it looks like.
first the cowl is connected together by a couple hundred spot welds that need to be drilled or cut out. and the more you dig the more damage you will most likely find. the lower cowl will probably need replaced and that ties to the fire wall and side cowl panels. plus all your dash ties into this area. it is a huge job........

[Mike H]

If under the WS corners is all the rust you have the job is not that big of a deal. Take your time and learn how to weld sheetmetal before you start welding on the car. Remember heat shrinks steetmetal so take your time welding the new panels in to keep the warping to a mininum.

[66 Restomod]

Lots of pictures of the repair on our web page:
http://chris66dad.tripod.com/id18.html

The 66 had been parked in a container since 1978 at the construction site. Lucky for us it had not been exposed to the elements for the last 30 years.
We ran a garden hose into the cowl and made sure it drained out the fenders and checked for leaks inside the car but found NO water. We have a rare Mustang that has not rotted out the cowl or tophats.
We decided to use the "Tin Can" Method to check them out by cutting the end caps and bending them up.
The cuts were done with a 4 1/2 angle grinder and a 1/16 inch thick cutting wheel. To finish some cuts, a hacksaw blade was used.
We used Eastwood Rust Encapsilator on all the metal to stop rust from forming. All of the metal seams and top hats were coated with seam sealer (Eastwood). I should have used black Rust Encapsilator to eliminate having to paint it.. lesson learned.
After coatings were applied, we MIG welded the cuts back together, ground down the welds. We then applied paint and seam seal on top of the welds. The area is covered by the fenders so it will not be seen.
It took 1 weekend to complete.
If the 66 had needed new top hats installed, we were going to extend the cuts towards the center of the car and follow the procedure from this link:
http://personal.ecu.edu/boydd/tech/cowl/cowl.html
Luckily, we did not have to!!!