Disassembly

1. Remove front bumpers, grille, both fenders, hood, wipers, windshield, and preferably the dash pad.

2. Drill out the spot welds holding the apron-to-cowl braces on each side. Most spot weld are easy to locate but some are so smooth they are almost impossible to see. So take a wire brush and go over the entire welded area. Center punch each weld and drill a one eighth inch pilot hole to hold the cutter's pilot in place. Cut through the first layer of metal to release the spot welds. Take a chisel or heavy duty scraper and tap between the two layers of metal breaking any small pieces of weld that didn't get cut. Separate the braces from the external cowl panel being careful not to damage as you will want to reuse them.

3. Drill out the one hundred and fifty or so spot welds holding the top cowl panel on. Follow the same procedure described above. At the edge of the cowl near the windshield you'll see small studs which hold the clips along the windshield. These clip hold the chrome. Try to save them. If you can't they can be replaced with screws.

4. Now you can lift off the entire top cowl panel and you will reveal the primordial, organic mix of crud, leaves, dirt, mouse nest, rust etc.

Inspection and Repair

5. Sweep out any crud. Then scrape, wire brush, and grind any rusted or scaled areas down to bare metal. Any areas rusted through or so thin as to be to weak must be replaced. Badly pitted areas should also be replaced if they cannot be thoroughly cleaned since they will continue to rust.

6. Mark off the areas you will have to cut to get clean solid metal. Then cut the patch material to fit the car - do not attempt to cut the car to fit the patch. In the vent stack area do not fabricate your own patch. This patch is contoured to fit accurately the contour of the original cowl - an important feature to assure that water flows out to the sides and out the drain holes. Be sure to keep the vent stacks the same size as the original. You will either butt weld or lap weld. The former is smother but the latter is stronger. Your primary goal is to achieve a smooth surface which will not collect water. For other areas requiring repair, such as the walls of the cowl, you will utilize patch material cut to size by you.

7. Grind all welds smooth. Any indentations which might hold water should be smoothed with quality filler so that water will not collect and will flow to the drain holes.

8. Epoxy prime the entire cowl interior and the underside of the top section of the cowl you removed.

9. Paint the cowl interior and underneath of the top of the cowl the same color as the car's exterior finish coat. Follow the paint manufacturers instructions.

Re-assembly

11. You are now ready to weld the top section of the cowl in place. It is a good idea to protect as much of the newly painted interior from welding sparks.

12. Carefully position top cowl section back on by lining up the spot weld holes you drilled with the pilot holes and the remaining portion of the original spot weld left on the bottom piece. Securely clamp the top cowl section in place. Re-weld all the spot welds. Be sure to cover the cowl louvers so sparks and welding debris will not drop through into the cowl.

13. Clamp the apron to cowl braces in the same way as the top of the cowl. Re-weld all the spot welds.

14. Grind all the new spot welds so they are smooth.

15. Pull the spark resistance material from inside the cowl being careful not to leave any debris to hold moisture. Epoxy prime all areas of bare metal. Congratulations, that's it!