Topic: Cowl Prep and Paint - 65-68

[Tiny]

I'm looking at respraying my 66 mustang at some stage but I want to know the best way to deal with the paint under the cowl.  From my inspection I notice some paint chips occurring and some surface rust developing under the grill area of the cowl.  Other than this there are no serious rust issues at all.  In fact he whole car is in excellent condition, even the under body has all of the original red oxide and paint drips.

To do the paint properly I would need to remove the cowl to get to the surface rust and paint chips but I dont want to disturb all of the original welds, remove windscreen etc.  Any ideas what is the best way to deal with this.  Is the the paint under the cowl meant to be the actual car colour or just black with car colour over-spray once the car is painted.

[J_Speegle]

The interior of the cowl was primed and painted from what ever primer and paint flowed through the grills from the paint applications of the top of the cowl. 
This provided some coverage were the eye would see but poor coverage on the bottom or in the corners and ends of the area. Surprisingly the original finish was decent its just over the years where we see the paint break down and the ravages of the elements take their toll

So the final look would be body color


I will leave the post for others to offer their experiences and choices

PS - Reworded the title to expand the subject across all the years that could be related

[Tiny]

Thanks Jeff for the update.  Further to my request, I saw on youtube (see link) that one way of getting to the areas in question under the cowl was to cut a section of the cowl from either end and then replace it later, weld it back in and then bog it where necessary.  This may be the only choice short of removing it in its entirety.

[CharlesTurner]

Whatever little benefit of coating the metal is not worth hacking up the car.  As long as you're not parking it all the time under a tree in wet weather, it's not going to be an issue.  I would just strip as much old paint as possible through the vent slits, tape up the slits and hit it with primer.  Remember that there was a gray sealer primer applied to the entire exterior, so go with that as a base primer, followed by paint/over-spray from when the car is painted.

[Tiny]

Cheers 'caspian65'  you are probably right.  I dont like having to cut or damage anything so I will just persevere with working through the grill to get rid of the majority of the unsightly paint/surface rust.

[kb65]

I used the eastwood internal frame coating and I was able to coat the entire inside.
I used a long blow gun to clean out any loose paint or rust and dirt sprayed the internal frame coating from both ends the wiper holes and the vents from inside.
be sure to remove all of the old seam sealer from the drain area under the fenders.
replace the seam sealer after the frame coating with a flowable seam sealer.
be sure to do the pinch weld area in the back of the engine compartment.
i used the green frame coating so i could see that it was coated well.
(flashlights, mirrors)

ken

[Tiny]

Thanks Ken, good suggestions

Much appreciated

[67gtasanjose]

I agree with NOT CUTTING up the body if you cannot help it but each job has different circumstances. I did cut open the ends (under the fenders) and removed the collars for the air vents and went all the way across with media-blasting on a make-shift wand with an angle tip for the media blaster. (rust plus paint from 3-re-paints and mouse nesting). I then red oxide primer sealed (this was tricky) up inside to get everything covered as good as I could reach.

This saved not having to remove the cowl and I saved not having to replace the lower cowl (or vent repair sections) this way. I welded back the collars for the vents and butt-welded the access covers I had cut out, seam-sealed the lower joints at the factory seam sealer location. (a little filler covers the welded seam, 100% invisible now). I ALSO followed up with the internal frame sealer into the crevices. I will let paint flow into the area when I get to paint, should look great!