Cowl Vent - Wet feet. Pics

[yourpc48]

So its gettin pretty crappy here on the coast of the Pacific Northwest. Cold, Windy and Rainy. My P15 had a few pinholes in the cowl vent channel and no gasket so taking off from a stop in the rain meant water (cold water) pouring down on my feet. Now since I dont have a heater in it and no carpet water in the car equals fogged windows. So I decided to pull the vent out and seal up the channel and take the opportunity to sand blast and repaint the vent. I will improvise a gasket and get the thing all put back together once the paint dries. I know they make gaskets but for now Ill make one. I REFUSE TO WELD IT UP AND BONDO OVER IT! (A black car gets too warm in the summer to not have the extra air flow.)

[Robert Horne]

I used a tube of silicon to form a gasket. I just ran a bead of silicon caulk, put on a layer of wax paper, and closed the vent. Open the vent the next day, and have no leak since. I put on a new vent drain hose also...

[randroid]

yourpc48,

Are you going to blast the screen too? I ask because I'm wanting to blast mine and am uncertain which medium to use on the thin wire of the screen. I fear sand may blow a hole in the relatively thin material but I don't know squat about blasting.

Randy

[yourpc48]

yourpc48,

Are you going to blast the screen too? I ask because I'm wanting to blast mine and am uncertain which medium to use on the thin wire of the screen. I fear sand may blow a hole in the relatively thin material but I don't know squat about blasting.

Randy

Yes I did blast the screen. I had a well used green 60 in the blast box. It didnt seem to harm the screen any but if it was new media it might have been a little more hard on the screen. As you can see by the screen after I painted it, it looks really good. I went heavy on the paint for the screen part. You have to take care not to get the paint so thick that it plugs the holes in the screen.

[yourpc48]

I think I will be working with a piece of round closed cell foam. I used that for the gaskets in the tail lights and it seems to have worked well so Ill try gluing some of that to the channel on the body and see what that does. It should work well but Ill have to see.

[randroid]

yourpc48,

The original gasket is thick and soft so I would imagine the foam you're thinking of would do a fine job. If push ever comes to shove the original type aren't too expensive.

-Randy

[carls 49]

nice job, looks good.

[yourpc48]

Well after getting the foam glued in with weather strip adhesive and a minor adjustment to the vent it is now leak free. Too bad the wiper assemblies leaked. I made some new gaskets from innertube and now they are leak free. I noticed a leak on the windshield but I think its because I took the inner trim out to fix the defrosters. I think the little drips will go away once theres pressure on the gasket again.

[thrashingcows]

Well after getting the foam glued in with weather strip adhesive and a minor adjustment to the vent it is now leak free. Too bad the wiper assemblies leaked. I made some new gaskets from innertube and now they are leak free. I noticed a leak on the windshield but I think its because I took the inner trim out to fix the defrosters. I think the little drips will go away once theres pressure on the gasket again.

 

I've been searching through the archives for a way to seal up my wiper pivots...Thank you so much for posting up abut the inner tub material...That is exactly what I needed.  I've been trying different materials, foam, gasket material etc...but nothing seemed to work right.  Think this will do the job.