Cowl Vent Gasket & Surface Prep '35 Passenger

[VeryTangled]

Hi Everyone. I'm working on replacing the cowl vent gasket on a '35.

A question on surface prep. As you can see there is no paint where the gasket will go. I don't wanna put a gasket and sealer/glue/etc. down without dealing with this bare metal, so what would you prep this with so it's ready for the gasket. Remember this is going under the gasket, and it doesn't have to match the body paint (which I don't like, but that's another story) it just has to seal so the area under the gasket won't rust up again and cause this gasket to fail, and the car to rot from the inside out for a change.

Could this be done with the cowl vent (deflector assembly) on the car?

Second question. Suppose I want to prep things with the deflector assembly off the car. Is it going to be hard to take it off (doesn't look like it), and is it going to be hard to get it lined up again if I do take it off?

Looks like I'd take make a few scratch marks to help line it up later, then take out the screen, then four bolts that hold the deflector to the handle mechanism, and it would lift out the hood side? I found a good photo helpfully posted by 6lucky13 earlier this year.

Third question, what adhesive would you suggest after I get the surface right?

Shout out to Ken's36, who recommended the perfect remover for the old gasket, 3M General Purpose Adhesive Cleaner, 08984. No paint damage at all. I found if I made a 'paper towel saussage' soaked in this stuff, and laid it in the area where the gasket goes, then closed the vent, the cleaner worked very good at softening the goo/glue, even on the underside of the vent. From there it was a good bit of scraping, scratching, itching, to get it as clean as possible. The underside of the vent was a pain because the gasket had started to stick to that area and it was hard to get clean. Picture mirrors, flashlights, and custom bent scraper tools.

Helpful suggestion for others. I found there is a V shape to the area that must include the drain. If I started at the center of the V of the vent, and scraped towards the corner in the photo, a lot of that crap would come out of the deeper bottom of that channel and get to where it could be taken out. I haven't finished that part as you can see in photo #2, but I got some ugly chunks out of there already and more to come. Maybe it's time to have a look see on your car?

Thanks in advance for your helpful suggestions, 'Barn'ers.

[Royal Ryser]

Very Tangled, I went through this process a short time ago. The whole process is a bit tedious. I removed the vent from the car; it was painted before re-assembly. I think any good paint would be sufficient to glue the gasket to. The gasket glues onto the vent part (the part you now have out of the car) don't try to glue it to the car. Since the gasket is glued to the vent, it is not subject to water standing around the gasket-to-metal surface. Also, most of us don't let the cars get really wet very often, so it should not be a problem for the rest of its natural life.
As I said earlier, I took the vent out of the car. That part was easy. Putting it back was another story. I took many pics and still had trouble. I finally had to slightly modify the closure mechanism so it would fit right.
I used 3M trim adhesive on the gasket.
The thing turned out Ok but took some effort. I never could figure out why I had to modify the mechanism to make it close correctly.

[JSeery]

Never heard of attaching the gasket to the cowl vent door, very interesting.

[42 1/2ton]

I'm with JSeery on this.

[VeryTangled]

Originally Posted by Royal Ryser

Very Tangled, The gasket glues onto the vent part (the part you now have out of the car) don't try to glue it to the car. Since the gasket is glued to the vent, it is not subject to water standing around the gasket-to-metal surface.

Okay, Thanks a bunch Royal Ryser. I'm a little confused though I do like what you're saying. Just to be clear, the last photo is NOT the way to install it, correct? It's supposed to glue to the Vent Deflector, which is the part that raises up? It's just that the gasket actually says which side to put the glue on. You might see it's made by Vintique.

Edit to add: This is interesting. Adding one more photo of before I started on the job. The previous owner said he had it painted and put in an interior 'about a dozen years ago' (he didn't mention the body filler, but I knew that without his telling). I bet those guys did the gasket too, and judging from the paint/trim work chances are they didn't do the gasket work very well either. I'd just assumed it was stuck to the lid because it was done wrong.

[DavidG]

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Very interesting, indeed, but not what Ford did originally, which was the way you have it in your second to last photo.

Another alternative if you're worried about water standing in the trough is to skip the glue altogether. The gasket should be a tight fit and it certainly won't blow away. If the car gets a real soaking just lift the gasket up until the trough dries out.

For what it is worth, I'll pulled a lot of what were likely original cowl vent gaskets out of '32-'39 troughs and very few of them showed evidence of originally having been glued in place.

[VeryTangled]

Thank you everyone for the valuable information. Please keep the comments coming.

Any suggestions on a good paint to go over this used-to-be-rusty-but-been-cleaned area.

[Royal Ryser]

45Hold on!! Major brain fart.
I totally misremembered. The gasket goes onto the cowl, not the lid. I glued it into the groove in the cowl and the vent lid closes onto it.
Sorry.

[V8ER]

Something else to watch out for: on every '35-'36 restoration that I have done, the cowl vent gasket has been too thick. I have had to slice the gasket in half horizontally so that the vent is flush with the cowl with the gasket in place.

[Lawson Cox]

Originally Posted by V8ER

Something else to watch out for: on every '35-'36 restoration that I have done, the cowl vent gasket has been too thick. I have had to slice the gasket in half horizontally so that the vent is flush with the cowl with the gasket in place.

Exactamundo. (And I don't put any glue on it either.)

[Model51]

Has anyone had a problem with the gasket having a larger cross section than the original? I've finally figured out why the vent door won't close, the gasket is too thick. Should I just try another supplier?

[19Fordy]

Gasket fits as described in Post # 5 here:
https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showt...ight=cowl+vent

First, remove the cowl vent lid to get easy access to the working area.

Using a small brush, I would apply some OSPHO (to neutralize the rust)in the recessed area of the cowl vent where the gasket goes and then wire wheel it clean. Then I would apply a super thin layer of JB Weld and sand it smooth filling in any pits. Then I would epoxy prime it and paint it body color of car. A very tedious process.

Vent lid would also be treated as needed to make it nice and clean for painting.

[Jacques1960]

Ospho ��

[Jacques1960]

Oops - that was a heart emoji after OSPHO - love the stuff !!!

[DavidG]

Dave,


Not only are some of the reproduction cowl vent gasket too thick, but in some cases they are also not soft enough for good closure. As an extreme measure, I have cut gaskets in two, sort of channeling or sectioning them and ending up with two usable gaskets. It takes patience and a very, very sharp blade to do so.

[Model51]

Dave G - Thanks for the advice. I may have to resort to rubber surgery along the lines you have experienced. It would be nice if reproduction parts met the dimensional specifications of the original parts, but maybe that's too much to ask.

[Newc]

First job as a youngster [17]-industrial rubber products repair. Freeze the product before working with it. cutting/grinding ect. Newc

[Model51]

Newc - thanks for that tip. I'll give it a try.

[19Fordy]

Originally Posted by Jacques1960

Ospho ��

OSPHO is a rust neutralizer. It contains phosphoric acid that converts rust
into iron phosphate. You can paint over it.
https://www.bing.com/search?q=ospho&...ANAB01&PC=HCTS I buy it at ACE Hardware. Here's the ACE near you. Open and scroll down.
https://www.mapquest.com/top/us/main...hardware-store
[url]https://www.bing.com/search?