Cowl Rust and Year Differences

[hsach]

Well, I thought I was done with the rust repair on my '67.

I was motivated by Hot August Nights classic car show this year to start work on the bronco again, I have been letting it sit for a few years while focusing on my '78 Bronco since it is a driver and I can enjoy it now, . I looked in the opening years ago on the passenger side of the cowl and didn't see any signs of rust in the channel the top cowl panel sits on.

Dumb mistake not looking at the driver's side. Stuck a small light in there and saw some surface rust. I decided to cut open the area just above the windshield frame cowl panel to see how far the rust went. My initial plan was to only cut out that small area, clean up the underside since it is just surface rust, then weld in new metal. I figured I would just buy a new upper cowl panel, cut out the piece I need, and be good to go since the rust is minimal.

This is where I get a little confused. The panel is from Dynacorn and it is labeled as 66-77 lower cowl assembly #3734WT on the box. When I bought it, it was listed as Cowl Upper Panel 68-77. Since I have a '67 I bought the wrong panel because I wasn't paying attention. When I realized this, I started looking at the differences between the cowls and bronco years, and this led to even more confusion. ?:?

Attached are pictures of my cowl, and of the new replacement cowl. My original cowl looks like the 68-77 version, and the replacement piece is the 66-67 version.......I believe.

My bronco is an early "67, I found the original owner's manual and printed on the inside cover is the dealership who sold it as well as the company who bought it on Oct 18th, 1966. Pretty cool to find that. I will do a Marti report today and hopefully get the info back within a week. And I also found the Buck tag, it was jammed under some wiring and dirt!

I guess the cowl could have been replaced, but looking at it I see the original seam sealer on top and underneath and all of the original spot welds. I haven't found any evidence of previous metal work anywhere on the bronco.

Maybe I have the cowl styles backwards, but all of the pictures I see of 68-77's show the same style my '67 has, weird.

Since it appears I have a replacement cowl that might be correct for my year (I will wait for some confirmation), I plan on removing the entire upper cowl and just replace to get a better factory appearance for my year.

And of course that brings me to another question. When I was poking around for cowl pictures, I remembered I asked about the cowl passenger side modification for aftermarket AC. I plan on installing AC, probably the BC version. Does this mod make sense since I am rebuilding the area now? I am not sure what I would lose by getting rid of the fresh air intake. Is this one of those mods where it is no-brainer if moving to aftermarket AC?

Thanks for any help with this, seeing a lot of classic broncos and a couple of big ones at Hot August Nights this year was just the push I needed to move this project forward. If you ever have the chance to Visit Reno in August, don't miss this event!

 

[DirtDonk]

I don't always put too much stock in "early vs late" arguments. I would not put it past Ford one bit, to have alternated parts like this when availability was questionable.
Therefore it's possible for multiple things to be true here. One is that the aftermarket is wrong and there is no break between '67 and '68. Another is that even after changes were made the builder of the bodies for/at Ford used old stock on hand and thereby messed with us 50 years later when an early got a late part, and vice versa.
Another possibility is that it was indeed a running change and your early '67 is not quite early enough. Maybe the only '67's with the old style cowl were VERY early '67's made in just the first month or two of production. Yours, being sold in October, could literally have been built in very early '67. But perhaps it just wasn't early enough?

But either way, I think the flavor of the truck is best kept by using what it came with from the factory, rather than what it was "supposed to have come with" according to someone who might, or might not have known the full story.
So if you think yours is for sure original, that's the style I'd use.

Paul

 

[hsach]

Thanks for the reply DirtDonk. I agree it is not a big deal which style I have, just thought it was interesting that mine is the same style I thought was associated with '68 and up. I got the Marti report back and it was built on 9/23/66.

I think my plan is to keep cutting around the channel to see how far the rust goes, and if replacing the entire upper cowl is more appropriate than patching, I will use the style I bought. Thankfully it is only surface rust, but since I am in there I just can't button it back up without eyeing those overlapping seems. Of course this all depends on if I go the route of modifying the passenger cowl for aftermarket AC. I am still not sure where I am going with heating/cooling.

If anyone else on here has an early '67 it would be great to see if the cowls are like mine or if there really is a mix and match during the years of what style you get.

 

[Rustytruck]

wont matter what you do with the top if your going to modify the passengers side top. concentrate in the lower part of the channel as that is where the rust through in to the cab occurs. its also the support for the peddle assembly. I have to replace this in my project Bronco. buy 2 part seam sealer when you get done to keep the water out of there and paint the inside and underside of the parts you replace so it doesnt come back to haunt you later.

 

[hsach]

I did a little more cutting and realized that the rust goes all the way along the channel in the windshield frame cowl panel. Going to replace the entire upper cowl. Thankfully that is the extent of it, mostly surface with just a few spots of pitting.

I'm sure most already know this, but I did learn that I need to buy the specific passenger upper cowl panel for the type of Windshield Frame Cowl Panel I have. My version seems to be referred to as the 68-77 style. On this one, the channel that runs the length of the cowl gradually drops down as you go towards the passenger side. My cowl panel is spot welded to this channel.

On the 66-67 style, I am not exactly sure what the Windshield Frame Cowl Panel looks like. I assume the channel doesn't slope down like the later style. The Passenger upper cowl panel I bought is flat across the top and doesn't step down to contact the windshield Frame Cowl. I will buy another one that is correct.

I think I am leaning towards putting it all back together stock instead of doing the passenger cowl modification for aftermarket AC.

I would still love to hear from others with 67 broncos just to see if there is an actual time period where these cowl styles changed, or if they were all over the place. Mine is a very early 67 and as far as I can tell, the cowl panels are stock. It could have been changed by someone who has spot welding equipment, but it would have been extensive and there would be signs. I have been looking for pictures of 66-67 cowls and so far I only see 66's with the flat style, but these were on major restorations so it could have been changed.

 

[DirtDonk]

I'm glad you dug into it. I'm sure that area is heavily rusted on a lot of Broncos out there yet to be discovered. Lucky yours is not that bad, but still getting the full treatment.

It's only a guess, but it looks like the angle might have been a running change to encourage water that got in there to drain out a little easier? Frankly I'm not sure why they didn't just seal the damn panel to begin with, and open up some breathing holes underneath inside the cabin! Let 'em air out better!
Instead they spent a lot of time designing water magnet ports on each end of the cowl to let water in, but not breath well enough to dry out. And added additional water capture areas into the whole body!

Paul

 

[hsach]

I am glad I opened it up as well. I knew rust was in there, but had no idea it went all the way around the cowl on every seam. It would have been much worse if this bronco was not in the dry Nevada air the entire time, it sat for many years.

I bet you are correct about the water drainage, and I asked the same question. Why not weld it up tight? I might close up the holes so water can't get in the ends anymore.