donsrods
Well-known member
I stole this off of another thread where my Son Dan posted it, thought someone else might be able to use it.
When Dan mounted the underdash master cylinder in his RPU he realized he had no way to easily fill or check the brake fluid as it was tucked up pretty far in there. He considered adding a Model A gas cap but that only gave him a very small hole to work through. So he picked up a 32 Ford cowl vent assembly from Brookville this year at Turkey Run, and he spent the last couple of nights getting it installed into his Model A cowl.
It took a lot of measuring and trimming to make sure the gap was tight but it looks like he got it done last night after I left the shop. I'm pretty impressed. It looks like it grew there and will not only give him the access he needs but also give him some additional air flow on hot days. These pictures should explain the process pretty well.
Don
First he marked the area where he was going to have to cut out the Model A cowl, then he put four round holes in the corners so he would end up with rounded corners. He has found that square corners pull when welded where the round ones don't.
After trimming the new Brookville assembly to size (It came as a really large assembly and he only needed the center part) he carefully fitted it into the cowl and clamped it down for welding. The tight gap makes for a neater weld.
After welding and grinding smooth this is what the vent frame looked like.
Here is the vent lid in the closed position.
And in the open position.
When Dan mounted the underdash master cylinder in his RPU he realized he had no way to easily fill or check the brake fluid as it was tucked up pretty far in there. He considered adding a Model A gas cap but that only gave him a very small hole to work through. So he picked up a 32 Ford cowl vent assembly from Brookville this year at Turkey Run, and he spent the last couple of nights getting it installed into his Model A cowl.
It took a lot of measuring and trimming to make sure the gap was tight but it looks like he got it done last night after I left the shop. I'm pretty impressed. It looks like it grew there and will not only give him the access he needs but also give him some additional air flow on hot days. These pictures should explain the process pretty well.
Don
First he marked the area where he was going to have to cut out the Model A cowl, then he put four round holes in the corners so he would end up with rounded corners. He has found that square corners pull when welded where the round ones don't.
After trimming the new Brookville assembly to size (It came as a really large assembly and he only needed the center part) he carefully fitted it into the cowl and clamped it down for welding. The tight gap makes for a neater weld.
After welding and grinding smooth this is what the vent frame looked like.
Here is the vent lid in the closed position.
And in the open position.