Topic: 65 Mustang Help

[tonyliford]

I just purchased a 65 Mustang coupe in fair condition for the money($700.00). The guy I bought it from told me that it has a leak that needs to be addredded asap. He told me that when water gets in the vent between the hood and windshield that water would run into the floorboard on the passenger side. He said there was "some sort of canister type thing that was rusted out and needed relpaced." Can anyone shed some light on this as I have not a clue what he could be speaking of or the process to replace it for that matter?

[Tim175]

I'm assuming he was talking about the heater core. Your local parts store should carry them, although the install is kind of a pain.

[Soaring]

Nah, he's talking about the cowl being rusted out.  The "hat" is what needs replacing, and it is a major pain in the ass to replace on a 65.  Go to the FAQ section at the top of the classic section and look it up there. 

[tonyliford]

What purpose does this "hat" serve? And yes, its not the heater core.

[Soaring]

It's where your fresh air comes into the interior.  You have one on each side of the cowl to feed not only fresh air to the interior, but to feed air to the heater during the winter.  If you don't care about fresh air or heater air, then you can block off the water from getting into the interior with a cowl vent cover you can get from most Mustang places, or you can tear out the cowl, repair the cowl and hats, or just don't drive the car in the rain or be careful when you wash the hood and windshield to not get water into the cowl.  Since yours seems to be only on the pax side , there are plastic hats that you can buy, then simply take out the old rusted hat  by opening the little door on the heater core cover under the glovebox and fiberglas the new plastic hat in place. 

[tonyliford]

Thanks very much for the input. I'll replace it so I don't have any issues in the future.

[Soaring]

You will replace what?  If the cowl is rusted out along with the hats, you are going to need to replace the entire cowl system.  Here is a good article that you should read before deciding what to do. 
http://www.mustangmonthly.com/projectbuild/mump_0103_mustang_cowl_repair/index.html

[thetvirus]

Most people wont buy mustangs with cowl rust because it cost about $3000 to have it professionally repaired.