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From: Brian Cooper
Email: 57plymouth@msn.com
Date: April 14, 2001
Leaks at the cowl huh? My dad said that the original owner (my great grandmother) put the first 5K miles on the 57 taking it to the dealer to fix cowl leaks. They never fixed it, but I think I have solved most of the problems. First off, the repair is easiest to do while in the process of stripping the car for a repaint. That way, you don't feel bad about scrathing up the paint. Next off, it is also best to take the front clip off to get at the lowermost seams. Once you are emotionally ready, go to your favorite body shop and get some seam sealer that can be primed and painted by the type of paint you will use. Then get out a wire wheel on a drill or a sandblaster and clean out the old seam sealer out of ALL the seams: top of the cowl all the way across, down those little dog legs in the cowl, sides of the firewall, anywhere there seems to be a seam, clean it to bare metal. Then prep the bare metal and apply the sealer liberally. I used two coats. Put it on smooth, it doesn't sand well. Then while you have everything apart and think you have it fixed, come to the sudden realization you haven't and do the same thing inside the cown vent area. If you can get the door off the inside fresh air vent, that may help. You still aren't done!! Take the windshield wiper assembly out of the car and make new gaskets for the wiper posts to pass through and seal them into place. While you are at it, get the local glass shop to come by and shoot some sealer between the gasket and the glass, and the gasket and the window track on the front and back glasses. Once everything is dry and primed again, get your wife / kid / buddy / very obedient dog to shoot all the seams with a garden hose while you look for leaks with a flashlight. Sounds like fun huh? It ain't.
