how to paint inside the cowling?

F-Zilla · Post by **F-Zilla** » January 22, 2007, 5:31 pm

I'm no where near this point yet, but I have pondered the question of how to prime and paint inside the cowling. What kind of tricks are there?

64 f100 · Post by **64 f100** » January 22, 2007, 7:43 pm

Don't know about the rest of the members, but I've been busy training ants to spray paint. Having a lot of problems with the little tiny spray guns cloging up though. though about hiring some Liliputians, but don't know Guliver.
I have thought on this a long time, and come up with no solutions, which is unfortunate. I don't think I will be able to do any better, than some cotton balls on brass rods, and swab the inside down with por 15. Intend to try going thru the inside vents and get as far as possible by hand, both ways. After that, the swab and wire technique is all I can think of. This is not satisfactory, but all I have come up with. Gonna be messy. Might possibly use a sponge on the wire. Might be possible to use a wire some tubing and a sponge and a baby snot gitter. Squeeze the por15 thru the tube to the sponge. There are three small holes in the cowl with covers, for access. Later models had plastic plugs in those holes. You have to have the fenders off to access the two on the side, if I'm not mistaken.

Rich

ras4434 · Post by **ras4434** » January 22, 2007, 7:52 pm

The cowl was the demise of my truck. After spending the first 3 years on the west coast cancer was hidden in the cowl. 14 years later the damage was done and I now have to find a new cab. I had thought about using a hole saw and cutting from the inside of the engine compartment. The only real possible option was to cut the top off, fix the problema nd then weld the grating back. Had I been smarter when I was younger (sounds funny, I thought I knew everything then) I would have done that. The cutting and rewelding as well as painting would be easier than replacing the cab. GOOD LUCK F-ZILLA..............Ross

Comet · Post by **Comet** » January 22, 2007, 11:21 pm

Paint it first, from different angles close to the grill openings. Wipe excess off grills then do the same with the paint. Then prep grills again like starting over. It's most important to get the floor of the cowl where water sits, but if you spray close enough, it should coat the entire area.

EmSee · Post by **EmSee** » January 23, 2007, 1:14 am

I had similar problem with a Mustang. I used a regular can of spray paint which matched my exterior paint color. I used a thin straw tube shoved into the can's spray button and I was able to get through the outside cowl and paint with short blasts. Think the straw came from a WD40 can. Anyway just an idea, good luck.

66fordtrucknut · Post by **66fordtrucknut** » January 23, 2007, 5:21 am

It's mainly the lower area thats the prob. If you wanna see what I went through look at the pics in my gallery. It's not as bad as a mustang where the top and bottom rusts out, I'm dealing with that right now on my 66' mustang. I por 15'd as much as I could when I had it cut out, and put larger drain holes in the bottom.
Charlie

Post by **Greg D** » January 23, 2007, 9:03 am

Eastwood Rust Encapsulator (similar to POR 15) comes in spray cans. Seeings as they are regular size cans you won't have the clogging problem Rich has encountered. I like the WD 40 tube idea too. Or you could just pour the paint in, get a couple friends, and roll the cab around til it's all coated.

William-in-St. George · January 23, 2007, 9:11 am

After I weld the rust damage I currently have I will use OSPHO poured into the lower cowel areas. After that dries I'll cover it with POR-15 and clean out any debris that collects in the lower cowel during my monthly truck wash.

castruck_1964 · Post by **castruck_1964** » January 23, 2007, 4:36 pm

my painter and i came up with a method that seems to work reasonably well. however have only used it with primer so far. bought a pressure can rustproofing gun from NAPA. the one that has the hose attachment for spraying oil type rustproofing. reduced epoxy primer filled can with that instead of oil stuck the spray end in assorted factory holes and sprayed these areas. IE down in cab corners ,inside cowl from sides an top ,hinge areas and so on. worked quite well could direct paint stream only where you wanted it but it did run out drain holes. not much clean up required clean out with thinners and is ready for next use.

F-Zilla · Post by **F-Zilla** » January 24, 2007, 12:20 am

Thank's fellas, lot's of good ideas to choose from. I could probably use a combination. I never thought about any rust proofing equipment to spray with. I could not find anything on NAPA's website about a sprayer, but I did find a few oil rust proof spayers on epay, but none had any attatchement hoses of any sort.

castruck_1964 · Post by **castruck_1964** » January 28, 2007, 8:18 pm

I will get part number from my NAPA canada guy and take pic and post when I get it back from my painter !!!!

willy3486 · Post by **willy3486** » January 29, 2007, 11:58 am

Heres something else to help you on those cowl vents. I found a easy and quick way to straighten the vent openings on the cowl or area just below the windshield on the outside of the cab. These are the metal strips that have openings. Mine had a few that were bent or pushed down. I figured out if you get a wide putty knife and insert it in this area you can pry them up. What you do is to insert the putty knife into the opening so that the knfe area goes into it at a 90 degree angle or in other words the putty knife area looks like a triangle below the metal strips.Your putty knife needs to be wide enough so that when you insert it in the roughly 3-4 inch openings that it touches the top and bottom curved areas of the opening . Then you just pry down on the putty knife so that the strip that is down comes up. Some of those strips were pressed down and by doing this I could raise them up enough so that it would not be noticable.

how to paint inside the cowling?

how to paint inside the cowling?

Cowel paint and rust proofing