Thread: This is fun - well almost

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Along these same lines . . . to an extent anyway.

How difficult was it to get the cowl 'eyebrow' piece that goes under the windshield in place?

Mine's a bitch and more than likely I'll install it then paint it.
No use painting it and then scratching heck out of everything else trying to get it in.

And . . . if I'm missing a trick here I'd be happy to hear how you did it.

Originally Posted by C9x

Along these same lines . . . to an extent anyway.

How difficult was it to get the cowl 'eyebrow' piece that goes under the windshield in place?

Mine's a bitch and more than likely I'll install it then paint it.
No use painting it and then scratching heck out of everything else trying to get it in.

And . . . if I'm missing a trick here I'd be happy to hear how you did it.

Ya got me with 2 today:

The PVC looking pieces are indeed the gauge retainers and one of the reasons I chose the small diameter VDO gauges over a couple of the others. That 'U' shaped bracket, lock washers and the little bitty nuts installed while standing on my head, legs over the back of the seat, while wrapped around the shifter, pedals and steering column several times was too much. They work very nicely

That eyebrow piece is a bit#h. I had to pry mine off with big screw drivers after I had to cut a stripped and jammed bolt (of course, the middle one!!) - which also had pulled the cage nut loose. What I finally did was take a big file to the inner edge that meets the dash and dress it down by about .062+/- so that it now fits fairly easily. Another thing that I had to do was reshape that piece. The flat where the windshield seal meets was about 1.38 on one side while the other was about 1".

And another - you probably forgot how the cowl clamps are installed as I did. I emailed Brookville and asked for a photo - I had not a clue!!!!

You guys are right about that eyebrow piece, it is almost impossible to get on and then remove. We snapped the two parts together on the body we are building, then had a hard time getting them back apart. We are going to grind some of the lip off of the top part and squeeze the inner part tighter so they have more clearance between them.

Even at that, we have decided to put it all together then paint the car because we know we would be scratching the h*** out of stuff if we tried to assemble some parts after paint.

Your dash looks good IC2, smart way to wire it off of the car. Love that color too.

Don

Thanks for the info.

It'll help.

I wonder if it would be advantageous - he asks after having not crawled under the dash for a long while - to remove the threaded piece and use a bolt & nut to pull the cowl eyebrow in.

I need to get back to working on the 31, but right now am making an oil baffle goody for the 32 using the 31s engine for a pattern.
Dawned on me a while back that I could do that instead of tearing the 32 down for a week or so.

Make the goody on the 31 and have the 32 down for only an afternoon for the install.

I think too that I've figured out an improvement with the Buicks one piece sheet metal intake manifold gasket/bathtub that keeps oil off the intake bottom and assists in keeping flying oil droplets under control.

Dang late model Buicks - 430, 455 - have the valley open at the bottom so most of the cam is exposed.

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

You guys are right about that eyebrow piece, it is almost impossible to get on and then remove. We snapped the two parts together on the body we are building, then had a hard time getting them back apart. We are going to grind some of the lip off of the top part and squeeze the inner part tighter so they have more clearance between them.

Even at that, we have decided to put it all together then paint the car because we know we would be scratching the h*** out of stuff if we tried to assemble some parts after paint.

Your dash looks good IC2, smart way to wire it off of the car. Love that color too.

Don

Don - once you have that eyebrow piece off and ground you should have no problem getting it back on - I use light stick masking tape JIC tho for protection. No way can I paint with it fully assembled - it's an air conditioned roadster....yeah, I know, roadster. A/C- an oxymoron. But that's another tale for another day.

I'm having "fun" wiring - I'm color blind some shades and light gray, light green and pink..... and my wife is working. It wont be finalized until she gives the stamp of approval.

I've finally gotten used to my glow-in-the dark '08 Mustang GT color. It was a shocker the first few times I went to the shop as my vehicles have always been pretty subdued colorwise.