How does the cowl vent install on a 32 Ford? Is it welded in or press fit or glued. I am thinking of reinstalling the vent on my 32 after it has been removed and glassed over. I can still see the outline of the hole on the topside and the frame on the underside is there but I am not sure of how it is installed.
I can’t really explain in detail how it is installed but it is not welded, pressed or glued in place. It is attached to a mechanical setup that allows it to open and close by moving a handle that hangs below the dash.
The lid is screwed to a hinge, and the body has short hinge legs hanging down. Make sure you have all that still under there before you commit.
You will have to remove all the glass and filler to see if the gasket trough is still there. Look underneath to see if there are two tabs with a hole in each one for the hinge to pivot from.
Here is a possibility: https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Unit...orAAUknY_C64XBKIip3U9IPPeuxeUFoIaAkBJEALw_wcB In addition to the United Pacific unit above, Brookville has a big cowl patch that includes everything to do the vent restoration.
'32 car and '32-'34 trucks used the same opening, gasket, lid and linkage a u shaped strip is welded to the cowl top... the '32 cowl top has 2 arched tabs with holes that the lid hinge pivots on... a similar strip bolts to the lid's deflector panel... bolts are 12-24 i think... had rivets, i used small nuts and screws as the pivots... mounting hole slots allow adjustment... early and late production '32 lids will screw through the pivot holes... pix are of a '32 cowl top welded into a model a gastank... early and late lid pic...HIH.
There are 3 different Vent doors & 2 different hinge Systems for ""1932 year""( The geometry are different between the doors) All the reproductions that are made by Brookville & U P are the later design, Will not work with the earlier hinge design, & BV (door /lid top))only fits Brookville bodies correctly with no modifications,( about 1/16 - 1/8th bigger all the way around ) UP (door/lid top) will not fit BV correctly ( to small) or vice a versa , but the early version ( door/lid top) that Ford made will fit the UP body . I know this in last few year worked on 7 32s Bodys, BV ,UP & Fords. Also between early & late door hinge ,the leaver handle are @ different angles.
Thanks for the replies and valuable info. I will have to go under the dash and try and confirm what is still there and if it can be used.
For what ever the reason they make the Later Version (aftermarket ) which is more complex harder to make then the earlier version which is much simpler. Both of my 32s are first early Version. Without looking at my book ,I believe the change was around May/June 1932
By all means, add another place for water to enter your car and make your feet wet! Cowl vents generally don't seal very well when they are closed. Don't forget you need the water drain channel and the drain tube, and the lever with the linkage for the system to work.
No, a cowl vent works at any speed. I'm guessing Mr. Footbrake is familiar with a '70 Chevy, which has those side vents fed through a convoluted duct. Night and day difference.
i had a 32 in that someone smashed the cowl vent down and covered everything in lead. i used the brookville piece and it worked very well for repairing the issue. i am a big believer in having a functional cowl vent, the 32 i fixed was black with no a/c it was absolutely miserable in the summer and my avatar truck going down the road at speed with the vent open pushed the air out the side windows instead of buffeting the air inside.
The thing that the 32 book fails to mention is that the super early 32's had the ratchet mount closer to the drain nipple than the common early and late versions. This makes putting the ratchet arm on a bear if there is a hose attached. When they moved the mount the also slightly moved the arm location on the hinge. In my pics, the 1st is the common mount. The 2nd is the super early mount. And in the hinge pic, the far right hinge is the super early hinge...notice the different arm location.
My avatar has the cowl vent and it works really good up to about 90 degrees then I wish I had ac. I was 19 when my dad bought his first car ever to have ac, a olds 442 dad liked speed he hated the ac.
I've put 32 cowl vents in several Model A's as well as put them back in a few 32's that someone had filled them in over the years and my preferred method is to order the Brookville cowl patch that cost $79 and had the trough for the gasket but not the inner gutters to use a drain hose. In my experience, just using the outward trough eliminated most if not all leaking unlike the full original unit which seems to always find a way to leak. I use the late 32 cowl lid and bolt the hinge to it and then make the cowl part of the hinge to fit. It's really simple and not expensive.
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