The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Top Cowl Vent Repair

Happy Spring!

Washing Ole Red up after the winter and determined that the top cowl vent was leaking; I have a new gasket so figured I'd go ahead and replace it.

Unsurprisingly, there was some rust all the way around the sealing flange, and found a couple in the top (spot welds that were sitting on the rotten gasket).

That all went well, but the new gasket seems to thick? It's very firm as well, and having to apply enough pressure to get it to where it is, causes the adjustment to move. I'm wondering about making a gasket out of rubberized cork or some softer neoprene material? I even set it overnight with two 25 lb bags of #8 shot and a carton of .38/.357 LSWC on it (a good 75 pounds). Didn't even dent the gasket. Perhaps Vaseline might soften it?

Edit: I'll take a look again tomorrow, it occurs to me that the gasket might just need to be chamfered. The lip is sitting on top but really, it should "capture"the seal.

At any rate, some photos of the progress. It's a "driving project" so forgive the appearance.

I should add, I LOVE the look of these cowl vents, always have; and inside I LOVE having levers to throw. So I'm not electrifying it.

Where did the new gasket come from? I see some vendors have two styles, original foam and molded rubber.

I don't think vaseline will do anything to soften the rubber.

Let us know how your efforts go.

Thank you sir; it's a Precision brand gasket definitely molded rubber. It fits the channel perfectly. I agree re: the Vaseline option. Tonight after work I'll pull the vent again and chamfer the outer top edges of that gasket - I bet that will solve it. Will report back.

Please don't use Vaseline on rubber, neoprene or similar products. Vaseline will ruin these products and it will begin almost immediately. The original seal was a molded rubber labyrinth design and was very creatively made so it drained (to prevent the vent from sitting in water and rusting. If you have a simple stamped cut foam seal, it will lack any possible draining scheme and you'll get rust around the perimeter of your vent. If you don't have the rather firm labyrinth design, please keep looking. You do know you have to adjust the cowl vent after you remove it, yes? Also the molded labyrinth type has an upper side and a lower side. The one I recently replaced came from The Filling Station and fit perfectly.

Thanks Jon; no I won't be using Vaseline just a passing thought.

This one is a firm (hard) neoprene seal that is identical from side to side (so flip it over, it doesn't matter). Flat as a board as well. I've adjusted the cowl vent, the seal itself simply has a wider footprint than the cowl vent itself. I'm going to try chamfering the edges so that the vent itself can "grab" the seal and slide over it. Otherwise, there's no physical way this seal will work. Like I say, it's so firm that the vertical adjustment is forced out when I try and compress the seal by closing the vent. Which is obviously wrong.

I looked at the seals available from the Filling station and one is made by Steele Rubber. It doesn‘t say if its a labyrinth seal or not. Is that the one you used?

Yes, as I recall Steele made the one I got. It was expensive...I want to say maybe $35 or so? Several years ago I also bought one from a place called ChevyDuty and it was the right molded design. I have no idea who made it, but it worked fine. This would have been in the 80s.

If you have a hard and flat piece of rubber, I can pretty well promise that will be difficult, although the hard flat part might cause it to harbor water a bit less.

Interesting... pretty sure this one cost about the same (in USD) so that part's not an issue. Yup just hard and flat, no flexibility or pliability at all (vertically that is). If that's the case I'll get this one functional for now but go looking for the Steele Rubber one right away.

Thanks both!

Hard and flat sounds like it was made from solid neoprene or some other rubber compound with a shore durometer value about the same as a tire. That seal ought to have a slightly firm but compressible nature...a hardness between your door seals and vent window seals.

It’s selling for $43.99 plus shipping. Sounds like it worth the extra cost!

100% agree on the compressibility. I just got it to sit slightly proud by cutting the outer perimeter, but getting it to sit tight enough to seal remains a challenge (it just does not want to well, compress!). If it was slightly softer, the final close would seal it - but that force required on the lever is significant (and my vertical adjustment ends up slipping when I apply that much force).

Will order one of those Steele gaskets right away.

Edit: Shipping to Canuckistan from the one supplier will be a minimum of $55 USD (about $80-90 Canuck) so I'll keep searching for that...I will if I have to but I'm sure I can dig one up for a little less.

Thanks very much!

Ouch! Shipping these days is a killer. I don’t blame you for looking elsewhere.

I tried some new bolts in the vertical adjustment and made sure the tabs were fully bent out (per the "Servicing Truck Cabs" instructions) and it is thankfully doing a better job of sealing now. But I don't think the gasket modification is a great one, considering it allows water to sit in the space.

Edit: Located one direct from Steele, shipping was "tolerable". The joys of international shipping, especially these days... but It's on the way!

Good feedback. FWIW, I got one of the hard, flat ones about 10 years ago for my truck. After 10 years, it still leaks. I, too, will look into the expensive one from Steele.

I agree with John, good feedback. I have to get one for my ‘52 and I will definitely buy one from Steele.

I have gotten so mad at the lack of quality of the rubber cowl seals, that I bought 2 the soft foam seals.
I put one in the cowl, but it would not seal, so I added the other one to the underside of the vent. I had to shorten it so that it would fit by cutting out about 3/8".
No more leaks!

My Steele Rubber gasket showed up this week which is incredibly fast these days compared to other stuff I've had shipped lately. It is a MUCH different seal than the one I installed above. This one has a lip and is noticeably more malleable (as others stated).

Unfortunately this weekend is tied up so I won't likely get to this for another week yet, but I'll update when I do!