The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Interiors Frozen Cowl Vent

Evening all,
I’ve been making good progress on the interior of my ‘53, but one (very) annoying hang up is that the cowl vent is frozen shut. I’ve tried spraying some places with penetrating oil, but I’m not sure if I’m hitting the actual pivot points. Anyone else dealt with this and maybe have a guide of where I should be trying to “persuade” it?

Most likely the problem point is the control lever under the dash. It's pretty tight in the first place.

This first photo shows the pivot point right at the vent itself, and the two holes on the red parts are where the linkage connects with two small carriage bolts on each side. I replaced the pivot points on my truck which were worn pretty badly. I used shoulder rivets that required drilling the tabs that are welded to the cowl.

The second photo shows the pivot points (yellow arrows) - one off-picture to the right, the spring-loaded detent (red arrow), and linkage and support attaching bolt locations (green arrows) - the ones at the firewall are off on the right.

I would recommend removing the linkage and soaking it in a rust removal product such as Evaporust. Then loosen things up, including the spring-loaded detent. It could very well be that the detent ball is stuck in one of the holes you can see in the second picture.

Agree with above. Mine was frozen as well, no movement at all. I removed from truck and soaked in rust remover then lubricated hinge points. Working now as it should.

I drilled out the rivets and installed 3/16" bolts with washers and fibre lock (nylock) nuts. Works very smoothly.

You need the fibre lock nuts so you don't over tighten creating too much friction. Using castle nuts and cotter pins would work even better. I have some AN3 hardware around - just used what I had...

Bolts with washer and nylock nuts is OK, but my replacement of the original shoulder rivets works better, as there's a smooth surface the links ride on instead of threads. The threads will eventually wear and the whole thing get sloppy. I located the shoulder rivets that had the right shoulder length and were close to the right diameter. If any one needs some, I have a bunch left.

Mine got stupid tight over time. I didn't feel like taking it all out to fix it, so I sprayed all of the joints with CLP gun cleaner instead. It freed it up immediately. I forgot how easy that mechanism was supposed to work after that. Its like hot butter now.