|
|
Post by AZBlues on Mar 14, 2015 13:43:16 GMT -5
Niiice.  Rob Thank ya suh. I'll have to lay off of the fun engine stuff for awhile, because last night, I dumped a gallon of water down the right side of the cowl plenum to check for leaks. Not too surprisingly, I got a modest puddle on the passenger floor. Hmm. I guess I'm digging in deeper! The inner wheel tub must come out to access the blower motor and housing, and when you remove all of the bolts, it wiggles out pretty easily.  Some of the screws holding the fiberglass housing on were really crunchy. As it turns out, taking this apart wasn't a bad idea:  Lots of cigarette wrappers, leaves, and twigs. It looks to me like the water was coming in through that rust hole on top, and going into the blower intake hole, as it's still wet from last night.  Anyone have an extra plenum screw?  The plan is to fix the hole and make sure everything seals up. Spanks, am I on the right track here? I'd like to take the heater/A/C box out and do what you did to yours, can that be removed without the whole dash coming out first? Should I do it now or later? -AZB |
|
|
|
Post by Ghostbluesman (Ghostsoldier) on Mar 15, 2015 15:27:21 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by AZBlues on Mar 15, 2015 18:49:02 GMT -5
Another pleasant valley Sunday. Pulled the HVAC box (suitcase) and the fresh air box. Promptly found the source of the leak:  Yecch. A rust hole on the driver's side as well, behind the wiper stanchion mounting hole. Both fenders are coming off. The snowball increases in size. But the rest of the stuff under there looks pretty good, at least.  -AZB |
|
|
|
Post by AZBlues on Mar 16, 2015 23:36:11 GMT -5
Every time I take something off of this car, I'm glad I did. I think we should call this area of Monacos the Rot Box.  Left side better, but the same effort to fix it, so it's a wash.  -AZB |
|
|
|
Post by spanks79 on Mar 17, 2015 6:50:24 GMT -5
A test fit of the engine determined that this much had to be trimmed from the mount for oil pump clearance:  Good stuff. The differences between small block and big block mounts has been discussed before but I don't recall ever seeing it documented in detail like this before. |
|
|
|
Post by spanks79 on Mar 17, 2015 7:06:00 GMT -5
Niiice. Rob Thank ya suh. I'll have to lay off of the fun engine stuff for awhile, because last night, I dumped a gallon of water down the right side of the cowl plenum to check for leaks. Not too surprisingly, I got a modest puddle on the passenger floor. Hmm. I guess I'm digging in deeper! The inner wheel tub must come out to access the blower motor and housing, and when you remove all of the bolts, it wiggles out pretty easily. Some of the screws holding the fiberglass housing on were really crunchy. As it turns out, taking this apart wasn't a bad idea: Lots of cigarette wrappers, leaves, and twigs. It looks to me like the water was coming in through that rust hole on top, and going into the blower intake hole, as it's still wet from last night. Anyone have an extra plenum screw? The plan is to fix the hole and make sure everything seals up. Spanks, am I on the right track here? I'd like to take the heater/A/C box out and do what you did to yours, can that be removed without the whole dash coming out first? Should I do it now or later? -AZB Sorry for the delay, not sure how I missed this post. These pictures right here are why I call BS on anyone selling an unrstored car and claiming "rust free". I'm not bragging but the body I bought from Arthur is the closest to rust free I have ever seen and even it needed some work in the cowl box area and honestly it's an area I still worry about. To answer your question I believe you can pull the interior heater box without removing the entire dash. I was taking the whole dash out anyway so I didn't have to do it that way but I believe it could be done. There really isn't a whole lot of stuff over there. It looks like a lot but it's really two pieces, the heater box and the fresh air box. You did the hard part by removing the inner fender. Worst case you may need to loosen the lower dash board. Edit: Holy Shit! I should have read further before posting. You are deep now! But better to deal with it now than later. |
|
|
|
Post by countrybunker on Mar 17, 2015 9:02:23 GMT -5
As mentioned, these spots always seem to rot out. Every car I've seen seems to have some here. Surprisinly my whole rot box hasn't rusted out here. You guys have seen how nasty mine is everywhere else, but not in these spots.. WTH lol.
Spanks parts car "Mona" was horribly bad there. Last time we saw eachother we talked about it.
|
|
|
|
Post by cynot on Mar 17, 2015 10:26:09 GMT -5
As mentioned, these spots always seem to rot out. Every car I've seen seems to have some here. Surprisinly my whole rot box hasn't rusted out here. You guys have seen how nasty mine is everywhere else, but not in these spots.. WTH lol. Spanks parts car "Mona" was horribly bad there. Last time we saw eachother we talked about it. Same here. Mine had rust in the rear but the cowl area was really clean. Maybe it was parked on a hill!  |
|
|
|
Post by Ghostbluesman (Ghostsoldier) on Mar 17, 2015 10:26:12 GMT -5
Funny thing is, the driver's side on mine wasn't nearly as bad as the passenger side, either....makes you wonder. Could a direct water dump from badly-sealed spotlight mounts be causing this?
Rob
|
|
|
|
Post by Mr Mercer on Mar 18, 2015 1:43:01 GMT -5
My cowl area was storing water when I bought the car . There was a plugged drain where the cowl dips by the wiper motor .... maybe a reason for this ??
|
|
|
|
Post by cbodymopar on Mar 18, 2015 10:46:11 GMT -5
A test fit of the engine determined that this much had to be trimmed from the mount for oil pump clearance: When that was done, the 440 dropped right onto the mounts and was already level.  Right side has a mile of clearance for bolt access:  Left side not so much:  Oh, good luck getting that nut and a wrench on the front for the through-bolt.  You can barely get a finger in there with the Melling pump, so I welded the nut to the mount.  Another gratuitous engine-in-the-car shot.  -AZB its cool to see someone use the mounts I posted a link about back in 2012 and prove what I said about the different subframes was right. Nice Car!!! |
|
|
|
Post by AZBlues on Mar 18, 2015 20:47:45 GMT -5
How to fix the rot box, part 1. I cut access panels in both sides to be able to get all around the water dam on the right side,  And the drain areas on both sides.  Meet the source of the rotted driver side floor pan:  Not to mention this hell hole deeper inside the left side of the box.  One of many piles of crud you'll produce clearing out the drain paths and various voids in the cowl area:  All of this will be wire brushed, cleared out, and the whole rot box will be coated with POR-15. Then a combination of internal patch panels and fiberglass will be added, followed by more POR-15, and finally the access panels and new outer patch panels will be welded back in and body worked as most of that is visible. The result will be a water-tight cowl that will last through the next several owners and never rust out again. Cover me, I'm going in. -AZB |
|
|
|
Post by Steam McQueen on Mar 18, 2015 21:44:22 GMT -5
- This is all amazing stuff, AZ, excellent pics! The Rot Box ... So it's something that wasn't done properly from the factory, or a design flaw? Looks like this area is a common problem on Monaco's.  |
|
|
|
Post by Ghostbluesman (Ghostsoldier) on Mar 19, 2015 9:41:26 GMT -5
Well...they are Mostly Old Parts And RUST.... Rob |
|
|
|
Post by AZBlues on Mar 19, 2015 12:17:03 GMT -5
- This is all amazing stuff, AZ, excellent pics! The Rot Box ... So it's something that wasn't done properly from the factory, or a design flaw? Looks like this area is a common problem on Monaco's. Steam, it all depends on what the car was parked under. Mine is rust free in the usual salt corrosion areas because it came from Georgia in an area where they don't salt the roads. But it was parked under trees that dropped debris into the cowl area, which held moisture and caused water to soak into the metal - and partially plugged drain passages. I've seen a few desert cars from this area that have mint rot boxes, because even though they get the debris, it doesn't stay wet here long enough to cause rust-through. Add to that, the fact that there is little or no paint in this box area, and rust gets a good start almost immediately in damp climates. As to the design, it could stand some improvement too: The right side drain channel is this little square opening:  Which plugs easily. But on the left side, you have this much bigger drain opening:  Which dumps the water into the cowl side box area, and drains through this opening at the bottom:  Which had some debris, but was still draining. All clear now. -AZB |
|
