36 Buick cowl help

[Tom_S 27]

Hello,

I am trying to install a cowl vent seal from Steele. I have tried all kinds of options but only one seems to work and I am not sure this is the way to do it.

5 shows the bottom of seal with a slot in it

4 shows the top of seal with a lip sticking up

3 shows the underside of the vent with a lip on it

6 shows the cows with 2 troughs, left for the seal, right for any water that gets in to drain out

2 shows the seal with vent lip mounted inside the seal slot

1 shows the seal resting on top of the vent lip with seal lip facing up.

Try as i might, I cannot mount the seal to the car trough area that seems correct.

However if I mount it to the vent as in photo 2 then it seems to work and the seal lip then forces any transient water into the water trough for discharge when closed. However this means the seal travels with the vent when opening and closing. Does this sound reasonable?

Hope this is understandable.

Thanks,

Tom

Edited September 16, 2013 by Tom_S
typo (see edit history)

[Jeff_Miller 0]

Hi Tom,

I faced the same dilemma as you and ultimately decided to mount the seal similar to your option 2. However in my case the seal wasn't big enough to get the channel shown in picture 5 to fit over the edge of the vent so I ended up placing the entire seal inside the edge of the vent.

I tried numerous positions and fittings but ultimately it seemed that the flange in picture 4 needed to mate with the inside edge from picture 6 so that any water that made it past the main seal would be directed out the drain hose. I'm not 100% happy with this as it does leave the vent sitting a bit higher on the cowl. It may be that I was just used to how the vent sat with the worn (largely missing) old seal and perhaps it is actually now in the correct place. It currently sits up about 1/8" above the rest of the cowl but I still need to do some fitting under there so maybe it will get better.

BTW: Great pictures. I'm sure they will help others be able to comment.

Jeff

[Mark Shaw 1,677]

There is an article that describes the whole process here:

http://www.1937and1938buicks.com/Technical-Tips/Technical-Tips.htm

[Jeff_Miller 0]

Mark, thanks for the pointer. I have to learn how to mine information off that site. It took me awhile but the index led to the torque tube publication from March/April 2003 and there I found the write up on page 22. The link to the torque tube is http://www.1937and1938buicks.com/The-Torque-Tube/Volume%20XXI%20Issue%204%20(March-April%202003).pdf

Unfortunately the article still left me wondering if I installed mine correctly. Hopefully Tom will be able to make some sense of it.

Jeff

[Tom_S 27]

Mark, Jeff,

Thanks for the replys. The techinical tips are for 37/38 Buicks and basically talks about the adjustments of the vent lever and not installation of the gasket. A friend came over saturday evening and he has a 38. The gasket installation is different than on my 36.

I had high hopes he would come and help me solve the problem, but he left confused also.

Thanks,

Tom

[Mark Shaw 1,677]

Tom,

Pat Jacobs, the author of that article, is the guy who owned my 38 Special Two Door. I bought it from him just a few years ago... He lives in WA state. I suggest you look him up in the BCA roster and give him a call for assistance.

[Tom_S 27]

A friend was at the charlotte swap meet this past week. He has a space near Steele rubber. He has a 38 buick and had come to my home to see if he could figure how to place the seal in the cowl. He ended up taking the seal and some diagrams of the car/vent with him to the meet and asked Steele how to mount it. They said it mounted as in photo 2 (seal slot to vent lip) and actually travels with the vent when opening and closing. So, I guess I will try and see if I can make it work sometime. I have a temporary seal in it now that I made and just sits in the outer trough and is working to keep out any water when I wash the car.

Thanks,

Tom

[Jeff_Miller 0]

Tom, thanks for posting an update.

[born2lose 10]

I replaced mine on my 36 with the steele one and I ended up gluing it in the trough and it works great and water tight. Also the vent it still flush with the body.

[KeithElwell 0]

I too glued mine into the trough and everything fit nicely and vent door sits closed flush with body after some adjustment of the closing mechanism. Also found molded rubber hose that fit the cowl drain nicely and goes down and forward thru the firewall hole and down toward back of engine. Don't yet know if any leaks as car is not finished and on the road.