The windshield still swings open on this car so we positioned and marked where the new cowl vent will be so as not to interfere with the opening screen frame. I went ahead and cut the hole after removing paint from the panel. Then marked out as best I could before starting to bend up the edge of the hole to match to old one from the Willys. I used hammers and dollies to slowly bend the edge up while checking that I wasn’t stretching the metal too much. In the four corners I used a short lump of round bar to form them. Just tapping slowly and checking often.
Once it looked pretty good I used a 4” sanding disc in the angle grinder to flatten out and even up the new edge.
Then I positioned the inner part under the cowl and spot welded it with the mig through the holes.
Used some 1/4 unf bolts with nylons as pivots and screwed it all together.
It works really well and the over centre spring keeps it tightly opened or closed whichever position it’s in. I’ll put some self adhesive foam tape under the vent to help seal it up when closed.
Hope it helps someone get some ideas for giving it a go.
CM
the business I work for uses it a lot for car repairs. I was trying to use all the stuff in my garage that was on hand to do the job. As for rust, I’ll do my best to keep it at bay but I don’t think I’ll ever beat it completely. I’ll let the next guy down the track deal with it :^D I think I’ll have had my fun and be long gone by then.