any tips or trick here? there is no good access to this area, and its full of pine needles, rat skeletons and ****. ran water hose into the vents and got a bunch of stuff to flow out from up inside the fender. the dashboard is gutted, and I can reach my hand up in the vent and feel gobs of stuff up in there. the interior of this car was very nasty with rats and mice, and the car has surprisingly little rust.
I had a friend that had this problem with a '65 Fairlane and he ended up cutting the cowl vent grill out but he also had rust repair to address,after the repair he welded the grill back in place,repainted the cowl area and you couldn't tell it had ever been touched. HRP
If it's anything like a Falcon, there are side ports that let water flow into the inner fender area. May be a good idea to remove fenders to get access and then blow it out with a pressure washer.
If its anything like unibody Mustangs and Falcons I'd use your hand with a mechanics glove to remove the majority of the **** around the fresh air inlet cone area(s). I'd then insert a HP air gun in both sides to dislodge the remainder of the residue and blow things around whilst wearing a face mask so as not to inhale all the **** and eye protection as well. Depending on how you went, as stated, remove the front fenders and pressure wash through the drain areas (Side ports) to finish the job properly. Remove everything there that shouldn't be as this is what retains moisture and causes rust. These are a PITA to repair properly once car is complete and driving as you either need to strip the interior in the front to repair the rust or remove the front fenders and hood, screen, cowl top to repair the plenum chamber rust..
A dust mask won't protect you from hantavirus. I'd do pretty much the same as everyone else but I've heard enough stories of fatalities to make me nervous. The air hose and shop vac are sure ways to launch little pieces of virus encrusted mouse poop into the air and into your lungs. A water hose at least will keep the dust down.
Like HRP said, Ford loved making that cowl hard to work on. Those early mustangs rust out in there and require you to cut the cowl off and weld it back on when you are finished.
There are flexible Cowl-to-Fender covers inside the fender well, which can be removed. You should then be able to stick a vacuum up in there, or your power washer nozzle. I have a video on my Website, that shows the cover removed. As these get petrified over time, and will probably fall apart, there are repops readily available.
we already took a fender off. well, the boy did. and yeah, that whole space between the fender and cowl was packed with "stuff'. under the 'stuff' is original paint, I think we got real lucky here.
I had scores of mud dauber nests all through the heater on my '59. Not so much anything else. The air inlets had screens with a 1/8" mesh over them, so it kept out the varmints.
Back in my college days, I acquired a German Zundapp 2-cycle motorcycle that had laid up for quite awhile. It would start, but run for only about 15 seconds before choking down. Let it sit awhile, and it would repeat the same scenario. After the third occurrence, looked like steam exiting end of muffler ( WTF! ). Since this was a 2-cycle, muffler was designed to come apart for cleaning. Removed end of muffler and AHA!!! - Mud daubers had built nests INSIDE the muffler tubes. Cleaned out all the ****, hit the kick starter, and ZAP DAP DAP!!!. Sum***** was LOUD! Ever since always kept those busy little *******s in mind whenever something seems clogged. Has worked on many occasions - just like in your case.
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