Cowl: a four-letter word for Mustang owners.

In the beginning, fresh air came in through these vents ahead of the windshield and through openings on the right and left and onto the feet of the driver and passenger to keep them comfortable on hot days. More or less.

But a few years later, water from rain and car washing, along with pinestraw, leaves and other gunk cnspired to rust out the cowls. Ford never painted them at the facotry, so their bare metal skins had no chance.

The accepted repair is to drill out about 200 spot welds, remove the entire cowl, cut out the rusted metal, weld in new metal, and reweld the cowl panel. My mechanic and bodywork expert, Larry Council, wanted a simpler way: Cut off just the ends of the cowl panel, make the repair, then weld the ends back on. It worked.

Regardless of how you do the repair, you need to precisely fit the repair panels to the opening to ensure as tight a fit as possible. Also, make sure to apply seam sealer to the underside of the cowl repair panels, getting to them from under the dash.