Once your cowl panel is removed, you can look at its condition and decide which repairs need to be done. Often times, the lower cowl panel is in good shape and only needs to be cleaned and re-painted. However, if it is rusty, a patch panel will need to be installed. Dynacorn Industries offers a good reproduction repair panel. It is a complete lower cowl panel replacement, so you won’t need a patch panel.
I’ve used several of these and they work great. Keep in mind that this panel is patterned after a 1967 Mustang. So if you are using the panel on a 1965 or 1966 Mustang, you will need to drill an extra hole in the mounting flange of your left hand fresh air intake canister. 1967 Mustang fresh air intake canisters had more mounting stud holes than a 1965 or a 1966 did.
To achieve the proper placement of this extra hole, place your fresh air canister on the cowl prior to installation and mark the mounting flange.
Another thing to keep in mind: if you are repairing a 1965 Mustang cowl panel, make sure that your windshield wiper transmission protrudes high enough through the top of the exterior cowl panel. This ensures that you have enough of the wiper transmission protruding through to put the chrome bezel on it. If this isn’t done during installation, it is difficult to do once the painting has been completed.
