I'm going to repaint my 82 Toyota pickup and I have some surface rust located inside the area in the photo below. Can someone please tell me how I can access that area?

Thank you!

 

Pull the window trim and wiper arms. Open your hood take the screws out of the "vent" and your in like flint easy peasy.

 

Really? That's all there is to it? It was kinda dark last night when I looked at it and I didn't see any screws or vents which made me wonder if I'd have to pull the dashboard out to get there. Well, I'll take a closer look today. Thanks.

 

I would cut out the windshield seal (replacements are available for around $60) and remove the windshield because you're almost guaranteed to have more rust under the seal. To get inside to where those vents go, you can remove your wiper motor on the passenger side and there is an access plate on the driver side. Wiper arms and linkage can come out through these access holes as well.

 

The windshield is already out. The surface rust is on the back wall of that vented compartment and I want to make that rust go away before I prime and then paint the entire vehicle. Are you saying that the only way to get into that compartment is through a little access hole on the drivers side?

 

Yep! If you feel like doing some metal and body work, you can cut out those vents and weld some square patches in their place to make a "smoothie" cowl. While you have it cut out, you can easily access the rust inside for repair. If it isn't too bad, I would just sand blast it, spray on some epoxy sealer, then urethane primer and top coat.

 

It appears to be surface rust only and I don't have a welder so I hope I don't have to cut out the metal. So you are saying I should sand blast through the little vent slots and spray it with rattle can epoxy sealer? Is there any specific brand of rattle can epoxy sealer I should use?

Thanks again.

 

I don't use rattle can anything, I only shoot higher end products through a gun. but if you are looking for a decent epoxy sealer in a rattle can then I would go with Eastwood's products. They should have something that will fit your needs and not screw you down the road.

 

I'm re-thinking your suggestion of cutting out the vents and replacing it with something else because I don't know how else I'm going to get to the rust in there. I don't weld but I'm good at fiberglassing and was wondering if anyone knows of a company that sells fiberglass replacement parts for that area? Maybe a cowl like you suggested?? Do you know what that long panels where those vents are located is called so I can do a search online?

Thanks

 

there is no place that offers a smoothie for this gen . just simply because it is a "sealed" area . We offer smoothies for the 84-95 years and that is exactly why !! our smoothies help PREVENT this .
there is no easy way to fix this rusted area . your either going to need to cut it out and weld in new pieces , or replace the cab .... I guess how long your going to keep it for , will determine how you will fix it



.

 

What do you call that area between the back of the hood and the bottom of the windshield?

 

Most people call it a Cowl. You won't find a replacement patch for that area anywhere. The easier approach would be to cut the two vents out in a rather neat rectangle that you can match up on a sheet of 16ga steel that you can weld in there. Doing it with fiberglass is whole other animal if you don't know what you are doing. I've repaired my fiberglass surfboards for the last 20 years and I'm still not confident that I could do adequate fiberglass repairs on a vehicle. If you can get your hands on a mig welder, that would be your best bet. Just simply tack the replacement panels in there and close it up. The easiest way to weld thin sheet metal patches is to run tack welds all the way around the patch, splitting the distance between welds. So if you were to start with tacks in the corners, then split the differences between those tacks with a tack and then split the difference between the middle tack and the corner tack, and split it again and again and again until you have a continuous line of tacks all the way around the patch. Doing it this way keeps you from burning through the thin steel with too much heat and it keeps your weld relatively flat so you have less finishing work to do.

I'll be doing a smoothie cowl on my truck soon so scope out my build if you want to see an example. Corey (Slacker) also did one on his Trekker.

 

COWL - thats it, thanks!

I don't know anything about welding but I can do almost anything with fiberglass (used to shape and glass my own surfboards) so I'm going to take a different look at it today from the perspective of cutting it out and fiberglassing it back in place. The rust is only surface rust now but the places I plan on traveling will have tons of rain and general high humidity (Mexico and Central America) so it won't take long for that rust to become gnarly. I tried but my hand is too big to get in there with a wire brush. Is there some super duper miracle stop rust stuff that I can spray down there without wire brushing and sanding off the surface rust?

 

You can get a Shutz gun and spray some POR-15 in there, but POR-15 likes a well prepped or sandblasted surface. I would try cleaning it up as best as possible (may take some innovation to make a tool to get in there) and spray it with an epoxy sealer, urethane primer and then your base coat. A good Shutz gun will be able to get all that in there for you.

 

Prep is going to be key, but dang, its a tight fit in there! I was told by someone at TCP Global where I bought my primer and people at an autobody forum that there is no rattle can epoxy sealer that is compatible with a two part urethane primer.

Maybe I could find a pre-made fiberglass cowl meant for another car that I could modify to fit...or mold my own??

 

Check with Eastwood on the primer compatibility - they have a pretty good selection on paints and methods of application

 

Por15 is a great product with a great finish when done but there's another alternative on such a spot that looks are not as important as stopping the cancer from spreading. Ospho metal treatment. Its a rust stopper and inhibits further rot, google it and read a lil on your own. My Dad and buddies put me on to it and its done good by me. Reading this hoping to find an answer cause my cowl is gone, all the way around one hood hinge but I'll be attempting Kawazx636's method eventually.