1940 Deluxe coupe, cowl " water catch tray''

[SmoothFourty]

Greetings,

Writing from the Wet PNW,

I've a 1940 Deluxe Coupe , I'm always looking to drive , most any weather.
There a rubber gasket and a screen on top of the cowl opening. But no catch basin to prevent water pouring inside the car !
After washing my car when day this summer, I noticed the Carpeting blow. The cowl was wet. A quick glance up revealed, there is no drip tray, catch tray or whatever it's called, for any moisture or rain to collect and drain to the outside the interior.
What are my options, car is painted, running , and otherwise complete.
Thank to all who chime in !
jim

[Kube]

Originally Posted by SmoothFourty

Greetings,

Writing from the Wet PNW,

I've a 1940 Deluxe Coupe , I'm always looking to drive , most any weather.
There a rubber gasket and a screen on top of the cowl opening. But no catch basin to prevent water pouring inside the car !
After washing my car when day this summer, I noticed the Carpeting blow. The cowl was wet. A quick glance up revealed, there is no drip tray, catch tray or whatever it's called, for any moisture or rain to collect and drain to the outside the interior.
What are my options, car is painted, running , and otherwise complete.
Thank to all who chime in !
jim

Your option?
A new seal, properly installed and a tight, properly adjusted cowl vent lid.

[Terry,OH]

There is no tray or drain, the gasket fills the area below the lid edge. Ditto what Kube said above.

[19Fordy]

As has been mentioned, there is no interior cowl vent drip tray on a 40 Ford. After you install the new seal you can adjust how tight the cowl vent lid compresses against the gasket so as to prevent water from entering your interior. Also, be sure to install the new gasket with curved edge facing down. Also, once a year I wipe the top of the gasket with Armor-All to keep it pliable.

[SmoothFourty]

Thank you , very much . Learn something new everyday. !

[SmoothFourty]

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Thank you !

[SmoothFourty]

Thank you!

[SmoothFourty]

Thank you All for responding..

Onward then ....

[40COUPEPETE]

no fresh air in the rain... at least from the cowl. I learned that just now myself.

[corvette8n]

My ‘41 was also leaking at the bottom edge of the windshield along with the cowl vent.

[Fred A]

A little heavy on the properly, but of the nine cars from the era of that lovely vent design, all shown the weakness of the seal. There is some range in quality of the replacement seals. I would regularly use lo-tack tape to seal the vents on the upper side to prevent any leakage. Give it the old properly try. Good Luck: Fred A

[Zeke3]

Hmmm, this is interesting because my 1937 passenger car does have a water catch tray designed around the perimeter of the vent screen and there is a drain tube at the front of the tray that drains any collected water into the engine compartment. The first photo shows the location of the drain hole, with a drill bit stuck in it. The second photo shows the location of the drain nipple in the engine compartment and the third photo shows the drain nipple without the drill bit. I am surprised this feature was not included in the 1940 models being discussed.

Note there is a hose bead on this nipple, which seems to indicate that a hose may have been installed originally to drain the water away from the engine.

[Kube]

Originally Posted by Zeke3

Hmmm, this is interesting because my 1937 passenger car does have a water catch tray designed around the perimeter of the vent screen and there is a drain tube at the front of the tray that drains any collected water into the engine compartment. The first photo shows the location of the drain hole, with a drill bit stuck in it. The second photo shows the location of the drain nipple in the engine compartment and the third photo shows the drain nipple without the drill bit. I am surprised this feature was not included in the 1940 models being discussed.

Note there is a hose bead on this nipple, which seems to indicate that a hose may have been installed originally to drain the water away from the engine.

Zeke, Rest assured there was no drain in '39 nor '40.

[Lanny]

Originally Posted by Zeke3

Hmmm, this is interesting because my 1937 passenger car does have a water catch tray designed around the perimeter of the vent screen and there is a drain tube at the front of the tray that drains any collected water into the engine compartment. The first photo shows the location of the drain hole, with a drill bit stuck in it. The second photo shows the location of the drain nipple in the engine compartment and the third photo shows the drain nipple without the drill bit. I am surprised this feature was not included in the 1940 models being discussed.

Note there is a hose bead on this nipple, which seems to indicate that a hose may have been installed originally to drain the water away from the engine.

================================================

Hi Zeke, I had a '37 Ford coupe many-many years ago, and I remember
replacing that worn-out cowl gasket ,to stop the water from leaking in.
There was NO little drain like you show. The NEW gasket solved the leak.





.

[Zeke3]

My car is a deluxe coupe that has a body number tag, so I believe the body was from a supplier. Perhaps my water tray was unique to that supplier. I don’t know any other reason my 37 would have this feature and others wouldn’t.

[Lanny]

Zeke, that is Not a water tray. It is the tray for the Gasket to set into.
Someone has put in that Little drain...
Do a search for a "cowl gasket" for your car. I think '37 to '48 are all the same size.





.

[kiwi nz]

My 37 has the little drain tube, it is Canadian made, NZ assembled car. Others that I have seen or owned all had one as well.

[47Monarch]

The might look closed but you have to give the lever a good tug to make sure it is closed .if it leaks you need a new rubber seal vent

[Zeke3]

Originally Posted by Lanny

Zeke, that is Not a water tray. It is the tray for the Gasket to set into.
Someone has put in that Little drain.
.

Lanny, let's try again. Attached are a couple of additional pictures that clearly show the gasket trough. The water tray I am referring to is the approximately 5/16" gap between the gasket trough and the cowl vent screen, the drain is in the center at the front as shown in the photos in post 12 of this discussion.

I don't see any indication that someone added that drain after the car was manufactured in 1937.

[petehoovie]

Originally Posted by Zeke3

Lanny, let's try again. Attached are a couple of additional pictures that clearly show the gasket trough. The water tray I am referring to is the approximately 5/16" gap between the gasket trough and the cowl vent screen, the drain is in the center at the front as shown in the photos in post 12 of this discussion.

I don't see any indication that someone added that drain after the car was manufactured in 1937.