Sealing off air vents.

[jumping jack flash]

Anyone ever close off the area in front of the windshield where the air vents get their air? I know that the wiper mechanism is in there so I need to leave it accessible , but why leave a leak prone area like that as the factory made it? In 1957, fresh air vents were needed as not many A/C units were around. I'll be putting in A/C and vent visors on the side windows for fresh air, without the leaks in the firewall area. Also I plan on using a wiper system that is installed in this cavity, and is operated by an enclosed cable system. The motor can be remotely mounted anywhere convenient . Same as on some Jaguars. It clears up a spot on the firewall where the wiper motor is normally mounted on the 57.

[JimNolan]

You could do absolutely anything to a 57 Ford, change anything.  I can imagine you could do away with the whole thing and just put a piece of flat sheet metal across the whole thing. Of coarse then you'd be without fresh air intakes ( which I like).  When I restored mine I used Por 15 on the cavity, I put new rubber boots in for water drainage, took out the cable system and cleaned it up and lubed it. And, the 57 Chevy electric wiper motor still works with the original 57 windshield wiper cable. Now, my car don't leak, I have fresh air and AC if I want it, it's driven in rain all the time and my wipers still work as good if not better than they did 57 years ago. My car will be 57 years old tomorrow (Sept 26, 1956).
   I promise you, if I endorse something on a 57 Ford it's because I've put it through the wringer and I'm satisfied with the results. Babying a car is not my habit and the cavity for wipers and fresh air was not a mistake from Ford in 57. Now, the drive-train was something else. LOL

[RICH MUISE]

I plan on just adding a sheet of rubber under the vent screen. I've already welded shut the original two large fresh air vent holes for the plenums on the cowl under/behind the dash.
But, I'm also kicking around the idea of running my efi throttle body intake into the cowl for the air intake, if I can figure out something for the filter. If I end up that route of course I wont close off the vent

[jumping jack flash]

So closing off this area has occurred to someone besides me. OK. One of my parts cars had factory air , and the ducts had block off plates installed from the factory. It never did have those scoops bolted to the bottom of the dash. It did have a large circular hole cut in the side of the firewall, between the fender and the passenger side . Kind of in the antenna area. . Air was ducted in from this hole .If you look at the restoration photos in Jerry's restoration of the 57 ranchero you can see this hole. It has hardware cloth bolted to it. I guess to keep critters out  . ,,I wish my car was as clean as his as a starter car. I don't remember him having to weld anything to that body.....This cavity has just always bugged me .Don't know why, I just think it should have been sealed, if not for the air vents, that I'm removing . I probably shouldn't fret about this being a rust threat, on the ranchero , after all look at the entire bed, ....water leaks down into what would have been the backseat area of a station wagon. Lots of rust in this area, makes me wish I'd done a Club sedan. It is my 10th ranchero since 1969, and I'm sure my last, so I want it to be just right. Oh yeah , only 4 of the 10 ever were intended to make it back to the street, the other 6 were for parts.
   

[RICH MUISE]

Just make sure you replace the cowl drain tubes...those are the biggest source of water leakage.

[jumping jack flash]

Yep, and those are available in all the catalogs. So many parts are now available that were not when I built my first while still in high school.