william_b_noble

I would not want a cover over the battery - bad idea for several reasons including cooling - you can easily figure out how many different ones there are by looking in PET - this is a good project idea, they disintegrate with time.

plumbum

The battery cover is still available and cheap from the dealer...The cowl I would be interested depending on price..I am scared to even look at mine it is so fragile

MAGK944

There is a stock factory battery cover so heat shouldn't be a problem, it's designed for a cover. Problem is a lot of us don't use the stock battery so the factory cover won't fit. I'd like to see a cover there, the battery terminals are sort of exposed to the elements.

ReDesign by FEATHER

Thanks for the foregoing feedback. A lot more will certainly be helpful. Of course I don't have anything to "show" since the first word in this thread is "possible." That means that I haven't done it yet. I still intend to start another thread after I have pretty well decided what it is I am going to actually do, but in the meantime here are some of my thoughts that I am dealing with at this point:

1. As with the 928 it appears to me that the factory revised the Cowl Cover over the production series of the car(s) and abandoned the previous version of the Cowl Cover with each revision so that the only one available at any given time and now is the latest version. For these cars it isn't quite the same as the previous versions and requires some modification (not so with the 928) to fit the 944.

2. The 924 apparently didn't even have a cowl cover. I suspect that the early 944 didn't either, but now I am going to look at PET to see if I can tell. (That is a good idea that I had not thought of.)

3. The original Cowl Covers do not fit worth a darn. They are made of a very cheap kind of plastic and very very thin. They deteriorate readily and moreso with the use of double sticky tape to hold them down in the back. They cannot readily be removed and reinstalled. They do not cover quite as much at they might to look like more than an afterthought.

4. I think the original Covers are made from plastic that is about .032 in. thick; and I will make mine out of ABS Plastic that is twice as thick. It comes with a texture on the good side called "hair cell."

5. I have in mind to make a Cowl Cover for this series of cars, that have the latest version of the dual blower to cover, that extends all the way across the base of the windshield and perhaps out to the inner edge of the fenders or the outer edge of the hood, on both sides. It will likely have the cutouts on each end for the battery and for the fuse box, but they will be closer fitting around each with a flange downward to basically out of sight, or sort of.

6. My Cover will then have two openings sculpted into the top, with a water fence around them, one just outboard of each of the blower fan intakes.

7. I don't know about a battery cover, but I am not inclined to cover it with the basic cowl cover. Whether I devise something that might be added on to cover the battery remains to be determined. Probably not, though.

8. Ordinarily I don't predict the price of something at this early stage of the development, but since I have already done this basic project for the 928 I know what is going to be involved, so I can tell that this project, if completed as describe here, or close, the end price will be about $125 plus $20 S&H to domestic addresses. That is more than I charge for the 928 covers, but they are made two at a time and I don't think these will be made except one at a time, and there is going to be quite a bit more involved in finishing out one of these after it is formed.

9. I think the double sticky tape on the factory covers is even an after-after thought since I suspect that the original idea was to have the windshield wipers hold the aft edge in place where they are mounted. What I am thinking about using instead is perhaps some plastic magnet strips or maybe velcro; or maybe something else that might be thought of that will hold the aft edge to the metal just foreward of the WS but which will release readily in order to remove the Cover without destroying it. Do any of you have the same concern I have about the magnetic strips? What are your thoughts about something to use here? Or, it might actually be that with my more rigid plastic the wiper mounts may be sufficiant to hold the aft edge down to keep the water out so it can be directed left and right to the cowl drains; particularly so the way it will be formed and when I put a closed cell foam seal along the aft edge where it mates to the bottom edge of the WS.

By the way, I use a Vacuum forming process to make these and I have to have that done on an outsource basis since I don't have a working vacuum table at this point. It wouldn't make much difference in the price if I did since they still have to be formed by someone.

ReDesign by FEATHER

I need more input about the battery and its possible cover. First, I wonder just what the choices are in respect to the size of the battery. What is it that many of you use that is not the stock size? Of the few pictures I have available none show anything over the battery. Who will send me a picture of one of these. I haven't looked on PET yet, so maybe there is a sketch that will answer some of this, but I still would like some pictures. Post them here of send them to me at:

jfeather@bresnan.net

ReDesign by FEATHER

I changed my Avatar to show the Cowl Covers that I developed for the 928s. These two versions are applicable to all model years of the 928. I hope to be able to do something similar for the 4 cyl cars, and perhaps all of them including those that never had a Cowl Cover.

ReDesign by FEATHER

The opening in the 928 Covers, on the left side in the picture, are there for air intake for the 928 blower and are put at the front of the cowl cover but are oriented kind of toward the back where the air is coming from. The two openings I have in mind for the 944/968 covers will be similar, but will be oriented crossways to the Cowl Cover rather that along with it, and they will be just outboard of the two blower intakes under it.

Jerry Feather

Guess what? This project may be taking on some new life. Last nite I bought an 87 924S locally that is in excellent condition with only 52k miles. It does not have a Cowl Cover, of course, but I think that the area needing one is the same as the cowl areas of the 944 and 968. What I think might take place is my development of a totally independent design of a Cowl Cover for the 924, taking into consideration some of the thoughts I have had and have received in this thread about the design. Perhaps I can devise a set of forms that can be adjusted to work with the same basic form and add forming components on top to suit the later cars. Let's see how this goes.

Jerry Feather

Yesterday I started the development of the Cowl Cover that I intend for, at least, my 87 924S. It has no Cowl Cover, and since it is low miles and appears very original, I am sure that it did not come with one. I conclude that none of the 924s had a cowl cover. I also conclude that the plastic cover over the fan intake and the kind of cover over the wiper mechanism is what is intended for their protection from the elements. That leaves the area of the cowl kind of cluttered looking.

Since my new design of a Cowl Cover for the 924s will be just that, and not a replacement, it will likely be of minimal use for the rest of you with a 924, but it will clean up the look of my engine compartment. It also gives me the chance to at least make a start toward the development of something similar for the 944 guys, which I will be doing along the way, at least to the point that the two will differ, and assuming that the same basic shape, front and back, will fit either car.

I have the front edge of the form started, having made a careful pattern of the top edge of the firewall for that. From the pattern I have made two form components for that and which I will finish up assembling later this morning.

Next I have to make a similar pattern of the aft edge of the Cover along the base of the windshield. I'll be doing that later this morning also. With that I think I have figured out how to form the aft edge of the Cover since it is at a distinct angle to the rest of the Cover.

What I am going to do is make the aft edge in such a way that it will simply lay onto the metal trim just forward of the WS, but will not be held down or lie under the WS wiper posts. It will be free of them but fit closely around them. I have decided to hold the aft edge of the Cover down with some simple clips that will fit just under the aft metal trim. That way the Cover can be taken in and out very easily as needed from time to time, and without removing the WSWs and pulling up any double sticky tape.

The cover is going to be 47 inches wide overall. That will take it to just 3 inches from the inside edge of the fenders. That allows room for the hood struts to be clear of it when the hood is down. In the area of the battery it will be that wide only aft of the battery. There will be a large opening in the area of the battery that will surround it on two sides--the back and inboard edges. Then I intend to fabricate a cover for the battery that will probably hinge along the inboard edge of the opening.

The fuses for the 924 are not in the cowl area so the cover will extend all the way to three inches from the fender on that side, for its full width, front to back.

Since there is going to be this fairly large open area of about 3 inches wide, side to side, on each end of the Cover, there is going to be plenty of access for air to the blower, so I am not putting any openings in the main body of the Cover.

Installing this new Cover will require me to grind off the little fence on top of the plastic fan shroud and probably some of the two wings extending left and right from that shroud.

I am going to put some cool looking fins on top of the Cover both to stiffen it some and to just look---well, cool. I haven't decided on the spacing for those yet. I think I will also put some, two or three, in the Battery lid, to match.

V2Rocket

Please share pictures - I need one of these.

Jerry Feather

So far I have a pretty clear mental picture of what this Cowl Cover (or these Cowl Covers) is/are going to look like, but since I upgraded my computer to a Windows 8 or something, I have been unable, without some help, to download pictures.

Yesterday I finished up the second front edge forming component which will likely turn out to be the one for the Cover for 944s. Then I made a pattern of the aft edge of the Cover, which is just the front edge of the windshield. Then I gave up and came in to watch both championship games, but while doing that I was able to continue developing this project in my mind.

One of my thoughts is to make the battery cover fit more closely so as to just look like part of the Cover. Rather than hinge it I will make is to sort of snap into a slot formed in the main Cover for that purpose. Another thought I am having is to make the rib spacing 2.5 inches, and starting from right at the edge where the battery is and working inboard toward the raised hump that clears the fan. Then I'll put three ribs in the battery cover to match.


One problem I have not solved yet is that my design at this point is 47 inches wide (long) and the material I hope to use is only 48. The forming contraption we use to vacu-form this stuff is built to accommodate 48 inch material and that takes about 1 inch all around for grabbing the material. I'm not sure yet how this is going to resolve itself, but I have an idea or two.

V2Rocket

i just had an easier idea

just a rubber "L" or "T" shape with the short leg/cross attached to the cowl and the long leg sticking up to provide cover for the cowl area. it'd be flexible enough to get squished down by the hood shutting.

...or even some of that snazzy garden edging stuff people use for cheap chin spoilers

Jerry Feather

I started working up the main body of these forms out of 3/4 inch hardwood plywood that I have around here. I was going to bevel the under side of the front of them to mate up to the firewall form, but that didn't work in my band saw as I had hoped. The blade cutting that size of a cut requires removing the blade guides and then the blade wants to follow the grain of the wood layers rather than cut a straight line. I ended up simply grinding the bevel off with my disc grinder and a coarse sanding disc.

Then I located and cut the firewall jog into the front edge of the body. That worked pretty well.

I have decided to make this Cover a full 49 inches wide, but by forming it in two pieces, not counting the separate battery cover. I'm going to form the ear that will lie in back of the battery separately and then glue it on. There will be a small seam, which is a compromise, but that tends to cancel two or three other compromises that I don't want to make. Now I can quit worrying about getting this project to fit the material or the vacu-forming setup.

Now what I have to do next is try to figure out just how to locate the exact center of the firewall form so that I can plan on putting these together, and to start cutting the slots for the ribs or fins. I also need to decide on just what material to use for the form of the aft edge that will go next to the WS. I am thinking about using quarter inch Masonite, but I am not sure that is thick enough. I want to leave a sort of space under that edge in which I can put a strip of closed cell foam. It will also give the Cover some nice definition along the back edge.

I also need to check to see if I have a 10 inch saw blade that will cut an exactly eighth inch kerf since I remember when I did these for the 928 my regular blade cut them slightly wider than the 1/8 inch Masonite I expect to use for the ribs/fins. Then I need to decide on just how tall to make the ribs and just how far back to run them. Usually the answer to these kind of detail questions just seem to present themselves.

Cyberpunky

I replaced mine(RHD 952) with a new factory one and the original had been superceeded. I only needed to trim it slightly to fit. My battery(and all RHD) is in the back, so may be different to LHD 951 units. Mine can be lifted by removing the rubber that holds it down on front edge. Anyway, while there is a great factory option that works well for 952's, I am not sure there is much point making a replacement for them.

Jerry Feather

That's good to learn, Bruce. I doubt that I will be doing anything with this project for any of the RHD cars in this series. However, I have to wonder what the Cowl Cover for the RHD 924 looks like.