rmr25

On my '88 S4 auto the plastic cover over the wiper motor, arms, intensive washer bottle etc. is missing. I plan to make a replacement out of thin aluminum. The clips under the cowel edge are in place and good. But I don't know how the front edge would fasten to the ridge in the standard setup. Nor do I know what kind of grove is in the cover to channel water from the driver side to passenger side for draining. Can anyone help, perhaps with a pic?

Alan

The front edge has a molded lip that slips up and over the bulkhead top and the rubber cover slips over both. I cant imagine you can do this in aluminum since the plastic cover is very thin and that edge is not straight... I'd suggest you fabricate some brackets attached to the bulhead with clips that can push through holes in your new cowl and butt the front edge to the rubber instead.

Drainage is complex but basically runs forward & left/right

Note there is a vent slot for the blower motor and spaces for the washer tubes etc to the sides.

Alan

SteveG

rmr: You have found one of the sore spots on our cars: a very expensive part ($71) to order from the Big 2, that is broken on most of our cars; unbelievable the thin plastic material they made this from. If you pull this off in any reasonable fashion and care to reproduce it, there are buyers here. As Alan points out it is a tricky design.

soontobered84

I agree with SteveG. Fabricate it and we will buy it!

rmr25

Alan :
Many, many thanks for the super pics. Just what I needed! At the moment I plan to use the existing clips at the rear to support the back edge; I'll make a 90 degree bend on the front end to line up with the bulkhead rim. I'll also bend some kind of channel in there to get the water to the outer ends to drain away. I'll also make cutouts for the blower motor, intensive washer and related wires and tubes. Now that I see the factory setup, I think I can fasten the front edge to the bulkhead with some kind of u-shaped rubber trim or hose material. I'll be doing this by hand, so I doubt it would ever be worth making for production. But I'll show you what I get when it's done. Again, thanks for your help.

FlyingDog

When you get it done, send me detailed pics. A family friend has a laser cutter and various other industrial metal working tools in NoVA.

Big Dave

The secret to keeping this part from breaking is to make sure that the back edge is properly clipped up. If it's allowed to hang down, the windshield wiper motor/arms destroy it.

wg928

there is no secret the paper thin plastic is brittle in a few months, the s o a b that made this so poorly should be shot with **** on a busy friday in the presence of all who should then stone him to death. oh well, i needed that off my chest after 3 replacements on 2 cars in 4 years

drnick

ditto to the above who condem this..

77tony

Searched, and found this older thread. When holding my cowel cover up to the light, there were several little splits along the edges. Solution: Thin coat of J.B. weld on said cracks, let dry overnight, gingerly sand, then sprayed the entire cowel cover (especially along the edges) with a thin layer of rubberized, quick dry undercoating. The cowel cover is now more flexible, and can now reinstall without the fear of cracking, especially along the edges where the little stress cracks were prevelent. Will put it to the test soon and report back. 77Tony

SMTCapeCod

^^ THat's an interesting notion.

Another good JF fabrication project.

And another example of the top-shelf, cutting edge, 'complex' engineering that our 928s benefit from...

928er

Would this be something that is easier to make with carbon fiber?

77tony

Don't think a carbon fiber cowel would be easier to fabricate, but it would be much stronger, attractive, and pricey $$. If carbon fiber is a "gotta have", I could recommend my old buddy Terry Hall. Some examples of his work below. Post # 10 above: Installed the modified cowel cover today with no cracking. Cost: about $ 7.00. 77Tony

danglerb

Somebody in the UK was making a heavy cowl cover, but I don't recall ever hearing more about it.

Jchiodi

In the process of trying to figure out how to mend mine right now, after doing intake refresh......

What prompted me was dropping the top of the air filter cover and breaking that. Used Carbon Fiber strands that I've used on model R/C planes. Painted/glued it with 5 min epoxy mixed with Denatured Alcohol.

Letting dry now... and looking at the cowl with was cracked and missing a small section..

might try some thin-out fiberglass? then spray with that undercoating.

jc