Fuselage fender removal

NY69

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I have water leaking from the cowl into the car, I suspect a clogged cowl drain, on the right side, behind the fender.
So I was planning to remove the rightside fender, and while I'm at it, also take the opportunity to do some rust prevention since I've never been behind there.

Today, I found out that it is not possible to remove the fender without loosening the hood hinge from the fender. Bummer, and also not mentioned in the fsm.

Obviously, I want to disassemble as little as possible concerning the hood, since that is not the item that I will be working on and besides I do not have a helping hand at my workshop.

-Will it be necessary to remove the hood, before loosening the hood hinge, and if not, what would be the recommended procedure and points of attention to prevent any damage from happening?
 
You cannot remove the fender without removing the hood unless you want damage to other parts and possibly the windshield. If there is water coming in from the cowel, it’s likely not just clogged, and you will have to remove all those parts anyway. Before you do any of that check the heater core first, like 69monaco sugessts. Good luck!
 
Before all of your ideas...remove the debris shield by the wipers and inspect for rust-through. Also the two lower corners of the windshield. Both areas can be prone to rust even if the car lived in any state along an Ocean (salt water) from the air and/or water.
 
Thanks for the responses.

The leak is definitely not coming from the heater core.
I have removed the debris shield and thoroughly cleaned and inspected the inside of the cowl for as far as I could reach and see. So far, I haven't found any rust, not even surface rust (CA car).

So, removing the hood it'll be...
 
Before you do that, cover the cowl with plastic and run some water over the windshield to check the seal.
 
You can get access into the bottom of the cowl by removing the kick panels and the cowl vent doors. You may find that the leak is a dried out gasket on the door housing itself. There's plenty more areas that a fusey will leak through the cowl. There's a bunch of sealed seams in that area, along with the gasket around the HVAC box cover on the engine side of the firewall.

Hopefully, your car won't look exactly like this one, but the photos will give you an idea of what's hidden behind the dash.

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Jeff
 
Maybe just removing the innerfender will give you a better look. I did that once to change the heaterhoses and is pretty easy to do...
 
I once had to chase a leak on my '71 Newport, it seemed like a heater core leak given water showed up on the passenger floor, but only after a rain. Turned out to be a couple of small rusty pinholes in the pinch weld below the cowl drain. Water drains out from the cowl onto this lip and sits there, and may eventually find its way in. Cleaned up, sealed up, good to go!

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