Accessing for cleaning/repair/assessment under front scuttle aka cowl plate RHD 80 series (1 Viewer)

[sunrk]

I've had this out once before about 5 yrs ago and have taken it out today to see what mess it's hiding after last being taken out about 5 yrs ago.

Yukky! The underside of the cowl/scuttle plate is also quite rusty so I might give it a repaint. Note the arrangement of the plastic clip-in grates to stop most of the mess getting into the inside space that leads to the cabin fan into port that's located way over on the LHS and completely inaccessible without elastic hands!

Part of the reason to take the plate out was to consider if it's possible to make a RHD version of a cabin fan filter similar to one available for LHD 80's.

Note these plastic grilles are becoming NLA. A while back I was able to get two of the three out of Toyota, but there's really no alternative. I've been considering how to make the grilles into proper filters. Not sure there is a practical answer yet.

Toyota landcruiser hzj80 front scuttle aka cowl plate underside note all the surface rust

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The scuttle/cowl plate is easy to get out with the wiper arms removed and the bonnet/hood in place. The six screws that hold the front of the plate on the rubber seal lip for the back of the bonnet/hood have not much access but the factory screws are all M8 hex head so a small spanner works.





Craig.

 

[sunrk]

With the plate out and the area fully cleaned up, the extent of 30 yr old surface decay/rusting (including to the rodding of the wiper arm mechanism) is visible:



Doesn't look too bad from a distance, then you get up close and see where paint has come off factory primer, and there's rust (esp around the two holes for the wiper arm spindles). The underside of the cowl plate has a fair bit of rust also. Temp is only 20 C today (last night had an icy blast which is freaky for late spring) and a bit windy so might try repainting the cowl plate with a can and the area it hides by brush and see how it goes.

The rusting on the wiper rodding assembly makes me think it probably needs renewing... hmmm.

 

[MUDZLLA]

This should almost be regular maintenance. Thanks for sharing.

 

[sunrk]

Yes it should be esp if you do a lot of HD offroading. I don't, but I still found a lot of dross (mostly leaves and bits of twig) under the plate. I've repainted the underside of the cowl plate now and brush painted the body work it covered. I was able to clean a fair bit of the dirt off the bottom of the space for the air intake and it is actually quite clean (but still has no sort of dust/particulate filtering) so the Toyota design is quite good for what it's worth.

The LHS fender panel (with the giant rust hole) is begging me to replace it but weather is looking unkind again. The original bolts holding it on are snapping off or spinning (the captive nut breaking out of the factory plastic clip) and I need to drive it today to work.