Doctor's Olds

I need help to remove the cowl vent lid of my 41 Olds sedan to clean it and check what may be causing some loose play on one side. No specifics in the shop manual and found only minimal information on a Fisher body manual regarding procedure to remove it. The only clear instruction is to first disconnect the linkage under the dash. There are other hinges that are not accessible from below the dash because there is a big box there for the heater and not from above because there is a screen in front, and I can not remove the screen either. I can not imagine the large heater box has to come out for this job.


The following photos describe what I have. I hope to get some suggestions regarding what to do next.


View from the L side, can see 2 screws, one in the center and one on the extreme L side attached to the screen. I removed them and no way the screen will come out as there is no clearance on the front part despite the lid already reaching its highest possible position plus this "rivet" shown in photo.



From the R side, the screw is missing on the end and again I see this smooth round head that don't know what it is but seems also holding the screen in place.




.I looked carefully at the screen and there is a lot of stuff INSIDE the screen. Debris and bugs are supposed to be stopped OUTSIDE. Is this a filter element or is what seems an abandoned nest? The interior was in very good condition when I bought the car with no traces of pest having nested inside. There is no odor. It seems to stop any flow of air inside so I presume this is a previous unwanted guest. The dried up cracked gasket visible.




The linkage that connects the cowl with the handle under the dash is easily visible and ease to disconnect with a small bolt with a nut shown in photo. Presumably, this will permit the cowl lid to be pulled upwards once the other hinge bolts are removed. That is what the instructions state without telling how to remove them!I









These are the instructions from the Fisher's body manual, and a copy of the cowl vent diagram. The problem is that it is impossible to see the cowl vent from below the dash because is covered by big heater box.(big job to remove this). There must be a way to access from the top once the screen is removed and perhaps will have access to the hinge with the bolts and nuts described in the parts diagram.



I hope to have input so I can continue the repairs. Thank you very much,



Manuel