OldIHC

So i need to remove the cowl vent to put in the gasket. I can see how it detaches from the lever. If I detach it from rhe lever is there enough pivot in the hi ge to get clearance for the gasket or do I need to dissemble the pivot pins too?
My pins are covered in rust and gunk so I am not sure how they come apart. Keeping my fingers crossed on the answer!!! Lol.

IIRC on my -7 I didn't dis connect anything, just slipped the gasket in.

I like to glue the seal to the cowl vent lid. This way the seal does not hold water from draining away.
Put the seal on the cowl, put the glue on the top of the seal then close the lid. Do not open for a day.

there are super tiny cotter pins through the holes on the ends of those tiny pins, total pain to get out,

But it's a lot easier to to do the gasket with it removed,

on the larger truck like CB is talking about the vent opens to more clearance than on the smaller truck like you have,

so I'd recommend removing it, then you can clean out the channel, treat rust and paint if necessary, and place gasket just right,

plus once you've cleaned the pins and reassembled with new cotter pins you know it was done right,

just did this on my KB-1 panel, took a long time to get pins out since cotters corroded away with little nubs preventing pin removal, but it was worth it once I got em out,

Good luck,

jon thanks for the info. I thought that's what I might be seeing but I couldn't be sure. Yes I agree I think its going to be painful to remove but surely worth it.
Looks like lots of time on my back getting rust in my face. Sounds like a glorious weekend!!!!!

yup, I finally put on some goggles,

while I was under there I sprayed everything with Jasco prep and prime, it neutralizes rust, toxic though, need safety protection

back hurt for a week, a littler easier if you take the seat out to fit under there, I used a dremel to grind nubs of cotter pins off to get the hinge pins out,

That's a good idea on the dremel. I was wondering how I was going to drive the cotter pins out when the are rusted so bad and I cant see up there very well. Thanks.

I removed everything, all vent and assembly mechanisms, as I wanted to clean the gasket channel out really well and paint before I put the new gasket in.

I removed complete mechanism as I was sandblasting everything including the nuts and bolts that were being reused. Its likely not necessary but cleaning out the channel I think is very important so if you are using adhesive it stays bonded.

Thanks to all for the good advice. The cowl vent is removed. It was a bit challenging because the pivot pins were rusted to the framework.
A bunch of wd40 later and its all apart. I have replacement springs I found in a box of hardware. They were rusted away mostly.
I also pulled out the windshield crank mechanism to derust it as well. That made seeing and working on the vent stuff much easier.