Snow Cowl

I have just installed my Christmas present – a Mudstuff UK snow cowl.  The idea is to prevent snow from freezing over the intake, blocking it and making the heater inoperative just when it is most needed, but should also help with a minor issue when fitting Defender heaters to Series vehicles; the heater’s blocker door, normally operated by the fan selector lever on a Defender dash, being locked fully open leading to draughts and unwanted heater air flow from ram air when the vehicle is moving.

The cowl has no underside as such – it screws in place using fixings around three sides of the top vent aperture and has an open underside.  This unfortunately means that rain water collecting around the cowl can run into the heater intake duct from along the outboard edge, though this should be a smaller amount than rain falling directly into an uncovered vent.  I also found that the dimensions of the mounting flange are a little less than the original vent, so rather than sitting atop the genuine vent grille, it replaces it.  This meant touching up the wing top paint where the grille had marked it.  I added a rubber pad to prevent damage from the pick axe head’s pointed end, which pulls down onto the top of the cowl as its securing butterfly nut is done up.  I used silicone sealant as a glue for the pad so that it can be removed in the future if necessary without marking the plastic of the cowl.  I may add a neoprene gasket and internal lip to prevent water ingress later, but I’ll see how well it works as supplied first.