i bought a 75 with t-tops last feb. since then i have had the engine rebuilt and the interior completely redone including total color change. the problem i have is that water leaks into the car under the wind shield on the drivers side and onto the floor near the gas & brake pedals. the carpet was completely rotted out when i bought the car and now that i've had all of this work done i need to repair the leak. it looks like the previous owner used tar or something similar. i would greatly appreciate suggestions on the best & cleanest in appearance way to fix this! anyone with similar problems could you please enlighten me! THANK-YOU in advance.
Gerry

my 75 leaks at the back of the t-tops when being washed with the hose, rain is no issue however. Haven't really investigated how to fix, just started washing by hand. I'll let you know if anything becomes obvious.

Scot

the tar is probably a soft sealant that is used sometimes as a windshiels sealant. it is flowable to allow it to get to places that aren't accessable

Water leaks can be one of the toughest to find. I have a 69conv. with the identical problem. Regretably I have not had time to pursue it and it hasn't been an issue since it doesn't see rain (no rust, ever!) Its just a nuiscance on wash day.

Have a second person trickle water from a garden hose down the windshield while slowly moving the hose over from the passenger side. Watch inside the car, when they hit the right spot you will know quite quickly. This should help narrow it down a bit. Let me know what you find out. In my case I know the leak is somewhere under the cowl. I suspect that its due to the sealant cracking with age.


|UPDATED|3/17/2003 12:13:09 AM|/UPDATED|

Sounds like it would not hurt you to take a look at the frame below the windshield and make sure it is not rotted along with the carper. A "quick check" would be to put a nice white towel on the ground under the front of the drivers door and open and close the door a few times ( don't be afraid to slam it once or twice ). If you see any rust fall down on the towel, you need to do more work than just fixing the leak.

Glenn,

Having just replaced(over the last 7months) the Driver's side door on my 75 I'm fairly sure that the A Pillar(where the hinges bolt in right?) is rusted more than a little. You say that there is more work to do than just replace weatherstripping. Any idea on what that work is? Thanx!

Scot

Hi Scot,
I lay no claim to being a body man so I can not even guess as to how you could check the pillar to find out the extent of the damage. Knowing there is rust in there, I think I would be forced to take it to a body shop and let the pros take a look and see just how bad the rust is and what it would cost to fix. Fixing the leak is only fixing half the problem. I know where you live ( the area anyhow ) the rust will not stop or go away on it's own.
I have read stories about the pillars and window frames rusting and it seems like it is an area that you should not just forget about after fixing the leak.

C-3's have IMHO a design flaw, if you rule out all the other leak places like the wiper transmissions, etc., but you find water in the floor and if you can contort your body into the floor to look up with a light it appears the water drips from the bottom corners of the windshield, sometimes it will run down in front of sometimes behind the side kick panels, and there's that puddle in the floor after a rain or wash and sometimes running a hose on it's doesn't seem to add up where it's leaking.
What is going on is there is a triangle shaped piece of raised fiberglass that is where the top corner of the front fender is bonded on, I believe it also deflects water this "piece" is pop riveted on at the factory, I guess thay might have put a dab of sealer on it but by now any sealer has rotted and the rivets are just loose enough to allow water to drip in, you can not get to this to seal it from outside believe me I have my front clip off, I don't care how much "stuff" you spray or pour in there it won't seal it right, and the place this triangle is riveted to is metal, the bottom of the windshield pillar and it is always rusted to some degree...
I have pictures of all this stuff if anyone wants them email me direct, tyladamour@aol.com
You might do a band-aid fix pulling the dash out, however....
The only true fix besides pulling the entire front clip is to cut that upper corner off the front fender top then go in and remove and repair the rust and use good silicone sealer when you replace the triangle piece then the corner you cut of has to be reattached so really it's something you have to just deal with until it's time to get a car painted.
Just hope in your case this is not where it's leaking.
Best of luck
T.