HEY, my 77 vette has a leak somewhere in the front... if i wash the car i will find a nicly soaked carpet on both the driver and passanger side... i cant seem to find the leak and repair it. please help....oh yeh and i have brand new weather stripping i just installed but didnt slove the problem..

 

See if there's a hole underneath the floor.

 

yeh there is a hole, and it does work... else ill have puddles..

 

top corners of the windshield trim and check windshields sealant.... pull the inner trim off and see if u see a path of rust..

b

 

You're not alone... http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...9&forum_id=119

 

If you just put brand new weatherstripping on the car, you might have made the problem worse. Here's why....

If the windshield post weatherstrip and the door weatherstrip do not meet tightly against each other, water will run between them and flood the passenger and driver side foot wells. A good symptom of this is if the mats are dry but the floor gets soaked. The water is running down the gap, over the sill and under the mats onto the carpet underneath. Don't ask me how I know.

You can test this by using some water with a lot of Bon-Ami in it. Water and Bon-Ami mixed are what shopkeepers used to use to cover their windows. When the water dries, the Bon-Ami leaves a white residue. You can use this 'leak test fluid' to see if the water is running in through your weatherstripping. Best part is that the Bon-Ami will release from the car with a damp sponge ahen you're done.

Leaks stink to track down, but it is satisfying when you get to the bottom of them. I just washed and waxed mine over the weekend and don't know if I felt prouder of how the car looked, or the fact that the interior was dry after the washing stage.

Good Luck

 

Welcome all to the land of Corvettes. To stay dry in a Vette is to either not drive in the rain or wear a raincoat.

 

i think its coming from where the fiberglass body mounts to the birdcage area and then it runs down the pillar post into the floor pans......next time i have my map panel off i am going to take some flexible foam sealant and stick it in the nooks and crannies up there and seal it.....if you do this make sure you have the sealer that stays flexible and will not expand.....

 

My 74 leaked, but my shoes and socks just got a little damp. My old roommates MGB was worse than a sieve, it was a funnel. Even in a drizzle, you would get soaked.

 

AMEN BRO

 

There is a seam inside the are where the wipers go ( bird cage to fiberglass) the seam sealer here does last a s long becasue of its exposure to the elemements. Eastwood company makes a great seam sealer product, this spring im gonna take apart the washer area strip it down and reseal it. I get the same kinda leak, drips right on my tootsies in the rain.

.02


tim

 

There's a great book that deals with this problem and air leaks specific to C-3 Corvettes by Michael Davis. I did a quick search at Motorbooks International and came up empty, so it may be out of print. I'll double check the title and author when I go home for lunch.

Hans

 

As weird as it sounds, I got this advice from a 3M sealant engineer about 10 years ago when I contacted the company. He said the original GM specked sealant in the wiper area was applied hot and was allowed to run down the sides to the bottom.
He said since I couldn’t get sealant or even duplicate the process he suggested a high quality semi liquid roofing sealant tar product. He said to heat the product up until it really became liquid and then to pour it into the wiper area and let it run out the bottom.
What I did was, I bought a gallon of roofing tar with no fiber in it and cut the label off. Put it on the Bar-B-Q grill over a small stack of coals and warmed it up. I had already removed the wipers and screening that was on the sides of the well area and cleaned out all the leaves and loose material. I then (with gloves) poured the liquid tar into the well area; it did as expected and ran out the bottom. I had placed a catch pan on both sides and it drained for about an hour.
The next day it was tacky but basically dry and since then I never had a problem with water from that area.
I did a write up for one of the Corvette magazines back then and several readers contacted me to say it worked for them as well.
Mail me if you have questions; frank@itpphoto.com
Good luck, Frank

 

OK...yes, you're not alone...here's my story...if you have t-tops, change those seals...only until a very rainy day went sub-freezing did I realize that tops seals were causing my 2 "lakes" on the floor...I followed ice into the windshield molding, down the side shield molding, to the rug/rocker panels and ONTO THE FLOORS....might not be your problem...it is DEFINATELY mine...

 

The book is "Corvette Water Leak and Wind Noise Solutions" by Michael J. Davis, ISBN 0-934786-12-7. Seems like I bought mine from Mid America or Amazon.

 

and the water problem, was most likely was from the frame out lets behind the kick panels. I removed the kick panels and the vent doors and reached inside to find piles of road dirt and other foriegn objects. I flushed out the are with a garden hose and all seems to be good on the water front.

good luck

 

There was a lot of interest so here is some more info;

Unfortunately since my last move almost nothing car related has been unpacked so I can't get a copy of the article.
The Product I used I got from the local hardware store, around here (Chicago) it's Ace Hardware but I'm sure any home improvement or local hardware store will have it. The one I used was in a gallon can like paint, l think it was marked semi-liquid roofing sealant. One of these products has a fiber in it, you don't want that one. This stuff when you looked at it was just a really thick and I mean REALLY thick liquid, you normally would use a trowel to apply it. I peeled the paper label off and put it on the Bar-B-Que grill over a small stack of coals. I was going to put it in the oven but I was scared of fumes.Anyhow, it thinned out after it got hot, I stirred it with an old paint stick.
I previously cleaned out the cowl area of loose old sealant and debris. If you look in that area you can see that the factory basically just smeared sealant over the whole area.
The leaks I had where coming both from above the dash area and the drivers side cowl area above the kick panel area like you described. I had the whole dash out and could not pinpoint the areas because they were all hidden. That area is composed of an overlapping of panels and hard to access.
That's when I called 3M. after being transferred a dozen times I got someone who knew what I was talking about and he suggested the roofing tar.
I poured the tar in the whole area and spread it slightly with a cheap paintbrush so it covered the seams and up about an inch on the sides. It ran out the bottom and exited in the area behind the front tires, most came out in about an hour and overnight I put some newspaper underneath and it dripped a few globs.
That's about it, the only thing negative was that the tar was really shiny afterwards. A couple weeks later with a thin coating of road dust you couldn't even see it.

Hope that helps,

 

Good info. Gonna give it a shot this summer.

 

Great now all you need is some scotch to pour over the ice

 

Yeah, really!! Not a scotch drinker anymore but the brown bottles did follow after that...
I ordered the seals yesterday, so I "should" have the problem solved in a couple days...(famous last words)