Wet right foot when it rains

[Julie Hall - WSCC AO Representative]

When driving in the rain I get water dripping down onto my right ankle/foot and it seems that I am not alone. As we are entering the rainy season here in the Peak District I think it is time to sort it out.

 

After discussing it with Glen we made a plan and went for it. Glen said 'When it goes dark come into the garage with me, shove your head in the foot well of the car and turn the lights off.'

 

Heck, it was a bit scary, bottoms up and all that, but he is my husband, I trust him...right 

 

He shone a torch under the bonnet and I looked for holes where the water may ingress. It was not very successful, good fun though.

 

I did manage to find a rust patch and therefore the root of the problem. The water is coming in through the pedal box cover, possibly the sponge seal has lost it's bounce and is no longer forming a water tight seal when the cover is screwed down.

 

Here is the rust that we found

 

 

 

This is the pedal box cover

 

 

Cover removed showing the old seal. Note the carpet is still out and yes it is still drying.

 

 

We are off to buy some new seal and I am sure it will rain this weekend so we can try it out. I will let you know.

[Geoffrey Carter (Buttercup)]

Hi Julie.

 

I took all my carpet out and put in rubber matting.

 

Its a lot better than the carpets in the wet.

[Terry Everall]

Looks like water can get in under the scuttle at side in picture 3. Needs clear sealant or similar

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

In addition to the scuttle to tub joint -

Water can find its way under the top edge of the lower tub, where it hooks over those top chassis tubes, next to the pedal box cover.

Because it's quite a long run, water can get in anywhere where the grp sits on top of the chassis tube and work its way back - the same can happen on the passenger side too. Again, like Tel said, injecting as much silicon as you can under the grp to seal all round helps.

Though I wouldn't fully silicon the pedal box cover down, rubber foam and plenty of screws is usually enough.

[SootySport]

Lets face it, they leak everywhere.

[pre-lit steve]

You will have to let me know what you use to stick your carpet back down, have tried many things but always ends up rolled up near the pedals! 

[s2rrr]

Hi Julie

What goes on in your garage stays in your garage, still musing over the descriptive though. Anyway as the collective say it may be possible to cut the leakage down but unlikely to be fully resolved, best endeavours. During my build I considered sealing the scuttle to the shell or whatever its called but decided that should I want to remove it at any stage later would be a proper pain in the ar*e so I have no sealing bead inside the joint. An external bead as Tel says and I think that's what Dave's spell checker was attempting to confirm along that scuttle joint also around the pedal cover plate. How often do we need to remove that, mines got a rubber edging as a seal, I still wouldn't glue it fully down. I get water in if I do go out in the rain but mostly around the side of the screen and through the same corner joint as you. I have no carpets and a dry out if it gets wet sorts that. Also I don't venture out like you in the rain. My belief again being if you get water in, you must get it out as that's corrosion coming.

 

Pre-lit Steve I have Velcro holding my rubber mats in place

 

Have fun I'm sure you will improve the ingress situation.

Stay dry.

 

Bob

[tisme]

This solution might be worth a try .......

 

:d :d

[s2rrr]

Nice

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Oops, the spell checkers conversion of my post to pigeon Chinese should be fixed now!

[s2rrr]

Woll din darve

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Thonk yeu

[DamperMan]

The solution for my last play car, a reliant scimitar was to ensure the holes in the bottom where bigger than the ones in the top. With a car with no roof I might need to reconsider that solution.

[Julie Hall - WSCC AO Representative]

New foam seal screwed down is not water tight enough. As a screw is tightened the flimsy fibreglass cover bows up where there is no screw. When it ever stops raining and the foam dries out we will add a small run of silicone sealant. As an extra measure we might add a strip of aluminium to beef up the area and allow the screws to tighten the cover down better.

 

For now it's a wet foot again tomorrow. I mean wet, as in ring your sock out, a little soggyness I could live with.

 

P.S Steve, I have stuck the carpet down with velcro, so today it was easy just to whip the carpet out and stand it in the garage to drain

[s2rrr]

Julie,

 

You'll never go thirsty then, if you can wring your sock out.   Socks and sandals so British, or is it socks and stilettos still not a great idea. Plastic bags over your feet may help. They are kit cars and almost impossible to make fully water tight.

Bob