Soaked floor-board.

I have a Vintage Speedster built in 2007. Until yesterday, it had never seen rain. It was bound to happen, so I got out, put the side-curtains and top up. . . .no problem. Aside from a few small drips here and there, it was pretty dry and comfortable. . . actually better than I thought it would be. Now the question . . .

When I got home, I noticed that the floorboard carpet right behind and under the seats was sopping wet! It was the same on both sides. I quickly checked to see if any other carpet was wet . . like it had leaked down into that area of the car. Everything else was bone dry. Then, I realized that it must be the bolts that connect the belts and seats to the pan were un-sealed. I put fans on that area and my dry Colorado air got everything completely dry by morning. So . . . I was wondering if anyone else has run into this?

I think some black silicone sealant spread around those fasteners and washers will take care of this, but if anyone else has any better ideas, let me know. Or, if this water could have possibly come from somewhere else . . .tell me.

Finally . . . it sure is a different experience riding with the top up, huh? Different sounds, etc. Kinda like riding in a tent. Makes me want to keep the top up all winter (though the car stays in a garage of course) . . . just to be able to take it out on some cold, but dry days this winter.

Alan

VonTrips, it's been such a frequent topic here that there's almost a checklist.
First and least obvious, the shape of the doors almost forces water to race up the top of the door and into the plenum between the doors' leading edge and into the top corners of the dashboard. Once it hits still air inside the car, the water drips downward until it hits the sil. From the sil, it takes the path of least resistance to the pans under your seats. From there, it collects in the back of the seat area, at the low point.
Second, some of these cars don't have a good seal between the wheel wells and the driver's compartment. If there's no filler there, silicone or whatever, the water will continue to collect and drip. That's true for the front and rear tires. We've adapted John Steele's splash guards for a couple people, and they seem to help. In the second photo, below, there's an example made of simple sheet tin, with rubber edges.
Then there's the windshield. Water will want to run to the corners of the windshield, then it's channeled downward into the same corners where the water from the doors rises up. Guess what?
Yup. Little rivulets that run down into the car again.
Side curtains collect water along their bottom edges, and then it seeks a path inward as air from the front of the moving car creates an area of low pressure at the trailing edge of the curtain. If the window is inside the taco-shaped fold of the canvas roof, the water will flow downward again.
So ... Drain holes in the floors, sealed well and not very large in diameter, seem to be the answer. If you take the carpet up, drill a smallish hole or two at the low points and then paint the raw metal well with a rust-inhibiting paint (several coats), you'll at least be able to prevent your car from developing long-term problems stemming from standing water. In the third picture, we lined the floor of a guy's car with a line-X-type paint-on preservative truck bed liner. If you have the time, it's not a bad idea. Prime the floors first, or it won't stick.
At its worst, my car used to drip on my left knee in rainstorms. All that water came in through the doors and dripped off the support for the steering column. I got used to it, and often drove with a towel on my knee in the rain.
Nowadays, even with no roof or carpet to worry about, it still drips in the same spot. I've decided to just enjoy the weather. As long as my eyes are free of schmutz from the road and rainwater, I don't even worry about it.
Hope that helps.

Splash guards. John Steele showed me his guards at the last Carlisle but my Vintage does not seem to have a seam I would be trying to cover. Am I looking at the wrong place? Is a splash guard better than a thick slathering of the rubberized undercoat?

I have made a lot of progress waterproofing my VS but I still have a problem with wet floors behind the seats.

Any thought will be appreciated. ---Jack

OK, here's the deal.. I got in touch with John Steele and he told me exactly where the water builds up in front of the rear wheels then runs into the car into the floor. He was helpful at Carlile this year showing me his shields too. I got a mirror in there and there is an area bigger than your fist that collects and feeds water into the floor. I had no idea that space was there--you can't see it without a mirror.
There was some of that expandable foam in that area but judging from the water I get in the floor it isn't doing much good.

The problem with a VS is that there are braces right behind the front of the rear wheel wells---this is the extra bracing that other pan based cars don't have, that I know of. Great for integrety but hard to fit splash shields.

I have seen the pix of the splash guards that Cary put in Tom DeWalt's car---simple and neat. The area is wide open in the well BUT my VS has extra steel bracing in the wheel well that I have to work around to get a splash guard made to fit.
The past two hours making cardboard templates; a left and a right one for the front of the wheel well to cover that fist sized space. Next I'll cut some aluminum to match the pattern and rivet it in. It's 10X the work to make splash guards in my car with that extra bracing to work around, but it is what it is.

I hoped that the left wheel well and bracing would be a mirror image of the right side----wish on--they are completely diferent so I'll have to do the template work for the left side too. I had planned to offer the cardbooard templates to anyone that wanted them but I don't think they will fit another VS very well and that new ones wil have to be made for each car. (Just a feeling and maybe not really so).

I am hoping to find a better (easier) material at Lowe's tomorrow---maybe there is something better than aluminum sheet.

After the shields are riveted they will be slathered with black rubberized undercoating.

At least I can look forweard to dry floors to match my dry bow and windshield mounts. The madness ain't easy sometimes and I fully understan how some newbies with less than 1,000 wimp out, but in my opinion it's all good and more than worth the effort.


-Jack

Jack,

Can you snap a photo while you have your wheels off. I am not sure of the space in question that lets the water in. Can you see it with the wheel on and the car jacked? Thanks

Marti--I emailed you off site.

Rather than try to fabricate splash guards I simply filled those spaces on each side with 25 ox. of black silicone. I can't see how a single drop of water is gonna get through that--but before I loose my mind I have to remember it's a Pan Based Speedster!

Last night I saw light coming from those areas but no light today with the garage darkened so I think I fixed it.

I'll be very happy if this works.---Jack

I ran a test with a hose this weekend to see where water was coming in. Suffice it to say that it is in all the spaces where the pan mates to the . . . "non-pan" parts of the car. Also, it doesn't look like it will be rocket-science to make a very effective splash guard from some galvenized (then painted) steel from Home Depot. There is a nice little shelf of steel that VS welds in to the wheel well area. I'm thinking that it would be an ideal place to drill a couple small mounting holes for some creatively bent steel splash guards. I'll fasten them with some stainless hardware and lock-nuts.

But . . .before I mount splash guards, I think I'll spend a small fortune on some good quality (read 3M) automotive grade silicone and seal the crap out of everything I can find -- both in the wheel wells as well as up the rocker-panel areas. I have already sealed the seat-belt and seat bolts / washers. I'm actually looking forward to this project.

I priced a fiberglass hardtop (but one that keeps the side curtains) from Kirk today and he has been doing them as custom projects for $2200 - $2500 each. Ouch! I can buy a lot of replacement soft tops for that kind of money. Still . . .it looked pretty cool and would probably keep the car somewhat warm (read slightly less freezing) in winter.

Finally -- a side note. . . . I got stopped by the Colorado Highway Patrol outside of Durango (my home area) tonight. It was my first time to get stopped in the Speedster. Somehow, it is less embarrassing if you are sitting in a cool car while they check your plates, etc. 59 mph in a 45 mph zone . . .going up a steep grade. I was lucky with just getting a warning. I got a souvenir business card sized courtesy warning thingy from the female trooper. I plan on framing all of those and the tickets I get. It'll be good garage art!

Cheers Mates!
Alan

UPDATE:

I got some "water flaps" from Kirk at VS and installed them in the rear tire wells. So far, they have stopped the leaks. My test was a moderately wet road for 30 minutes, but it worked!

Thanks Kirk.

We need water flap pics

Year---what Alan said---what is a water flap??? Pix pls