Your Speedster manufacturer may have side curtains (windows) to fit your Speedster.  If not, they would have to be custom-made and fitted to your car. Do a search here.  I made mine.

@aircooled sells wind deflectors that clamp to the sides of your windshield.

@Troy Sloan sells Cruzin Windows that fit on the door tops and are intended to be used with the top down.

A lot of the wind comes from the back.  On a trip, I often drive with the top up.  I added a zipper to the rear window and with it down, the air flows through.

If it rains the inside of the car will get wet.  I try to avoid that.  A search will reveal what people have done to abate the wetness.

I have a cover I use if I park overnight on a trip.

Beautiful speedster.

I have owned my speedster for a little over 6 years.  Until last week, it never saw rain (or wet roads....or a hose).

Before taking the car onto a rally last week, I reached out to the group for suggestions on making the car water tight.  A number providing great feedback.  I thought I took in to account their suggestions, but I think seeing the water pour into your car first hand opens your eyes with respect to exactly what they were saying.

First, the top of the windscreen where it meets the bow of your top.  Water gets in here.  There was a suggestion of taping this area.  So I did.  BUT.......I'm an idiot.  I layered the blue painters tape across the top of the chrome portion of the windscreen.  Multiple layers of tape.  My thinking was to build up the thickness at this location to create make-shift weather striping. This did nothing.  In realty, after reviewing the feedback, the commenters probably meant put blue tape on the chrome portion AND the bow of the top simultaneously.  Therefore install the top then tape up the seem.  I did not do this.  I taped up the top of the windscreen, then pushed, rather hard, the bow into place.  In a steady light light, I had a few drop come down at this location.  During the heavy downpour I encountered on the highway at 70mph.....Niagara Falls.

Than the side curtains.  The only thing I find the stock curtains good for is keeping out the wind.  Others here stated that they had them increased in size.  This is a good suggestion.  Mine are stock, and worthless when it comes to rain.  Again, under light rain conditions they work fine.  In the aforementioned heavy downpour on the highway?......It looked like a sink faucet pouring water in behind the seats.  I had roughly 1" (possibly more) of water sitting behind the seats.  I watched as the water flowed in in between the side windows and the start of the top.

The one thing I was nervous about was the operation of my windshield wipers.  They worked like a modern car.  Cleared the water off fine, even in the highway downpour with semi-trucks throwing all their water up over the car.

I did use Rain-X on my windscreen prior to traveling in the rain.  I don't know if that helped or not.

Anyway.....those are my two cents.

-Kevin

A Quick shot.

@Greg54 - Starting in 2007 and through 2016 I drove from Charleston, SC to Carlisle, PA (750 miles one way) in May (rainy month in PA) and back on a trip that took 7-8 days total.  The worst year for weather was 2008, and a lot of us had rain issues.  Over time I made custom lexan side windows with with pop-out vents and rubber seals, which almost eliminated all leaks.  I say almost because there was always a little drip at the base of the windshield posts.  For this, a little judicious use of painter's tape can make it a minor annoyance at most.  Here's a summary of my advice:

1. Make sure your seal at the windshield header fits properly.  On my Beck the header seal and latches worked very well, but over time the header would rotate a little as the two bolts on each end loosened and allowed it to shift.  That would allow water to come in, so I made a habit of periodically checking, adjusting, and tightening as needed.  Again, prophylactic use of painter's tape eliminates that entry point.
2. The Beck design doesn't leak where the body meets the frame, but some pan-based cars have that issue.  I'll let someone more knowledgeable about that chime in with suggestions.
3. The original Beck side curtains only leaked at the front but they limit vision and don't allow for ventilation.  I strongly recommend fabricating some polycarbonate (lexan or plexiglass) side windows that can be made to fit more closely, and that allow for much better visibility.  It's not difficult to get them to fit well around the lower edge as well as the top, but the front edge is challenging because you have a flat surface meeting up with a compound curve.  I have some ides I wish I had tried when I had my car, but I was able to reduce it to a fairly minor annoyance.
4. I have never seen a set of wipers on a Speedster (or Coupe) that really did a great job.  They tend to separate from the glass at inopportune locations, so exercise caution.  Not sure much can be done about that.  Any suggestions from the brain trust here?
5. Defoggers in these cars are minimal at best.  Use Rain-X inside.  Also, I kept a sponge wrapped in a chamois (thanks, Gordon!) that was very helpful with that.
6. In any significant rain your tail lights will all but disappear.  I strongly recommend switching to LED lights and adding a center brake light - the brighter, the better.

Don't let this scare you off from multi-day trips as they are one of the best parts of having one of these.  Just be prepared and appropriately cautious when the weather gets nasty.

@Greg54 posted:

Hi All,

I got my Speedster several weeks ago and have driven it every day there was no rain in the forecast. I have other cars but there’s something really special about this Speedster.

Has anyone driven their Speedster on a multi-day trip? How do you handle rain? How badly does the cabin get soaked in a downpour. Does the rain do much damage to the carpet and dash?

Not that I need to take this car on a trip but it’s nice to know that I can if I want to.

Anybody know of any aftermarket side windows or deflectors that would help deflect the rain and/or get some wind in your face when it’s hot.

Thanks,

Greg

@Greg54 Enjoy the smile per mile toy 👍

1) Watch the forecast.

2) Don't drive in the rain.

@Robert M posted:

1) Watch the forecast.

2) Don't drive in the rain.

Ah Robert, on this side of the continent that would be way too limiting.

@Lane Anderson posted:

Ah Robert, on this side of the continent that would be way too limiting.

Drill holes in the floor and bring your rubber ducky, you are going to get wet! We all have LOL , if caught in the rain. Kidding aside I have heard of a few that went to extreme lengths some have posted already, to keep the water out while driving in the rain, even then some water came in. If you are like me I hated getting the inside of my Speedster wet and avoided it at all costs. Good luck and keep a positive attitude while you figure this out. The fun is in the journey. You Speedster is beautiful, can you give details on it, make and options.?

@Robert M posted:

1) Watch the forecast.

2) Don't drive in the rain.

3) Move to Yuma, Arizona

You're going to get wet if you drive in the rain! On the original Speedster Porsche called it an "Emergency" top.

I've done several long trips and always factor in the weather. A sprinkle of not a problem; it's when those frog strangling rains catch you out that there will be issues. Why go if you know it's going to rain buckets?

But just in case:

Get a rain suit. Carry towels and additional sneakers 'cause your feet are going to be wet along with everything else below you belt.

Unless your carpet is wool; no damage to the interior expected.

Every cloud has a silver lining. You'll find that your engine will love the high density of the air and cool rain.

Stay dry...

Nice Car!.....unfortunately there is no answer/secret sauce to the dilemma of keeping everything dry in the rain, your going to get wet!....happy driving!

One thing I left out of my epistle above - If you're running dual carbs get some rain hats for them.  The vents for the engine lid grill can dump water directly into the carbs in heavy rain, causing poor running at best and hydrolock at worst - the latter usually only when parked.  A couple of folks experienced that lovely occurrence at the 2008 Carlisle gathering.  Fortunately no permanent damage, but a hassle to fix.  There are several options to keep the water out, but most cars don't have them as standard equipment.

I got my second knee replaced yesterday (4 weeks to the day after the first) up in Chicago. On the car-ride home, lying in the back of the minivan on an inflatable mattress - I composed an opus, which my phone ate when I got a call.

Sitting here at the computer this AM, I hope I've got all the clarity and wit I did when I was drugged up and feeling gooooood, but it's doubtful. No high lasts forever.

I live in a small town in Central Illinois, far from either coast. One of my greatest pleasures is driving my speedster long distances (I've driven several 1000 mi. interstate-highway days and loved it). This is a good thing, because out here, we drive a distance to go anywhere. I've had 3 air-cooled Speedsters - two were California pan-builds, and the one I've got now is an Intermeccanica with side windows. I've driven the IM to both coasts and back more than once.

I'm not sure how relevant you'll think my experiences are, but hear me out because what I learned and did with my JPS might be very relevant to your situation, and the experiences I've had with the IM are valuable no matter what you've got.

Everybody worries about the side curtain seal between the windshield frame and the leading edge of the curtain, because it's a compound curve and sealing it well is not really possible. It will leak, but it is nowhere near the biggest problem in a driving rain.

With a lot of pan cars, the biggest problem is what the builder did (or didn't do) in the S/N and shift-coupling cover area. There is often a yawning gap between the fiberglass and the pan, which some builders just carpet over. Once the carpet is down and the transaxle is in the car, it's a bear to ever see what I'm talking about - but the vertical piece of fiberglass the rises from the floor to the "back seat" area is often just floating, and not sealed or attached the the pan in any way. On a really wet road, water just pours in this gap, through the carpet and into the "paint pan". Drive long enough, and there will be an inch or two of water on the floor. This one is hard to fix, but you've got to try. It might involve pulling up some carpet.

The other bad spot (and it's bad no matter what kind of side curtain or top you've got) is the soft-top at the back of the door. The top fastens to the body, but the side curtain (or window) sits inboard at least an inch or so. This means that the top forms a pocket that actually scoops water running down the side-curtain (or glass) and deposits it directly on your shoulder.

The non-scissor-frame tops (old VS, new VMC, JPS, all CMCs, old California IMs) are worse than the scissor-frame cars (Beck, Vancouver IM), but they're all a problem to one degree or another.

Also specific to this type of top is the problem at the top of the side-curtains. The "seal strip" on the top is wide - to allow some variability in the fit car to car and side curtain to side curtain - but this means that the strip is pretty floppy. Aggravating this is that some CA builds (both of my pan cars - one finished by the old VS and a JPS) do not put snaps on the windshield frame for the front of this strip, making it extra floppy. What happens is that at speed, there is quite a bit of suction on the side-curtains (they want to pull away from the car), and because this strip is as floppy as it is, and the side curtain is just floating on a couple of pins, the top of the side curtain can pull away from the strip, meaning that everything is coming in.

Back in 2003- 2004-ish I posted a detailed explanation of how I fixed the top problems on my JPS. It made the top and side curtains seal much, much better. I don't have a link, but an advanced search should bring it up.

The last thing to talk about is the header bow. No matter how nice it is, it'll probably leak. Mine does in a driving thunderstorm.

Some of this can be dealt with, but the car is going to leak. I carry a couple of terrycloth detail towels in addition to microfiber, mostly to mop up water as it comes in. You may end up wringing it out at a stop sign. The blue tape everybody raves about is "OK" - but it's not meant to be wet for more than about 6 hours or so, and it doesn't stick to something that's already wet. I use Rain-X, but again - there's no miracle product.

Far better is just a small tarp, secured so that the cabin is covered from the base of the windshield to the deck-lid, and down both doors. You're going to have to tie the tarp to itself, so bring some clothesline as well. Being parked doesn't mean that the leaks are going to stop - they'll just be in different places, and you won't be in the car to wipe them up.

I've driven through a tornado in Kansas (green sky, people stopped in their lane on the interstate, flashers on) where there was at east 6" of rain falling in an hour. I've driven down to the low country in SC/GA and cruised around Charleston and Savannah in 8 days of steady to heavy rain (that one, I didn't think the car was ever going to be the same - it never dried out in over a week, and smelled like a wet dog, then like something was getting ready to grow in the carpet). I've never been closer to just quitting and buying a more sensible car for my hobby - but I'm a lifer, and know nothing else is going to scratch the itch.

I don't like driving with the top up, and I like driving in the rain even less. But if you wait until there's no possibility of rain, you're never going to drive the car, and that's my number one piece of advice. Drive the car. Set it up so that you can drive in the rain, and in the desert, and in the mountains. Guys who refuse to just put a remote oil cooler on their cars because they live in a temperate place telegraph to me that they don't plan to use their car in a meaningful way. My goal is to be able to drive in 20 deg or 120 deg, in the rain or dry, and arrive intact.

Decide what your goals are and do what it takes to achieve them.

Forewarned is forearmed.

Good info. Stan and good luck with your second knee. I convinced a surgeon here in Louisville into doing both my knees at the same time two years ago. It changed my life and, in the time since aided in me losing almost 60 lbs... I feel better than I have in over 25 years. I had the Mako robotic surgery process and swear by it. Happy Easter to you all!

@Jimmy V. posted:

Good info. Stan and good luck with your second knee. I convinced a surgeon here in Louisville into doing both my knees at the same time two years ago. It changed my life and, in the time since aided in me losing almost 60 lbs... I feel better than I have in over 25 years. I had the Mako robotic surgery process and swear by it. Happy Easter to you all!

Thanks for that, Jimmy. I remember when you did that. All I could think was, "what a man". My guy said, "not even a chance" on the two-for-one. I'm glad I didn't. This is rough.

I've lost 30 lbs since Dec. 1, and I'm hoping for 20 more. I ate too much in Chicago, but it's an easy thing to do up there.

FWIW, I haver a JPS.  The fit of the side curtains to the top was a complete joke.  Not even close.  Nothing could be done.  I contacted Vintage and asked the nice folks there if they could make a custom side curtain if I provided a nice cardboard pattern.  They said sure, and if I sent them my old side curtains, they would the deed for the cost of shipping.  Now I have side curtains that tuck nicely in to the pocket in the top, extend aft to integrate with the top in an appropriate fashion, and sit next to the windshield about as well as such a ridiculous thing can be. The suction on the side curtains at speed does pull the side curtain top out of the pocket sometimes, and I'm working on a plan to limit that.  Velcro seems like the right thing. So ... towels, blue tape, truck bed liner on the floor pan. And not wool carpet. And RainX on the inside of windshield.

Or... run with the top down.  I can attest to the notion that you will only get wet in a top down Speedster in the rain if you stop. Enough speed and a full toneau, and you are indeed pretty good.  The actual problem is mist recirculating from the air stream over the windshield that comes from behind and makes the inside of the windshield wet.  Fun stuff.

This topic thread comes at a good time. In addition to my experience as typed above, my friend Aaron shared my experience on his recent podcast. Don’t know if any of you listen to Shift and Steer, but definitely worth checking out. As Aaron mentioned to me last week, I would have probably been better off just putting the top down and using the full tonneau. This is mentioned in his podcast.

https://www.shiftandsteer.com

Mine is a Vintage Speedsters of Hawaiian Gardens built in 2016 but first titled in 2017 to the guy I bought it from. It has a nice sound system, a 1915 cc motor, full disc brakes and sway bars.

@Stan Galat posted:

... But if you wait until there's no possibility of rain, you're never going to drive the car, and that's my number one piece of advice. Drive the car. ...

Decide what your goals are and do what it takes to achieve them.

Forewarned is forearmed.

hear hear

Sealing up your Speedster 301 - A Remote-Learning Experience

In my experience, I've tried more to seal up the 782 little air leaks in my CMC for driving in early/late winter, but in doing so I've sealed out most of the rain, too. My side windows don't look like any of yours because I don't have a fabric flap around the outside.  I only have a 1-1/2" rubber tab along the top and bottom and a rubber bulb seal along the front against the windshield frame.  That, alone, gives me a whole lot more glass area than other cars, to make it feel a lot less like a bunker when you're inside.

I also changed the front mounting pin on the side windows (see above photo) to one that allows a slight movement front-to-back so I don't have to fight to get the window mounting pins into their sockets.  This is a similar idea to the original Speedsters which had a slotted hole for the forward window pins to make it easier to install the windows.  My window is installed by locating the rear pin and then rotating the front pin as needed for everything to drop into place.  I added a Nylok nut, pinned in place, to set the height of the front of the glass versus the body and windshield.  

My front pin looks like this (It's just a bent, 5/16" stainless shaft, threaded on one end):

And mounted to the side glass.

In the above photo, you can also see that I bent the bottom forward corner of the plexiglass inward slightly to fit the windshield curve and seal it all up at that critical corner to stop water intrusion - It works great.  Gently massage with a heat gun and trial-and-error bending til it seals up properly.

One of the better things I did was to add a center latch to pull the header bow down onto the windshield frame in the middle.  That, and a good weatherstrip in the header channel cured any rain getting in at the top of the windshield.  Before that, it was like Niagara Falls in there.

A quality closed-cell foam (or a "D" style weatherstrip) up in the windshield header channel will usually cure any seepage from the top of the windshield.  Don't make it so thick that it pushes the header up so that it looks Dorky on top of the windshield from outside, but just enough to pull in 1/4" or so when you close the latches.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N...1d3f10b4a36&th=1

Mine looks like this:   The seal in the header channel fills half the channel and you can see the center latch.

And how it looks from the outside.

The trick to sealing along the windshield side edges is not to try to conform to the curves of the frame, but to push up against the inside edge of the frame with a round or bulbous seal attached to the side window "glass".  I used a 1/2" tubular seal with a big tab on the side with a 1/8" slot in it that slips over the glass to keep it in place.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N...f67fc737124&th=1

Mine looks like this:

And here, it's installed as a press-fit against the windshield frame when the door is closed:

Someone (Stan?) mentioned the air/rain scoop formed just behind the rear edge of the doors.  That was a YUGE! pocket, funneling many, many CFM of cold air (and rain if there was some) into the cockpit right at your outside shoulder.  I finally made my windows longer to push the trailing edge back about 2" to fit into that pocket and seal it up.  Yes, the window glass is longer than the door, but it works like magic and no one ever notices that they're longer until I tell them, and the rear glass corner just seals by closing the door.  I studied that area for a long time and tried a few different variations.  Nothing was very effective until I made the windows longer, because the shape of the top and of the windows on these cars were designed by two different people who, I swear, never spoke to each other.  

One other thing I did that has been greatly effective was to sew another seam along the sides of the top to make the pocket at the top of the side windows smaller and tuck to the side glass better.  Here, you can see the original seam as well as the newer one just below it.  Just this one thing eliminated window bow-out when passing cars at freeway speeds.  It may try to pull out when passing a semi-truck at over 70mph, but then pulls right back into place when the vacuum goes away and AFAIK, it doesn't leak water in.

Moving down to the body/pan issues, I used both silicone caulk (over an entire tube) and expanding, spray-in foam along the rear of the cockpit seam where-ever I could get the stuff in there.  I had to pull the transaxle a few years back and took the opportunity to really get up in there and double-sealed everywhere I could reach with the transaxle out of the way, especially just in front of the rear tires along the seam.  Even with all that, I still have a little air getting into the central tunnel - not a lot, but it's gently blowing out of the e-brake opening at freeway speeds.  I've tried a lot of fixes, but it persists.  It's not enough to get OCD over.

I haven't driven in any downpours since Carlisle around 2008 or so, but I have open-trailered my car through torrential downpours of up to five hours from time to time with nothing more than a slight dampness behind the seats (from that top pocket/scoop, until I cured it).  If we hit rain while trailering, we always just kept going, knowing that we would deal with whatever, once we got to where we were going, but for the last few years of trailering, I never had enough rain intrusion to worry about it.

Hope this helps someone...

I used foam at the back too.  I also fiberglassed the body to the pan per the CMC manual

@Michael McKelvey posted:

I used foam at the back too.  I also fiberglassed the body to the pan per the CMC manual

I foamed my JPS, and used two tubes of caulk. It needed to be fiberglassed as well.

The only way to really do it right is to have the transaxle out of the car.

I thought about glassing the body to the pan, but wondered how well it would stick to the steel floor pans.  

Have you noticed any separation at the glassed-in seam?

I haven't noticed any separation but it is all covered with carpet.

@Gordon Nichols posted:

I thought about glassing the body to the pan, but wondered how well it would stick to the steel floor pans.  

Have you noticed any separation at the glassed-in seam?

If you clean and rough up the steel and use several layers, just fine.

Think of all those steel-strengthened areas in your Speedster body.

I know my Spyder has steel sandwiched with fiberglass layers outside in various areas, such as clamshell hinges(front and rear), door hinges, door latches, etc.

.

So @Greg54 , here is road warrior Stan, lying supine and half-anesthetized in the back of a van on his way from the hospital after surgery, but still summoning the strength to write up a detailed description of how one copes with what is, by comparison, one of life's more serious challenges — driving a Speedster in the rain.

And then, there is super-engineer Gordon, rattling off a long list of clever devices born in desperation, field tested in extreme conditions, and honed to near-perfection over decades of motoring in misery.

There are lessons just under the surface here of the kind of grit it takes to persevere with traveling in a Speedster. It's not for the weak or the timid. It requires determination and a stony resolve not to ever give up.

Frankly, what troubles me the most are those white walls. They won't always look like that, you know. There will be days when they will be black with road grime — when they'll look like they will never again be white. And many of those days will be rainy ones. I'm not at all sure a man with white walls will have what it takes to drive a Speedster in the rain and survive.

Please consider seriously what you are undertaking. Many have gone before you and failed. Not everyone is a Stan or a Gordon. Some of us must choose our battles carefully and know when to seek the solace of the garage.

It is no accident that, as land mammals, we have a natural fear of water. This fear has been bred into us over millennia. It is a survival instinct that has kept the species alive. Driving a Speedster in the rain is an unnatural act that requires strong personal discipline and the ability to overcome fear.

A Speedster is safe in the sun, and that's probably what Speedsters are for.

.

Precisely!

But, @Greg54, in those rarified times when you DO find yourself with dingy, yellowing white walls, there is always Wesley's "Bleach White" to save you...   For the next Cars and Coffee.

https://shopkoopman.com/produc...SEAQYAyABEgIOZvD_BwE

"Driving a Speedster in the rain is an unnatural act that requires strong personal discipline and the ability to overcome fear."

Amen

... and it also requires a few extra towels.

Gordon, HOLY COW! Talk about strong personal discipline and the ability to overcome fear. That is an amazing job of water proofing. I bow to you my friend.

Tom C