damage31

This is more of a FYI...

I recently had to replace my carpet because of water damage. When I pulled the carpet, I had probably the better part of 2 gallons of water on the driver side front and rear of my floorboards.

I thought that my only problem was my bow seal needed replacement. It was trashed on the drivers side for many years, which I figured was then allowing water into my car.

I was only partially right.

After I installed my carpet, I refrained from driving in the rain until I got my new bow seal installed.

Well, I just got my seal tonight and what I found after I installed the bow seal may help others.

What I found tonight was that the driver side inner quarter panel was holding water. This water was then being introduced into the cabin of the car, and was getting soaked up into the carpet. It turns out the bow seal was only a part of the issue, the real issue was that I had a blocked driver side drainage hole.

For those of you who have never looked, or thought about where water goes in these cars when your out in a rain storm:

These cars have tiny little drainage holes in front of the rear tires where the frame and the quarters are all joined. You cant see them with the tires on the car, but you can see them if you pour a little water in between the panels and watch where it drains from. From what I just learned, you wouldn't want to spray rubberized sealant in that area without being very careful to ensure that you don't block your tops drainage holes, or youll end up replacing your carpet in short order.

If you lift the rear of your top up and then open the tonneau, look down into the void that exists between the outer quarter panel and the inner part of the quarter. You'll see a tube about an inch in diameter that extends most of the way down in between the rear fenders. This tube is what carries the water that gets in under the toneau cover. It drops it at the bottom of the rear quarter, where it is then expected to drain out in front of the rear tire.

Until now, I had never cared about what went on in there.
$260.00 later I now know what I could have done to save myself some cash. If I had ever vacuumed out the bottoms of the fenders, I could have held off replacing the carpet for another year or so.

I have attached some pictures to hopefully help illustrate what I'm talking about.

Attached Images

	DSC03157.JPG (77.2 KB, 52 views)
	DSC03158.JPG (72.3 KB, 56 views)
	DSC03159.JPG (98.7 KB, 55 views)

89ConvIroc

Thanks damage31, I just had the same thing happen to my Iroc Conv the other day...had to get the carpet up and took out some of the insulation batting attached to the underside of the rug......man that stuff's like a friggen sponge.... I'll be checking the drain hole right away.......anyone with a convertible should check this..... too bad I didn't read this 2 days ago!!

damage31

On my car the problem was caused by just a tiny bit of fine sand that had collected in the bottom of the quarter over the years. Probably less than 1 or 2 tablespoons of sand in total...I took my small shop vac and taped an even smaller .5" diameter rubber hose to it so I could get to the bottom of the fender, and still see with a flashlight what I was doing to get it all up. Then I poured maybe half a cup of water into the fender and quickly sucked it out from the wheelwell to hopefully get more sand that wasnt readily visible out of that hole.

yankeecarman

Thanks for the info and pics. Its nice for us convertible owners to know this wealth of info.

89ConvIroc

WOW....you should of seen all the crap I pulled out of there yesteday!!! I had a couple of mini piles of rocks, sand and what seemed to be asphalt out of there!!! It was sooo plugged up and sitting there for so long that I pulled out one piece of the "asphalt" and it was the size of brownie!!! She's all cleared up now and I don't have to worry about the rain anymore....or more damage to the carpet!! Thanks!!!! This thread should be posted as a sticky on the board for all us Vert owners.

davey_boy_smith

great post!

i've often wondered how the drainage system in that area worked (if there was one) but never got around to it. great advice.. i'm gonna clean mine out as well.

89ConvIroc

Too add to the post, I have an 89 Iroc and there are three additional drainage holes to the one's that damage31 is talking about. There is a nickel sized drainage hole directly on the bottom of the frame rail, a slot on the back of the frame rail (if you were looking at the door) and then another slot on the left side of the frame rail (if you were facing the door) They are all located right around each other. So feel in and around there and make sure these aren't blocked as well.

yankeecarman

Glad you posted this info. I looked at mine and found that one of the tubes was not connected. The drainage holes were clear so no damage was done. Thanks.