found the leaks in my 69....

[lance jaglowski]

well i finaly found most of, if not all of the leaks in the interior of my vette. the only problem is i have no idea how to fix them.

first ones an easy one that i think i can handle my self. some minor adjustments to the door windows, new weather stripping, and a couple of little holes in the bottom of the door to drain any water should take car of it.

my bigger problem is my front astro vents. more precisly, the lower vents that would be behind the kick panel. i sat in the car today and had my dad pour a bucket of water down the wiper tray and i was able to watch it just pour out of those lower vents, passenger side much much worse then the drivers.

ive been trying to find the drain holes on both sides that are supposedly there, but for the life of me cant seem to see them any place. i think they may be working though since water does come out from underneath the fenders.

im really at a loss here as to how to fix the leak in this thing. could i have holes in my vents that are letting water in? any easy way to get to the vents with out takeing the fenders off? (something that under no circumstances will happen)

[Dick W.]

Re: found the leaks in my 69....

I would take the kick panels off and inspect the "birdcage" (body frame) for rust through. It is possible that it is leaking in the cowl area (posted on this earlier). Eliminate the rust through in the hinge pillar and cowl area of the birdcage first. Let us know what you find and we will try to guide you through the next step

[mike cobine]

Re: found the leaks in my 69....

A bucket of water down the wiper area will run in many cars if the lower vents are open. Just far too much water. Try a hose with the water running moderately instead.

To clear those areas, be sure the car is DRY. Set it in the sun for several hours and let it bake. You can use an air hose or a leaf blower to blow from below and blow debris up from the drain holes. Youcan put a vacuum cleaner hose from above to suck up debris to keep it from falling back down.

You should check the seals on the vent doors. After 36 years, the seals could be gone or broken.

Of course the easiest cure is the one many here do - don't drive in the rain.

[lance jaglowski]

Re: found the leaks in my 69....

its not so much a problem of driveing in a rain as its just basic storage. i dont really have a garage to keep the car in, and putting it in the poll barn every single time im not driveing it isnt exactly the easiest thing to do. so for the months of about late may to early november it sits in my driveway.

in any mesurable amount of rain, the passenger side carpet is always wet.

the first thing i did was shove an air hose down there and just blew the aera out. didnt seem to have much blowing around in there. this was after a couple of dry days sitting out in the sun.

i am looking at re-taring that entire cowl area. my dad did it 20 some years ago when he tried stopping this same leak. the tar has broken in some areas but im not seeing any rust any place. i dont think the seals actually cracked deep enough to get to the metal yet.

how would i go about closeing those vents manualy? i ended up breakeing some cables when the car first came out of storage last year, and i honestly dont know if those vents open and close. i just drive with the window open so i never really notice.

[Jim T.]

Re: found the leaks in my 69....

Lance when you first posted about water coming out of the vents last week, it seemed to me that you were saying that the water was coming out of the vents, one each at the bottom corner of the dash, the round swivel ball units that you can move and direct air. Reading your new post, the astro vents are according to you the vents behind the kick panels. If this was my car I would remove the door sills so the "floor vent" grilles can be removed. Then I would disassemble the vent door and inspect what is in the cavity behind the vent doors that is making the water come into the car. With your car sitting outside a lot, if there are trees around you will probably find leaves and twigs, no telling what else, nuts, bolts, and screws, a shop rag?

[lance jaglowski]

Re: found the leaks in my 69....

ill look into it more tomarrow. my interior is completly gutted except for the guage cluster, center console piece, seats, and carpet.

[lance jaglowski]

Re: found the leaks in my 69....

i opend up the lower vent covers about 30 min ago and damn....

i cant beleive how much dirt was down in there after years and years of decay.

anyways, after doing a stress test of sorts it seems that the passenger side can now empty water at a fast enough rate that it can with stand a terenchal down pour for about a min before water backs up into the interior.

drivers side, sadly can not with stand the test. im a little cramped for space down there (can just barly get my hand in the vent but dont have much room to move) so ill see about pulling both vents covers out this week and really emptying the place out. so far ive pulled about 8 large spoon fulls of mud and gunk out of the drivers side.

[Tony Roussos]

Re: found the leaks in my 69....

Hello Lance,

I hope this little story helps (or entertains,) but last year, I completely disassembled the dash for unrelated reasons, and being a new owner of a 71 coupe, I decided to conduct a water test. I found lots of debris in the vent system, above and below behind the kick panel. I also found that the seals on the seam of the "bird cage" below the dash pad line allowed water to infiltrate. Some 3M took care of that problem on both sides and I'm glad to say that I no longer have the annoying drip-drip on the front carpet.

Now, I just have two small puddles just behind both seats on the floor when parked on a 10 degree incline. But, that's another story. Best Wishes.

Tony