The final leak, help me find it!

[Technoholic]

AS you'll no doubt see, I've been posting a lot recently, mostly to fix all the little niggles that I can. The leaks are the main issue as I keep the car outside.

I have:

Replaced the main long door/roof seal
Replaced the targa to window seal with the upgraded version and fixed the retaining channels
Adjusted the windows to minimise any left over gaps against the seals so now nothingnesses windows seal the best I can get them, considering it's a TVR
Adjusted the metal tangs behind the hockey sticks that push the window glass against the seals to make a better seal
Refitted the door membranes correctly on both doors and made sure they are channel water correctly

Before this, in heavy rain, I would be left with a swimming pool in the drivers footwell. We haven't had any heavy rain since I've done this work, except last night where it looks like it rained hard but I don't actually know how much came down. This morning, I looked and the car is certainly not a swimming pool, but there is still damp carpet on the sills behind the seals on both sides of the car.

So water is still getting down to the bottom of the door seals, because I can see they are wet, and I guess, still overcoming the seal and pouring into the car and going down the carpet into the footwell. I fear that in heavy sustained rain it would still allow quite a lot of water in.

What I can't work out is how the water is getting there. Does anyone know where it would be coming from to end up there? If its running down the front and back edge of the doors then I presume that can't be stopped? Before I replaced the seals, I put the crimps into the old seals that supposedly allows water to drain away, but that didn't work.

Can anyone give me any pointers? I know you often can't make this car completely water tight but I want to fix it well enough that I am safe to get new carpets soon.

Any help would be very much appreciated, sorry for the long post (Again!)

[Basil Brush]

Might be worth checking the rear window seal. I had water coming in that ran down the inner wheel arch and along the grooves in the floor to the front footwell. As the sill carpet edge sits under the floor mats, the water wicked up.

[s6boy]

I feel your pain, and ultimately it might be possible to get them water tight but one of these will be the least frustrating and easiest route to go:
https://www.hamiltonclassic.co.uk/acatalog/CoverCo...

My drivers side was dry as a bone for a year when it was kept outside but the passenger side had a small but annoying constant leak. Fitted new seal all round and no more leak into passenger side but a constant drip under certain conditions onto my right knee!
Part of the problem is that there is flex in the shell so a well aligned joint between window and frame/ hockey stick can become a tiny gap after a drive.

As an alternative to the bikini top I've linked above I have a Dancover perambulator 'garage' which has kept mine dry for the last 18 months.

[Technoholic]

I do have a half cover but unfortunately it’s stopped being waterproof. Heavy rain last night and I checked and it’s actually not too bad. No swimming pool in the footwell but sill carpets are damp.

Rear window seal is new and I can’t see any water coming in there so I don’t think that’s it. But carpets are damp under the seat too so it could be coming in further back but more likely it’s being wicked backwards. Sill seals are wet and pooled with water ski still think the door bottom could be a culprit. It’s really hard to work it out!

[Technoholic]

ok, this is driving me crazy now.

I have done everything I can think of and checked everything I can. I have changed the door seals, roof seals, put the pinched area in the door seals to drain water on to the sills, and that has stopped the majority of the water coming in, but after heavy rain today, the sill carpets are STILL soaking. I can't for the life of me work out where the water is coming in. previously, the footwell would be swimming and with the mats out, as they are now, there would be a good few cms of water in the main part of the footwell. That is not the case now, yet, but having dried out the sill carpets yesterday, today they are soaking again.

The further towards the back of the car you get, the drier it gets I think, at least along the sill, I haven't properly checked under the seats yet. It seems almost like the water is coming in towards the front part of the carpet underneath the doors. Almost like it's coming in from under the car or through the body. I'm sure that's not the case but that's the direction it's coming from.

If it was coming from the bulkhead I would expect it to be running down under the pedals and down the main part of the footwell, but that's not happening either.

Please someone, help me! it's driving me crazy as it's the only real issue I have now, and with this weather, it's just going to get worse!

[Technoholic]

oh and can anyone tell me how the inner door seal around the door card is meant to be fitted? This was definitely channeling water to my door sill where it was overflowing into the car, which I fixed by shortening that bit of rubber, and putting the pinch in the door seal, but I know these seals need replacing, however I don't know how they are meant to be fitted and how far around the door they are supposed to go.

[Dannyk]

Why don't you thoroughly dry the interior, climb in the car and let someone else hose the car for half an hour while trying to mimick rainfall as much as possible?

[Basil Brush]

I'm not sure what you mean by inner seal?

Are both drain holes in the bottom of your door clear and allowing water out?

[Technoholic]

Yes they are.

There is a seal around the door card on my car, and I've seen it on others too. It's a P shaped seal that runs around the front edge of the door card from the rubber top capping, to the bottom of the door, or at least that's how mine was.

[Technoholic]

See the first picture in this thread, it shows the seal I'm talking about

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=13...

[Basil Brush]

Ah ok, mine's an early car so doesn't have any of these later developments. I must not have paid attention when I replied to that thread.

[Technoholic]

To be honest I'm not sure its doing any good. Without it I think water would pour in behind the door card, but with it, it seems to channel water to the bottom of the door/over the sill. I think I need to replace it with a new seal and maybe make it go further around the door.

[Curdster]

Just seen an old Wheeler Dealers on TV and Edd China used a hired smoke machine inside the car and watch the exterior to see where the smoke leaked out. Worth a try?

[Konrod]

Hi there. I have found a problem where the flat plastic panel on the front upper inside corner of the door (on the inside, but roughly level with the mirror) allows water to run through between it and the seal that runs right around the door aperture. It only really happens in heavy rain, and the water runs down the door card and into the door bin, or down the front of the door inside the seal - in both cases it ends up in the sill carpet.

I haven't found a real solution, but it really needs something on that flat panel that pushes the water onto the seal.

[Sagi Badger]

Ok, so just a thought but I have found leaks and fixed in two locations, bulk head and door cables through door shut. So details, bulk head is the ECU connector which in my case allowed water to enter and run down into the ECU, which incidentally didn’t seem to mind so much as it was still working.... yep underwater ECU.... still the water runs past that and onto the carpet. Second one was the heat exchanger fibre glass cover, rather tricky little things these but with a bit of care and half a tube of mastic in the right place these can be sealed, if you take this off you will be best advised to masking tape the wing up and get a flexible bread knife out. I didn’t venture into how the water got past the air ducts but guess there is somewhere under there that wasn’t water tight, sealing the box back on did the trick. Lastly is the door leccy cable plug on the door shut, this was loose and allowed water to pass, only monsoon conditions though.

Only time I used a smoke machine on a TVR was under my friends Griff, my wife did and Oscar winning performance running into the house shouting OMG your cars smoking..... luckily he did see the funny side but wish I’d filmed it for U tube.. smoky old Griff.
Good luck, you will find it.

J

[Technoholic]

Thanks, where does the ecu loom come through the bulkhead? Did you seal it up from the engine side or the interior side?

My heater boxes are newly sealed as I had them off a couple weeks ago to replace the heater stepper motor and I’m confident that’s all good now.

I’ll check out the door cable, where was yours leaking specifically? Where the cable entered the body itself?

Thanks

[Sagi Badger]

Above the pedal box, it is a bulkhead fitting and each one I have come across has been loose, i put a smear of sealant on the thread behind the shoulder and tightened the nut up, doesn’t need a lot of doing up but it will need quadruple jointed 9 foot long arms so get a mate to help.
Door cable into what could be called the A post, similar idea to above but possible on your own.
I notice you have been challenged by the scuttle and wiper set up, glue and weights and time.
You can get a leak on the tail end of the side windows, the windows adjustment is humorous, typical TVR and of course door adjustment plays a big part in this seal, or not.