Water leak in Chimaera
Discussion
My Chim 4.5 has been previously garaged, but following a move to Perthshire, has had to be left outside. The problem is that with the frequent rain in these parts, the car now leaks significant quantities of rainwater internally. The source of this is not evident - the roof, seals etc seem satisfactory.
Would value your advice.
ABM
Would value your advice.
ABM
You will not believe how much water gets in through the roof material and stitching.
Just helped a fellow chim owner with exactly same problem.
His roof let water in mostly near the roll overhoop mounts running down to behind seats and by capillary action to flood parcel shelf.
Give the roof several coats of Fabsil until water beads up on outside.
Just helped a fellow chim owner with exactly same problem.
His roof let water in mostly near the roll overhoop mounts running down to behind seats and by capillary action to flood parcel shelf.
Give the roof several coats of Fabsil until water beads up on outside.
I had this issue in the driver's footwell when the weather was horrendous last autumn.
Almost an inch of water in there, and had three areas of ingress:
Offside inner wing
Window and window runner not sealing well against any seals
Door/windscreen seal fitted poorly
Wing:
After a lot of looking around, including a helper shining a torch over the wing, and my head stuck in the footwell I could see lots of light up past the pedal box panel.
I dug out almost all the tired sealant on the grommets, brake fluid reservoir, bonnet release cable grommet (down the inner side), then bought some Sikaflex 221 and re-sealed everything:
Grommets - seal below the rim, and the hole in the middle
Brake fluid reservoir - be careful not to move it around when digging out the old stuff (don't want to break the seals to the cylinder below), then seal around again
Then the clutch reservoir cover - I used low modulus (builder's) silicone, a good amount, but not Sikaflex, as this will need access for fluid replacement. Easy to take apart, peel off and reapply.
It's impressive how a seal can look ok but not be:


Window was a different story, in two parts of removing and refitting the windscreen trim to sit against the aluminium window runner (did the whole trim in the end), and repositioning the runners (door card off job) - but mine was sitting around 5-10mm short of the roof rubber - a much bigger job (on this thread if you're interested https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... )
Door seal was easy, around £25 off ebay, just tap the new one on with a rubber mallet, the hardest bit is at the doorway tops, where it takes a tight curve to sit below the hood and needs a screw/rivet to hold it in place.
Completely solved it, very happy, and hopefully you only need the sealing process!
Almost an inch of water in there, and had three areas of ingress:
Offside inner wing
Window and window runner not sealing well against any seals
Door/windscreen seal fitted poorly
Wing:
After a lot of looking around, including a helper shining a torch over the wing, and my head stuck in the footwell I could see lots of light up past the pedal box panel.
I dug out almost all the tired sealant on the grommets, brake fluid reservoir, bonnet release cable grommet (down the inner side), then bought some Sikaflex 221 and re-sealed everything:
Grommets - seal below the rim, and the hole in the middle
Brake fluid reservoir - be careful not to move it around when digging out the old stuff (don't want to break the seals to the cylinder below), then seal around again
Then the clutch reservoir cover - I used low modulus (builder's) silicone, a good amount, but not Sikaflex, as this will need access for fluid replacement. Easy to take apart, peel off and reapply.
It's impressive how a seal can look ok but not be:


Window was a different story, in two parts of removing and refitting the windscreen trim to sit against the aluminium window runner (did the whole trim in the end), and repositioning the runners (door card off job) - but mine was sitting around 5-10mm short of the roof rubber - a much bigger job (on this thread if you're interested https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&... )
Door seal was easy, around £25 off ebay, just tap the new one on with a rubber mallet, the hardest bit is at the doorway tops, where it takes a tight curve to sit below the hood and needs a screw/rivet to hold it in place.
Completely solved it, very happy, and hopefully you only need the sealing process!
Edited by PabloGee on Tuesday 21st February 21:43
Edited by PabloGee on Tuesday 21st February 21:46
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