11 replies to this topic

[mike.]

Hello

Since i've had my car i've always had a slight problem with rain water overflowing or getting past the edge of the bonnet drip rails (if thats what they're called) and draining onto the bulkhead crossmember. I've solved this in the past by using some silicone sealant on any suspicious areas that look as though water could get past but i'd like to try another method now as i've got my megajolt and 2nd fusebox mounted in this area that I want to keep dry!

Its not hard to see why the water can get past, as the drip tray on my car isn't great and by the looks of things has been fibreglassed/seam sealered or something in the past and its ended up not having much of an edge to it anymore and also some bits looked to have been chipped/damaged as well. Not sure how well you can see in the photos but heres a couple:





You can see my EDIS unit situated directly below where water would overflow - This leak slipped my mind when I decided to mount it there

The other side had an obvious point of entry for water, so I tried to seal it with an off cut of the scuttle seal like so:



However when pushing this on, a big chunk of whatever the lip of the drip tray was made out of broke off resulting in this:



Which as you can imagine, even with my little bit of seal in place lets water pour in.

So i'm trying to sort this out and am trying to think of solutions apart from grinding/sanding the whole drip tray down and having a fresh piece of metal fabricated to be welded on to reform the lip properly!

Was thinking along the lines of some neoprene D section seal to stick down along the drip tray on top of the inner wing so that when the bonnet shuts, the edge of it bites down into this to create a seal.

This is the stuff: http://www.cbsonline...27_Section_TRMD

Or

Some door seal with quite a large 'sealing section' on it, which I could round the top of the drip rails above the triangular bulkhead crossmember braces where there is a lip for this to fit to. Again, hopefully this would give a seal when the bonnet shuts down onto it.

This stuff: http://www.cbsonline...ture_Seal_TRMDR

What I don't want though is to find that the bonnet can't close with these extra seals in place!

What do people think, I could probably even fit both types of seal at the same time. Since these seals are cheap enough to buy a metre of I think i'll order some to try out anyway, but apart from these - Any other ideas?

Thanks

[sonikk4]

You should have a nice right angle lip along there which would stop the leaking issue. Is there actually any metal there at all or has the edge been trimmed right back.

[mike.]

I know, I can't really tell you exactly whats there right now, I can only guess. I think whats happened is, the lip and area where the wings and inner wings join has been either damaged by rust or during poor repairs in the past (car has had new front end in the past)

I think the damaged bits have then been covered or built up with fibreglass or something similar and then not really sanded down or shaped very well and then I know the car has had a number of resprays in the past as well (You can see a number of colours on the corner that is damaged) so i don't think the layers of paint and primer have helped matters either.

Repairing this properly would probably be quite a job, and not what I want to be having done when i'm so close to getting the car back on the road. I'm pretty sure I could get it sealed with some sort of door seal, but i'm unsure on the best type to use really, apart from buying them and trying them...

[sonikk4]

You could at a pinch fabricate a new lip to fit along the damaged ones.

Use either some thin aluminium or steel, fold it 90 degrees then bond under the existing lip. Once the adhesive etc has hardened then you could something like Tiger Seal to seal along the lip so you can over paint it. Anything silicone based will not accept paint.

This would do as a stop gap measure until such time as you can afford to sort it properly. Its a bit Heath Robinson but should do the job.

[mike.]

Ahh yeah didn't think of something like that, I was thinking more along the lines of trying to make a better job of fibreglassing the current lip, you way would be much better and longer lasting too probably.

I'll look into some alu sheet, see if I can get some scrap stuff from somewhere maybe.

Thanks

also just realised this is in tech not bodywork! Will get it moved...

[Frisco]

Don't pit ally directly onto steel. The two metals corrode each other for fun.
IMO the only way to keep that stuff dry is to put it inside the cabin. When your doing 70 in the rain everything in the engine bay is likely to be completely soaked

[mike.]

Well the parts are designed to be in an engine bay anyway really, they are fitted and exposed in the fords they have comes off. The plug for that unit does have a sort of seal on it that'll protect it from spray but I don't think it'd cope well with water dripping directly onto the back of the plug.

[mike.]

Also if I were to use sonikk's technique i'd either paint the surface's first, and i'll probably bond it on with tiger seal as well which will keep them apart.

[sonikk4]

If you decide to go the Aluminium route then etch prime it first then prime and paint. And yes by putting something like Tigerseal between the mating surfaces (we call this Interfay in the trade) this will prevent dissimilar metal corrosion from starting.

[Deathrow]

Could bypass the issue by using some thin mild steel bent to shape instead of the aluminium?

[sonikk4]

Could bypass the issue by using some thin mild steel bent to shape instead of the aluminium?

I had mentioned that in my first reply Adam but Aluminium was brought up as the first material to be used so the inherent risks in its use were raised. Having had a look around some cars yesterday at Stanford there were a few there with minimal lips.

For me i would use steel although if you have ali to hand then its a case what's easier to use.

One other option could be the use of either some solid D section seal strip which could be bonded in place or something similar in which case you can do away with the metal option altogether.

[mike.]

Well for the sake of £4 a metre, I think i'll try the D section seal first and see what happens. It water still gets in i'll take the more drastic option of making a new lip to bond in place.

Thanks guys.