Well, maybe not the deluge but it probably will rain here a couple of
times this coming winter. Here's what I finally figured out to get my
doors to properly channel water out the bottom. Hope this is of some
help to other listers who get water in their passenger compartments.
As I earlier mentioned, after removing the door panels, I cleaned out
all the junk at the bottom of the insides of the doors and made sure the
three drain holes are clear. I tightened all the loose screws holding
the winder mechanisms to the door. I added some weather strip to the
door behind the long "door lock bar" to stop some rattling that was
going on. Biggest problem was replacing those darn plastic/poly sheets
inside the doors (that had deteriorated completely) that channel the
water that gets in down to the bottom without getting on the hardware
and the door panels. I got a sheet of 6 mil poly sheeting from a
hardware store. I cut two sheets (one for each door) 25" x 14" (approx).
This is as close (the 14") as I could figure the originals were. I could
not see that these sheets were glued or attached at the bottom anywhere
so I've decided to just have them hang down in the doors, loose at the
bottom. They're going to get "crunched" up every time the windows are
opened anyway (wether glued at the bottom or not) , and this is
obviously why these sheets "go away" after a few years.
The biggest problem was how to attach the plastic sheets. Original
factory install seems to be that they layed the top of the sheets in the
door window channels and then installed the windows over them. As I
didn't want to attempt to remove the windows to do the same, I at first
tried clear silicone glue spread on the window channel (and then
pressing the plastic on to the glue). No good as the clear silicone
didn't stick to the plastic. I tried black seal, which worked much
better but still not good enough. It was apparent that repeated window
winding would pull this off. Staring and swearing at the doors finally
created the obvious idea: Really sticky tape. If I had thought of this
several hours previously, I'd be much happier now! Anyway, I messed
about and was finally able to tape the plastic sheets to the window
channels and numerous windings up and down shows this will hold.
I additionally taped over the two remaining big holes in the doors
(where the wining mechanisms are and the smaller half circle at the
front of the doors) to prevent any water exiting there, and finally
taped over a couple more larger sheets of plastic on the driver's door
(where it's now under the door panel) to insulate further against door
rattles I haven't been able to solve otherwise. It now seems that the
only way water that gets in the doors from above can get out will be as
our Lord (Rootes) intended, out the drain holes.
I've also installed a weather strip piece (non stock) on the car body
around the door openings so water can't splash up from the road and into
the car (this piece starts where lots of us can sit in the car and see
light through that corner at the front bottom of the doors, and runs
back and up the side of the door opening). I did this as my new, stock
door weather strip does not make contact with the body when the doors
are closed.
I also re-caulked around the driver's side air intake (under the dash)
and the windscreen bolts. I didn't do the driver's air vent as I
couldn't really reach it behind the glove box and wiper motor.
I'm sure I'll find other areas to repair, and thanks for all the tips
the list suppled earlier.
Steve Sage
'67 Series V
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