Where does water go?? 73 eldorado

[kkkaiser]

after a huge rain storm last night,,  i got to wondering where the water goes from the roof, over the back of the roof.

the roof vinyl attached under the rear of the body panel were the roof meets, as opposed to some vehicles i see it folded over and some sort to rivet system holds it down were water can roll off and onto the trunk and asides, it makes a  lot more sense that way to me, but they didnt ask me to design this thing

i know it seems a bit an odd question, but i have noticed a little water in the trunk, so I thought i may need to find out the water path to see if i have a situation that needs to be quickly addressed due to water being so destructive over time.

Sincerely

Kim

[kkkaiser]

i coulda sworn there was an answer here earlier today,, but anyway,

furthering this,, i was trying to figure out if water was going anywhere else, and i did find water pooled on the rear seat floor pans and some in the seat pan...now, i am wondering, should there be a man made hole in the pans mentioned above.??   I have to assume that Cadillac knew that someone somewhere would forget to put up the top or get caught in a rainstorm and water goes to the bottom, which would be the seat pan and floor pan, so a  hole would seem to make sense so it could drain out quickly and not sit and cause rust.  SO did they have a hole there and mine has been covered/?  i am guessing that this water has come down from the back window down the back and down to the floor,  so i have to figure how to stop that from the back of the convertible top area in the back,, but,, does or should a hole exist in case of emergency water intrusions

I have always wondered were water went from between the windows as the way the rubber things on the door openings just dont seem to allow for a flow over the rubber but into the rear window cavity,, i did seem to feel or find a Weep hole under there, it was plugged up with junk, and once cleaned,, i ran water down the window belt lines on the rear windows. and it still goes into the rear window cavity, and out of the weep hole... IS that a correct path for water on the windows??

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

G'day Kim,

Sorry for the lateness of the reply, but the water does go into the rear quarter window cavity.

If there is any going into the back seat area, then there is a fault in the drain, which is made out of the same material as the folding top.

When a top is replaced, it is best to replace the well cover, and the drain at the same time.

In my '72, it wasn't done, and in one place, the drain was so brittle that it became punctured through overloading the trunk, and a piece of luggage hit the bottom of the drain, and simply cracked it.    Silicone mended the hole, but when I replace the top, the rest will be done as well. 

Bruce.

[kkkaiser]

you are referring to the gutter drain that i read about somewhere that attaches under the trunk panel that the vinyl top is also attached to.. is that correct,, ?  i am guessing i will need to get deep into the trunk and look up to see this gutter drain and see that it goes over toward the window cavities..IS that correct?/

Sincerely

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

Here is a drawing of the area from the Fisher Body Manual.

You can see it without actually climbing into the trunk, but bending over, and looking up under the rear panel lip.

Bruce.

[7gen]

That earlier post was mine. After I posted, I realized you were asking a different question than the one I was answering. You were asking where the water went. I was answering how I kept water out of my trunk.

The drain apron was one of my problems. The retaining clips had disconnected, so that in a hard, heavy rain, the drain apron overflowed into the trunk compartment. I reconnected the retaining clips (and redid the weatherstripping for the trunk lid) and my trunk is now dry.

To reattach the retaining clips, you kind of have to crawl into the trunk in order to see what you are doing. I don't have that sort of mobility any more, so I got it done at an auto upholstery shop. He charged me one hour.

[kkkaiser]

ok,, with the diagram and descriptions, i got in the trunk, noted the driver side gutter had pulled down in two spots over near the side,  well, it was a real b--tch to get in there pull that flexible little rim, set it up high on the metal lip,  very very awkward and hard to generate much power to push it into place,, however,,, i got it up, pulled down the clips that will hopefully keep it in place,   

i did notice that it was probably something to do with the top going up and down when it was nt working correctly as it was pushing the gutter down and out of there socket and clips,, since i think i have the top working like its supposed to ,,,  maybe I'm done with this,  but at least I know how to do it next time if it comes out for some reason,


So the next question is::::::
I was watching the water go out the gutter and down over the window cavity over the window well and saw that part of it is metal, and part is a black rubber looking stuff that I am assuming is a metal protectant, rust preventer.   None seems to be going in the trunk, which i am happy about,, at least so far!!

What would the appropriate product be to spread on that raw metal so that it doesnt rust...  and to put on the seat pan that has patches of the stuff,,

Thanks for all the help,, ]]

Sincerely

Kim

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

The best material to cover raw metal is paint.

Not sure what the factory used, but I do know that they used, but any seam was covered with a tarry-like substance as a seam sealer that really stuck to the bare metal, but can come off easily if scraped, many years later.

I have just replaced the floor in a '71 Eldo, and this Seam Sealer was still in place, and when removed, the metal was like new.

Bruce.

[cadillacmike68]

No holes in the cabin floor pans! That's a good way to get CO poisoning.