I have a water leak on the driver's side of my '80 which is either the windshield or a plugged cowl drain. Assuming it is most likely the cowl drain how does one get at this to clean it?

Sorry to say that this may be a sign of a corrosion problem at the "steel" framing of the birdcage. I have a 73 that nees major surgery due to this. Verify under dash, to access a "view" to the portions supporting the doors behind the kick panels for signs of corrosion. Good luck!

Sincerely,
P_Medina

Also check on Eckler's (Fall/Winter Catalog) on page 331, under "Body Hardware", parts #32533 or #32534 at $59.99 each. These "rot" do death due to water accumulation through the years. Parts are relatively "cheap" but the work to install them is "major". Good luck,
P_Medina

You kinda scared me with your response. I am still hoping it is just a simple thing such as a plugged drain before I start spending some bucks to fix a windshield leak (ugh). Worse yet the thought of rust on the frame is really scary.

Any suggestions on how to chase the former (drain plugged) before I start spending money on the latter (winshield leak with removal and replacement of parts). I hate to even think about rust on the frame. By the way exactly how do I go about looking for this (rust) - under the dash or in the panel that goes behind the hinges and air vent?

Also, I have an assembly manual and have looked at my cowl vents and still can't figure out out to get at them to clean them. Again any suggestions?

I just bought this car last July, and it is my first Corvette, so I am kinda LEARNING (but certainly enjoying every minute of it)!

Thanks for any help you can offer.

HerbH in Columbus Ohio

Sorry to scare you, but although the rust problem is common on C3 corvettes, it is usually related to rust on the bottom corners of the windshield frame. I have been to the NCRS winter meet at orlando (hopefully will be there the comming meeting too!) and was able to "see" when and where this happens. There might be water comming in from somewhere, but there's a real likelyhood of it comming from the bottom corners of the windshield frame. Get a hold of Corvette Water Leak and Wind Noise Solutions, @www.madvet.com, P/N #600-029 for insight. Hope this will help... nevertheless, mine leaks like a spagetti strainer, but sure burns the hell out of its wheels with the new 3.70 diff. I installed. , and no way I'm selling it... its my first ("love") corvette and in the future, an ADDITIONAL MAD 69 C3 IS ON THE LIST!
P_Medina

try this to get www.madvet.com

Thanks - I am going to go their web site and buy the book. I love my vette too. Only problem was I had to put it in to storage yesterday cause we now have winter. I figure snow and Corvettes don't work well together. Good part is though I can still visit and tinker.

Hope, this is not the cause of the leak.


Hoping for the best. Gunther

I had water leaks in my 81 it appeared to drip in from the bottom corner of the windshield, it would run down the side kick panels and puddle in the floor, people said it was the pillars, wiper tranmissions the windshield etc, I also was told the whole pillar/door hinge mount would be rotted after ruling out those things,
I pulled the front clip & I learned the ugly truth, it's a design fault with GM, there's a piece in there that the top corner of the fender bonds to it is a triangle spacer that is fiberglass and pop rivets to that metal corner with 3 rivets ( marked as red dots in my picture) the weather seal wears out and the rivets get loose over time and water seeps in since those rivets pass into the cabin, and there is NO way to fix it right by pouring or spraying goop in there you just cant get to it, trust me I tried.
One friend tackled his by cutting the top corners off his fenders cleaning things up putting new sealer and new rivets in there and then repairing the top fender corners he cut off, ( outlined in red on the other picture )
In my case and as seen in my pictures my stuff wasn't rotted out all I needed to do was clean it up good and treat it with good rust proofing paint,
In my case I have a tilt front clip so your fenders will look different.
If you car is a daily driver there is no good easy fix, I wish there was, and I believe all c3's will someday suffer from this leak, just a matter of time.
If your car is a fair weather cruise toy don't worry about it....
Good luck,
P.




PS, don't let the wiper door in the pic confuse you the car is an 81 I'm a custom freak and was playing with something...

|UPDATED|12/30/2003 9:21:33 AM (AZT)|/UPDATED|