Very happy to see these inner fenders

[Number_6]

When I looked at the pics, I just assumed at first that the old drain hoses had been cut off. I'm amazed that the they would just have the rain drain into body cavities! Were the BL engineers going out of their way to find ways to make the cars rust?

 

[Brosky]

Tom C,

Please put the avatar with the two girls in it back up.

Thanks you!

 

[Silverghost]

That's interesting - two different cars with identical finishes behind the fenders. Does anyone know how the factory was set up? Is there any chance the chassis were dipped up to that level in some rust proofing solution perhaps?

 

[DNK]

Well I hope they got their money back on the rust proofing system :laugh:

 

[BobbyD]

This almost makes me want to pull my fenders to see if I got that two tone primer job too......

 

[Brosky]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]Were the BL engineers going out of their way to find ways to make the cars rust?[/QUOTE]

Rich,

I believe that the unspoken automotive corporate terminology of the 60-70's was "Planned Obsolescence".

i.e., the oxymoron created by the term "rustproofing" as being representative of most of the poor, or poorly applied products of that era.

 

[Guest]

Design flaw!

And this is on a California car.

Also notice the two tone 'water mark' here as well.

tdskip, do you have a picture of the passenger side too?


.

 

[tdskip]

Scary;

 

[Guest]

Looks like someone cut for speakers that they put in the kick panels. Thanks for the picture.

 

[Tom74TR6]

<span style="font-weight: bold">No drainage problems here, in fact no sill at all. 15 winters in Buffalo NY.</span>

<span style="font-weight: bold">All better now..</span>

Tom C

 

[Guest]

Everybody's car seems to have the same "high water marks" on the inner fenders, so I'll speculate that they did indeed coat the bottom halves of the inner fender primer with a rust prohibitive coating. I also am going to agree with what TR6oldtimer says, you aren't going to jury rig anything to keep the water from the channel between your hood and your wiper box sill out. Water will still run down those inner fenders. At the factory they knew water was going to drain in there anyway so the fresh air vent also drains in there with those hoses as short as possible. The longer the drain hoses from your fresh air vent, the more apt for some leaves or debris to accumulate and clog them up. I would keep longer hoses as straight down as possible and back flow them with compressed air once in a while if you plan on driving your car in any foul or Autumn (leave falling) weather.

I still can't believe that a California car rusted through with 2 large round holes on both inner fenders half the way down a somewhat straight panel, but a Buffalo, NY car driven all year round didn't.
.

 

[Brosky]

Thanks for changing your avatar Tom!!!

Much more pleasant to look at.

 

[Norton47]

Hmmm, all the joints at various spots of the fender to inner and body were sealed with a sealant compound. This stuff was quite hard and I speculate original my fenders had never been off. With these seal this was there would not be a point of entry for water except the hoses and around the splashshield seal.
I used a more flexible seam sealant to close these back up again.

 

[swift6]

I wouldn't call it a design flaw. These cars have lived long past the initially intended and designed purposes. If they caused a problem while still "young" you could call it a desin flaw. But not after 32 plus years.

 

[tdskip]

I wouldn't call it a design flaw. These cars have lived long past the initially intended and designed purposes. If they caused a problem while still "young" you could call it a desin flaw. But not after 32 plus years.

Fair point...

 

[Brosky]

Shawn,

I feel that any design engineer or manufacturer who would intentionally drain water (possibly with a caustic salt mixture) from one sealed area into another sealed area without having a proper second drain to clear that area, has a created a definite design flaw. Just because the cars have been lucky enough to make it this long, in spite of that is another story.

No matter how you cut it, it was just plain dumb to do this type of thing.

 

[swift6]

Paul,

There is a secondary drain system in the design. At the bottom of the inner fender, where the outer and inner meet, there should be slots that allow for drainage out of that cavity. The slots are small, can be easily overlooked and can be overwhelmed in downpours or car washes, making it take time to drain. Your doors should have similar slots in the bottom of them. It is common however for these slots to plug up with debris and either slow the drainage or stop it completely. That is when they rust out. Especially when the seal on the inner fender panel wears out and allows the debris from tires thrown back onto the inner fender to get into that area and plug it all up.

Many auto manufacturers used a similar drainage system for the scuttle area. You can find similar applications on many Fords, Jaguars, Volvo's etc...

I guess you need to specify what you mean by a "proper" second drain. Designers would not want it obvious as it would most likely be an eyesore. There had to be some method to the madness as it was used by several manufacturers.

 

[Brosky]

Shawn,

I agree that the doors are discreetly, but properly drained by the hidden slots.

My inner fender seals were still very pliable and live, but I'm sure that's an exception to the rule. I think that I know where you mean between the fender and the inner panel shown on Tom's picture above and if so, that is indeed very small, or close for lack of a better definition.

I'm still going to think about the draining and how to improve it, without making a major project out of it, but I'll wait until I see how the fenders will hang and what that clearance at the bottom will be.

More to follow next week.

 

[RonMacPherson]

Honda and Acura used a drain hose, in the trunk, etc. with kind of a flapper valve which let the water out, but not in. It looks like someone(which they probably did) mold the hose ending where it becomes two sided and the two sides meet together.. Head for Honda/Acura dealer and ask the parts person to look in their parts fiche, you will find what I am talking about. I know they used this from the 70's through the early 90's..

 

[TR6oldtimer]

IMO, the biggest problem with the design, which goes back to the TR4's, is the lack of protective paint in this area, as well as the extensive use of seam sealers and putty to seal holes in the body parts. If they simply had sprayed an enamel over the sealers and primer here and behind the fenders, this problem would not have been nearly as bad as it is 30-40 years later.

Thirty plus years, that is well beyond the design life for these vehicles. The amazing thing is there are still a lot of them around.