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wet rugs

AUSMHLY

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Front floor rugs seems to be wet. Common problem?

Where, how does the water get into the car, for this to happen?

Related to why the rugs have snaps? To dry them out? Or to make them easy to clean?
 
There are a number of joints & holes in the floor & firewall, & of course around the doors. One of the restoration projects to be done is replace all grommets, sealing strips & such, & add sealing where it is needed. Forty year old rubber doesn't seal very well. Many older cars have had some of the seals left out by the owner as the car was worked on over the years. Look at a good illustrated catalog to identify the rubber bits that may be damaged or missing on your car. Rust holes are another distinct possibility. Sometimes the heater or it's hoses leak & drip water inside the car. Water can run down the windshield posts. The convertible models can have plugged drain channels.

If the car is truly renewed, including all rubber bits, they don't leak. On a comical note, my car previously had a very thorough body off restoration. The metal work & paint was flawless & everything well aligned. No signs of rust. Don't know whether the previous owner ran out of money or just got in a hurry. The car was reassembled with absolutely no rubber seals, gaskets, grommets, or anything else. I've spent countless dollars & hours researching & installing all of the rubber & sealing bits that were left out. Just look in a Moss catalog, anything made of rubber was left out except the tires & they were 10 years old. It's as hard to find out what is missing as it is to replace it.

The standard trick is, in a darkened garage, remove interior rugs etc to bare metal, put a light under the hood & under the car sections & look carefully for any light showing through. Spray some water on the outside sections & look for water entry. If everything is done right there are no water leaks.

If you don't have a clue, the Moss illustrated catalog & the Anderson - Moment restoration book will help a lot.

The only time I have had to unsnap the carpets was when I got caught in a rainstorm with the top down.
D
 
On my VW it is actually difficult to close the last door if all the windows are up -- by contrast my TRs are sieves with more ways to let in water than I could ever seal.

Damp carpet is not something you want to leave be -- it can hold a lot of moisture against the sheet metal for a long time, esp if there is thick padding underneath. I always install the floorpan bits w/o adhesive so they can easily come out to dry in the sun... if yours are in with snaps so much the better.
 
Well Asumhly was the car setting out in the rain,or did you just wash it or is the heater leaking??? Never glue the carpets in because leaks are likely to happen---Keoke
 
[ QUOTE ]
The standard trick is, in a darkened garage, remove interior rugs etc to bare metal, put a light under the hood & under the car sections & look carefully for any light showing through. Spray some water on the outside sections & look for water entry. If everything is done right there are no water leaks.

[/ QUOTE ]

On a saloon, this sounds sensible, but with a convertible, isn't it better to have some holes in the floor to let the rain escape that has fallen in when the roof is off ;-)
 
Hi John,
Drain holes in the floor work both ways. They will let a lot of splash into the car also. The "sponges" will hold water for a long time & it won't drain out anyway. As previously mentioned, the carpets & pads should be easily removable. Probably best to remove carpets & pads & thoroughly dry everything. No wonder so many OBC's have rusted out floors.
D
 
No John, it is not advisable to put holes in the floor to allow water to drain out,They can also let the dreaded tin worm in,{ROT} ---Keoke /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Riddle me this guys. I plan on installing Dynamat Extream, which has the foil on top. The foil I'm hoping will help with the heat issue. I'm also planning on using jute with a foil top.

So, with the Dynamat foil surface facing up, should the jutes foil be facing down or up? Do I glue the jute to the Dynamat? If so, I will not be able to remove the jute to dry.

What about the snaps? Screw into the dynamat to hold the jute, then more screw snaps to hold the rug? Is it really this complicated? Your thoughts guys. Roger
 
I would lay the jute loosely on the Dynamat, foil side up & carpet on top. Mount the snap to the floor on top of the Dynamat. Cut about one or two inch circles in the jute where the snaps are located. Mount the other part of the snap to the carpet. It is easy to engage the snaps through the holes in the jute.

Actually, the way I did it was to glue the foil side of the jute to the back of the carpet. Same cutouts for the snaps. Then jute & carpet remove as a unit.

If you get too much padding thickness, you may have to raise the seat runners to match.
D
 
Nah Roger, It isnt that complicated. Let the foil side of the jute face up also.Put one set of snaps in and shimm then up so they go through holes cut in the jute layer and interface with the matching part of the snap in the carpet. Snaps with long screws are generally available at marine stores.--FWIW---Keoke
 
Dave, Keoke, why have the jute foil faceing up also?

My transmittion tunnel has rug glued to it. If I have enough rug, I would like to clue some foil jute to it. Foil glued to carpet, or glued to tunnel? Roger
 
Roger,
The tunnel carpet is "supposed" to be snapped to the tunnel, same as the floor. Two snaps front lower, & two rear lower, I think. Glue the jute to the carpet foil side up. Removable for the same drying reasons & for access to the transmission filler/level checker.

Why foil facing up? Why not?
D
 
Interesting this Healey of mine. The more I take it apart, the more I find things were not done correctly. Thanks Dave for letting me know that the trans carpet is supposet to have snaps too.

Reason asking about foil up or face to face? Wondering if foil is face to face, would the foil then be thicker and more of a heat sheild. Or both faceing up, then a barrier between foil may help?

Example, the heat sheilds under the car. A spacer is used, instead of the sheild bolted directly to the floor.

Heck, this is all new to me. Thank goodness I have guys out here who have been around the block answering my questions. Roger
 
Regarding the exhaust system, there is air space between the shield & the car floor. The shield acts as a reflector, the air space acts as an insulator.

As far as the inside, the aluminum acts as a reflector while the rubber & fiber act as air space insulators. In theory, it might be slightly more effective to have the Dynamat metal side down, but this would be messy. I doubt if the metal on the jute in this sandwich arrangement, is really accomplishing much except to provide a good surface to glue to. It will provide "some" heat reflection with either side up.

The thickness of the aluminum is not a factor in it's reflecting capabilities. Very thin metalized Mylar reflects as well as thick metal.

One advantage of the Dynamat is that rolled down over clean metal, it will exclude all water contact with the underlying floor. Note in the pic attached, two layers of Dynamat are tightly rolled down to the clean floor & all is sealed with body color paint. The jute & carpet are loosely laid over this "new" inside floor & secured with snaps.
D
 

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Well Rog, Here is my opinion.I absolutely would not glue jute to anything in the car. Jute pads are very hard to dry and they maintain a musty smell for days. We have them in all the older Jag and Daimler saloons.In my Daimler oil was spilled on the carpet by the PO. Cleaning the Wilton Wool carpet was a snap. The jute pad had to be discarded and replaced with new. Fortunately, it was not glued to the carpet or I would have had to replace it too.---FWIW---Keoke
 
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/savewave.gif Rog, While I am thinking about it,make certain that the tunnel carpet has an access in it which will allow you to check the tranny oil or refil it when required without having to remove the carpet.A flap anchored with a snap or Velcro will do the job.----Keoke
 
[ QUOTE ]
Interesting this Healey of mine. The more I take it apart, the more I find things were not done correctly. Thanks Dave for letting me know that the trans carpet is supposet to have snaps too.

[/ QUOTE ]
Actually, if you were going for "concours correctness" the original sandwich of tar paper, jute, & carpet with snaps, would be the only thing acceptable. All of this added stuff would lose points for you.

Keoke,
In retrospect, I would leave the jute out entirely & just lay the carpet over the Dynamat. I may do this anyway. The jute is glued on with 3M spray trim adhesive & it seems to peel off rather easily. Not like the "yellow peril" windshield adhesive. Ha.

There is ready access to the transmission filler by undoing the front carpet snap & rolling the carpet back a bit. No need for a flap that I can see.
D
 
HI Dave, Concourse does not entail gluing the Jute to the carpet and you might loose a point.---Keoke /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Oh don't forget that these cars have the console and a special bracket that bolts through the tunnel carpet to studs embedded in the tunnel folding back is a bear.
 
Keoke and Dave are both right. I did exactly what Dave recommended above, and I used the snaps with longer screws like Keoke mentioned. The Dynamat, because of the foil and the tar like adhesive, help "water seal" the metal floor boards and trunk floor. Pulling up the carpet/jute and vacuuming or wiping up water is simple.
 
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