350
RV8
driver's footwell water leak
Dominic Scott, an RV8 enthusiast in
New Zealand, highlights how he solved a water leak around the pedals. (Jul
11)
Having
recently imported an RV8 from Japan, an extremely tidy and low km example, one
problem I noticed early on was a fairly serious amount of water would leak into
the driver's footwell when the car was washed or left in heavy rain. The water
dripped around the pedals and other areas of the lower dash area.
Early
investigations with a water test indicated it was likely to be a leak from the
windscreen area, with water getting in under the screen frame lower rubber and
entering the car along the joint on the front righthand wing. This area was masked
off and temporarily sealed and the water test done again with the same result
of water dripping into the car.
Attention
now turned to the area at the back of the bonnet and along where the front righthand
wing bolts to the car. With water running along these areas I suddenly noticed
that the cavity behind the | pedal
box was rapidly filling with water and dripping into the car around the pedal
box itself. The culprit was a pin hole in a swirl of body seam sealer on the very
back bolt of the front righthand wing. Water was being drawn into this hole that
led to a cavity under the reinforcing plate on the wing bolt and then running
down the side of the bolt and into the pedal box area. Bolt out, clean up, reseal
and problem fixed.
There was no indication that this area had been tampered
with since the car was built. Judging by the surface corrosion on the lower parts
of the pedal box and how degraded the gasket under the pedal box had become, I
would think this problem had been with the car from new. Interestingly the carpets
are like new, so I suspect the Japanese owner was aware of the problem and took
appropriate measures when the car was washed etc to protect this area.
Probably a rare problem
to see on an RV8 but it did take some spotting but I hope the note may be useful
if you have water leaks that appear to come from the windscreen area. I was amazed
at how much water could go through such a small hole!
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