Can you make a Charger (or muscle car) "water-friendly"?

[Supercharged Riot]

As the title says it. I see a lot of Muscle car owners freak out when it rains becuause vehicle design didnt block out water too well.  But given that we live in a society that has better products to protect our cars, have any of your fixed up your Charger (or muscle car) to an extent where you dont mind leaving it out in the rainy (snowy) weather?

[Drache]

I think it also has to do that they dont want rain spots on the car... wimps.... 

[pettybird]

i gave up and added goldfish.



secret #1:  do the best you can to seal it up, and accept that rain happens, especially on long trips.

secret #2:  don't make the car too nice   worst part about rain to me (other than smelly carpet--i have a wiper pivot kit to install) is the armor all from the top gets all over the paint, and i have to break down and wash it.  a pile of us got rained on for four days at the DSAC meet in milwaukee this past weekend.  wing cars dry out as fast as slant six darts--just drive 'em.

[JMF]

When these cars were new did they leak then? Someone told me that they leaked water in the trunk from new? So was this accepted back in the day or did people complain to the dealerships?

[Mike DC]

   
I don't know if it was really "accepted" that they leaked when they were new, but it often happened.  The vinyl top trim holes were known to do it, for example.  The body tolerances were generally bad enough to allow leaks in a half-dozen different places.  The trunk seals leaked a lot.  The water that gets down through the weatherseals at the windows/cabin doesn't drain out very well.

Half the rust problems came from the fact that the primer/paint in that era was nothing compared to modern stuff.  None of the 1960s coatings were very good, but Mopar's coatings were probably the worst of the big three.  I've heard that many of the factory "Plum Crazy" purple paintjobs were fading & chalking up after barely 2-3 years in the really sunny desert states.

 

[BrianShaughnessy]

I think it also has to do that they dont want rain spots on the car... wimps.... 

Let us know when you actually pay for a paint job...   sometimes it's different if you actually have skin in the game.   

My car gets wet occassionally but I'm not gonna let it sit outside.    I can empathize with some people freaking out more than others.   

I had to take my car through a touchless automatic wash earlier this year for the first time and no - my car is not watertight         

[Khyron]

I just tore my car apart.

painted it

replaced seals

and she leaks... ohh well  But I don't worry if it rains. I just get it home as quick as I can.

[70charger_boy]

The trunk on my  75 trans am leaks like crazy.  It caused some rust and bubbling on the drivers rear quarter. No matter how many times I change the weatherstripping or add extra beads of silicone it leaks.  Oh well, I don't care. 

Oh BTW I also get water in the carb from that stupid fake shaker on the hood, too.  damn you pontiac!!!

[JMF]

Ok if you live in the desert I guess but I live in England where it rains constantly

[Back N Black]

I'm doing a complete nut and bolt restoration on my 69 and when its done I'm going to drive the snot out of her! I'm building it to drive and don't care if it gets rained on.

[JMF]

Definitely the best way, i'm too much of a worrier anyway to have some kind of concourse trailer queen

[Brock Samson]

  driven hard, put away wet. 

[Mike DC]

 
I think this whole thing is a long-overdue topic of discussion.


On 2nd-gen Chargers, I know the rear window is a huge part of the problem. 
The rainwater puddling in the corners of the recessed rear window will run down past the vinyl top trim & the quarter panel seam, along the trunk-hole side channel weatherstripping, and finally out over the taillight panel.  It's no big surprise that water usually gets into the trunk during some part of that journey.   


I've thought for a long time that the lower corners of the rear window need some type of drain holes/tubes/channels.  But the problem is that any kind of draining method tends to get clogged up with debris & dirt pretty quickly.  And once that happens, the draining methods are usually a source of problems just as large as the ones we're trying to prevent.

 

[CB]

the only fun thing 'bout rain is you can slide around the corner more often.   
Other then that it sux.
I can tell, rust ate both my lower 1/4s and parts of the trunk/frame. Now its ROCK solid 

[Old Moparz]

I think this whole thing is a long-overdue topic of discussion.


On 2nd-gen Chargers, I know the rear window is a huge part of the problem. 
The rainwater puddling in the corners of the recessed rear window will run down past the vinyl top trim & the quarter panel seam, along the trunk-hole side channel weatherstripping, and finally out over the taillight panel.  It's no big surprise that water usually gets into the trunk during some part of that journey.   


I've thought for a long time that the lower corners of the rear window need some type of drain holes/tubes/channels.  But the problem is that any kind of draining method tends to get clogged up with debris & dirt pretty quickly.  And once that happens, the draining methods are usually a source of problems just as large as the ones we're trying to prevent.

 

This is true. I've had several convertibles, still have two, & they have a drain channel at the base of the convertible top. This is on the underside of the filler panel between the deck lid & the roof. It's nothing more than the equivalent of a rain gutter on your house, & just like your house gutter, it needs to be kept clean. You wouldn't believe the amount of dirt, leaves, & other small sludge that builds up in a short time. One car that I had, looked as though the previous owners NEVER cleaned it. It had a few rust holes in it leaving the water to drain into the trunk floor. The dirt gets wet & never gets a chance to dry out.

I'd bet that the sunroof cars had similar issues with the tubes filling up with dirt. The best thing to do is just keep the dirt, which in turn holds water like a sponge, out of the car's drains. If you can keep it indoors that will help quite a bit, but if you can't & must leave it outside, then stay on top of it & make sure you clean it good. The wiper pivots, like pettybird mentioned, are one of the biggest sources to the water problem at the front. Many people, including myself, had thought a leaky windshield was where the water entered & sealed it. It was actually the wiper pivots, so the water still came in & soaked the carpet.

[Supercharged Riot]

I guess the ultimate answer is "no" then?

I just wann give hope to all people who cant fina a place to safely store a Charger & not worry about water killing the most prized posession (CHARGER)

[Brock Samson]

 my channels in the dutchman seem pretty good after several years cause after my repaint before the trim was on, i dripped alot of candlewax in the gutters.

  i haven't done this to either car yet, but it occurs to me that buying two trunk weather strips and having one in the truck channel as is normally the case, and another cemented to the trunk might be a way to go...  what you guys think?.

[Ghoste]

Might make the trunk damned hard to close?

[Mike DC]

   
I dunno.  Maybe doubled seals, maybe one stock seal and then something else rubber on the underside of the lid, maybe something else.
Any way you stack it the trunk seal is definitely a problem though.

--------------------------------------------------------

On modern cars, they often have much more of a "channel" at the top & side areas around the trunk seals.  When I saw one on a Toyota, I thought it was a funny way to build the area until I realized what it was for.  That seems to be how they're directing water down off the rear window/roof and out to the ground.

It's a more genuinely recessed area than you see on an old musclecar in that area.  The water runs down the rear window/roof, lands in the channels, and runs down the channels along either side of the trunk seal.  So the water can run out the taillight panel/rearend area without passing over a lot of seams & holes in the panels first.  Just a smooth painted metal "gutter" the whole way, and only a couple of seams.

 

[Corellian Corvette]

I think the car can be made to not leak, but you have to take the time and it's probably too hard to do once the car is assembled.

Living in Seattle, getting my Cars "watertight" is very important.

There is nothing inherent about the designs that would cause them to leak. There is enough adjustment to get these things to seal up just fine. But tolerances, cars getting hit, variances in repro parts, etc where people just assume they will seal-up.

I think the problem comes if you don't "water test" while assembling. Again, that's a big deal for me. I hose down, pour water, pressure wash, etc. almost every part of the car looking for leaks. It's time consuming, but you can catch everything and make it leak free well before you get the car on the road. Getting doors, windows, trunks, etc. can easily be done.

[Mike DC]

 
I think it would be do-able to seal a car. As long as they didn't train-wreck the panel alignment job TOO BADLY during the restoration, it's proabably just a matter of spending the time & effort to trail-and-error your way through all the leaks.  Definitely a pain the butt, but probably not out of the question. 

There's a lot more leeway in everything when you're willing to turn to non-factory weatherstrippings & sealing methods. 

Beyond that, I suppose you could even do some sheetmetal work as a "nuclear option."  You could get out the welder (or panel-boding adhesives) and stack an extra layer of sheetmetal onto a stubborn low spot in the jambs if you had to.  You'd be getting into filling & repainting territory by then, but it beats potentially letting the car rust & always being worried about it.

 
 

[MichaelRW]

The trunk on my  75 trans am leaks like crazy.  It caused some rust and bubbling on the drivers rear quarter. No matter how many times I change the weatherstripping or add extra beads of silicone it leaks.  Oh well, I don't care. 

Oh BTW I also get water in the carb from that stupid fake shaker on the hood, too.  damn you pontiac!!!

I used to own a '75 Trans Am that I bought new. FWIW, the trunk did not leak and the shaker hood did not leak. I even removed the black metal insert at the rear of the scoop and mounted a small knob so I could run the scoop as a real one or re-inserted it if it rained. That 4 barrel was quite loud when you put your foot in it and it was the federal mandates at the time that limited how much noise a new car could make.

[Brock Samson]

When i park my car in the driveway, nose in, it's at as double angle down and to the pass side so the water really pools in the dutchman area, that's the reason for all the wax in that lower rear window corners which seems to be workin' pretty good, there's no rust there since '89 and that's a long time... water still finds it's way in the trunk, so i usually allways keep her in the garage, and never drive in the rain.
  The Road Runner has the same trunk sealing problems, water allways ends up in there... so i keep some absorbant paper towels just under the trunk mat and pay particular attention to keeping the trunk clean and dry,.. the faux hood scoop indents collect a lot of water too... they will drain from the '69s indents cause the signal lens were cracked & broken by vandels and i haven't yet installed my new set but the R. runners indents collect an amazing amount of water but thankfully  no rust there either and that's original paint,.. best thing is to keep the car really well waxed and the channels clean so mud doesn't just sit in there. and i wax the channels and in the door trunk and hood jambs really well too, that takes allot longer then the whole rest of the car cause it's kinda grainy in there, texture wise, and the wax shows up, lots'a elbow grease (which is water resistant  ) and is pretty tedious, but necessary to do a "GOOD JOB".
Car covers, if not a garage, are a must,... and should the car get caught out, even in a morning dew or fog, an "absorber" is worth it's weight in gold,..

BTW" any one using the clay bars?.. I've bought two and DAMN, They work great! 

[Dennis]

Did leak, does leak, always will leak.  Position a towel for the popular spots and live with it.