Longitudinal Rust - Water Egress Options

[RTz]

Good morning gentleman, first time poster from the wet state of Oregon. I picked up a nice '72 from Mikey914 a couple months ago. I've found virtually no rust so far and obviously I'd like to keep it that way.

My question, regarding the long's, is where are the places water can/does get into them? I get the hell hole opens up the top and water has a direct path, but without the hell hole, what other ways does water make its way in?

Thank you,
Ron

[brant]

The rear tires pack mud, water, debris
Rockers should be removed and cleaned out as maintenance…. Annually or so

[930cabman]

The rear tires pack mud, water, debris
Rockers should be removed and cleaned out as maintenance…. Annually or so

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Great looking example, keeping her indoors also helps very much

[SirAndy]

The rear window tends to leak and water will puddle on the floor behind the seats and when the pan starts rusting around the perimeter it will allow water to get into the longs that way.

Remove the seats, remove the carpet on the floors, do the "crunch" test on the tar.
If you see any rust around the edges, dig deeper.
Reseal the rear window.

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PS: (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welcome.png)

[RTz]

Great, thank you gents for the tips and welcoming.

[Montreal914]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/welcome.png) Best place to find all you need to know about our little cars/addiction (IMG:style_emoticons/default/assimilate.gif)


Beautiful car! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smilie_pokal.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)


There is a ~1/2" hole on the top side in the rear upper part of the long where it ends against the forward side of the rear trunk front wall. You can use a cheap endoscope on your phone and snake it in to see how things look inside. You can also use it to spray some wax or chassis protective coating with a catheter nozzle rattle can thing.

Then, along the bottom seam weld of the long there are elongated drain holes about 1" x 3/16". They are created by protrusions punched in what is called the inner rocker. You can see them in the picture below of an inner rocker repair panel.



BTW, these lower long drains are accessible without the removal of the rocker panels. You can use a hook pick or small screw driver to make sure they are clear. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)