Rear cowl drain

[Bmarch]

Recently bought a 66 Q code care and saw the tail light relays were nice and corroded due to water from the rear cowl leaking on them for years. So I purchased the repros from Ebay for the drain tubes and thought I would just install them and continue diagnosing and repair of inop taillights.....not going to be so easy. The flange the tubes clamp to are rusted and disintegrated.....Has anyone else ran into this and what kind of repair options are there?

I did not see where this had been covered in the forum, nor do I see this panel being reproduced. This is just a driver quality car, not a full on restoration.

Thanks in advance for any info or leads.

[Alan H. Tast]

YIKES! I've never seen those being completely rotted out or gone. I suggest fabricating an oval sleeve out of sheet metal with a flange that can be set over the top of the package tray (this means removing the flow-through ventilation assembly and the package tray/rear seat assemblies. The flange would need to be set in a bed of sealant and the sleeve could be attached with pop rivets or sheet metal screws. While it may be temping to do this all from the underside, remember where the water is coming from and that you'd still need to seal whatever is on the plenum (top) side. A shortcut taken here will come back to haunt you or a future owner - please do the job right the FIRST time.

[Bmarch]

Yeah I was very shocked when I saw the condition. The car has what I would consider minimal rust, so I was very surprised to find the drains like this. I am thinking about maybe trying to have something 3D printed for this or like suggested fabricating it.....I will see what I can come up with unless someone has anything laying around or knows where I can get them.

The flow through vents, is it just the nuts under the package tray that hold the vent down? They have butyl around them to seal as well. The package tray must be removed also?

On a side note, the drivers door was replaced on this car at some point. Can you get reproduction data plates?

Any good web documents with wiring diagrams?

Thanks again for any and all help.

[Rt.146]

I had the same problem on the left side of my 66, the right side was still good.

[stubbie]

Those vents need cleaning out from time to time. Mine were rotted and leaking so I went to clean them out and this is what I found.

[JamesR]

Sorry about your rusted out interior vent drain system. The vent was a cool feature back in the day, but it's led to leakage and (as a result) corrosion problems on some cars that have been exposed to the elements. On my '65, broken rubber tubes led to water seeping into the rear of the interior, and ultimately creating rust through issues on the most rearward 12 inches or so of my inner rockers, both sides.

Because the kind of severe rust you've experienced in the metal drain wells/receptacles of your car isn't that common (even with cars that have had vent leakage issues) I'd guess that most 4th gen T-Bird part cars still have those panels/sections in good condition. You might be able to get a salvage yard to cut out the sections you need, and you could weld them in or even use 3M body panel adhesive. I know Pat Wilson's has some parts cars. They're who I would call if I needed such a part.

[Bmarch]

Thanks JamesR, yeah I was a little bummed about it. I am not familiar with Pat Wilson, is that a user here on the forum or a company? Where are they based out of?

My other thought is possibly getting something 3D printed for this. I am not too familiar though on design and execution of this but I work with a lot of people that are. So that is a possibility.

My biggest concern is I don't want to repair the relay and tail light issues until this is repaired, for obvious reasons...So for now the car is parked in the barn until I can get a plan together for it.

[Alan H. Tast]

I can't understand why you're hung up on 3D printing for this. The original was nothing more than a sheet metal tube that was flattened out into an oval shape with one end formed/bent over for a flange. Fabrication of this out of sheet metal should be a simple matter in the hands of a decent sheet metal worker.

[Bmarch]

Alan, that may be true a simple task in capable hands. I am not so gifted at fabrication, more mechanical. I am just saying that is a option I have if not able to come up with anything else. Is it not oval and funnel shaped? This seemed like a complex fabrication to me if so. If it is just an oval with straight walls then yes I would agree, likely more simple to fabricate it.

Mainly made the post to see if anyone had seen this before and what they did or used to repair.

Thanks for any and all help!

[cacockrum]

You might try CTC Auto Ranch in Denton, TX. They have a large inventory of series 4 Birds including '66s, and may be willng to cut out the portion of the package tray you need.

[Rt.146]

If you can find or fabricate a piece to weld at that spot, that would be the way to go then treat the area with a product like POR15, not being so skilled with welding even though there is a welding shop near me, that could do the work required, the method I used after trying to fabricate something for the hole, I used the insert that comes with the new tube, I put that in the hole the edges of which overlap the hole and sealed it up, in the trunk I placed the insert into the tube, it works, no leaks after the car was in the rain and also washed.