Drove my '66 for the first time in the pouring rain today, and noticed right away a BIG drip dripping from under the ashtray. It drips right down to where the floor pan is all rusty, and now I know why it's rusty!!

Background: I bought this truck as a "former California truck", from a guy "who is selling it for a friend". I'll never do that again. It IS rust-free in the places where non-California truck always rust, but the idiot PO had a "custom" interior installed sometime in the past (read my other posts regarding the hideous headliner) which included wall-to-wall carpeting, even over the gas tank. Well, upon ripping it out, I discovered that the carpet did what carpets do best, trap moisture. Right where the water from the ashtray leak would want to run out the door, the floor has rusted thru in a perforated pattern for almost the full length of the door sill. That ignored drip thru the years caused this.

But THAT'S why the passenger side is rusted, and the driver's is not! I stayed awake at night wondering this.

Anyway, where are the likely sources for these leaks? I can try to run the usual bead of silicone along the lower winshield edge, but are the windshield wipers a possible source?

Just looking underneath, I can't see any obvious sources.

Any ideas?

 

The cowl leaks, too. Pull out the heater assy. and reseal the seam up at the top of the firewall near the cowl. I wire wheeled the seam, wiped it down with laquer thinner and used Ultra Black silicone in the seam. This fixed my leak problem. I also cut out the rusted part of the floor and riveted in hardened stainless steel.

 

Awright! The cowl! I'll take the heater out and sort that problem (another post) while I'm at it.

I thought about using sheet-metal to repair the floor, but I'm no welder, and the holes are small and far enough apart that I think I'm going to strip the crud, Rust-Bullet the metal, and lay up a few layers of fiberglass. Then I'll lay down my new OEM replica rubber floor mat.

Thanks!

 

I just wanted to add that my heater core bolts leaked up under the dash and dripped down on the passenger side which caused my floor to rust through on that side only. I had that problem on my '70 and I'm noticing it again on my '69. (I know I'm in the wrong forum but I saw your post and thought I'd chime in.)