Draining Water Using Funnel Shaped Drain Tubes...

[newman27]

As I was looking at the latest project post on my car (Headlight Buckets) an idea came to mind that I couldn't find mentioned in another thread so I thought I would float the idea here.

If you look at the picture of the headlight bucket, there is a hole in the bottom that I assume drains water from the bucket into the belly pan where it presumably finds another hole and drains onto the ground. My car had terrible rust in the headlight buckets and some in the belly pan. I know these must be trouble areas. So, the idea that came to mind was affixing a rubber drain tube to the underside of the hole in the headlight bucket and then running the drain tube into the belly pan and out the drain hole there where water would drain onto the ground. The benefit (I think) would be to bypass the belly pan thereby reducing the amount of water that sloshes around in the belly pan before finding its way out the belly pan drain hole. Has anyone thought about doing this? Would there really be much of a benefit?

Another area where I think a similar technique could be used would be the drain holes at the bottom of the wiper wells below the windshield wipers. Aren't there simply holes at the bottom of these that drain water directly into the engine compartment? I don't have a firm grasp of the arrangement here so I may be off in how they are set up.

Anyway, the short of it would be to use a funnel like rubber tube that starts out the same diameter as the drain hole, narrows to a smaller tube at the end, and runs water directly from the collection area onto the ground avoiding any other body panels.

Matt

[namba209]

Matt, that's a good idea, at least for the headlight bucket drains. The wiper well drains are about an inch in diameter, and I'm going to suggest that the engine heat will evaporate any water darining into the engine compartment fairly quickly. It's almost a straight shot from the drains to the ground, except for the driver's side, it drains on the shelf below the wiper well, then to the ground. If I could make a suggestion, cut the end of the drain hoses at a 45 degree angle, with the long part of the cut forward, that makes it a siphon tube, and the air flowing past it will help suck out the water in the tube/hose. I used that system in my model racing boats to remove collected water in the boats during the races. HTH.

[baronbors]

That sounds like a workable plan except on my GT, I accumulate a lot of debis in the bottom of the light pan. If it plugs up the hole you are in trouble. Maybe a small metal or plastic screen to cover the hole?????

[opelspyder]

Matt,
The reason most of the headlight buckets and belly pans rust out isn't really due to water drainage, but to like the above post mentions, debris. What happens is leaves and pine needles and such clog or get trapped behind the mechanisms, or drains. Then this moist debris sits in one place causing the rust. If you will properly clean out the headlight buckets and belly pan during a wash, and be sure to heavily rinse those areas, the problem is less likely to form. Also most beely pans were destroyed from batteries, then debris makes it worse. What happened to yours is there was trash that got stuck behind the mechanisms, and then a repaint just covered it up. Then over time it ate away internally and caused what you see now
Keith

[newman27]

Originally Posted by opelspyder ...What happened to yours is there was trash that got stuck behind the mechanisms, and then a repaint just covered it up. Then over time it ate away internally and caused what you see now.

Thanks Keith - good to know. The idea above just came to me and I thought I would throw it out there for some discussion. I guess eight to nine years of sitting on the side of my house collecting Georgia pine needles was a bad thing! . Rest assured, when this car is done, it will be garaged every night for the rest of its life (I even have covered parking at work so it won't be baking in the sun anymore either ). It's also going to get frequent baths and detailing. However, unlike the Ferrari in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", I won't just be rubbing it with a diaper ... it will be driven!

Matt