SeattlePorsche

Hello. Well as you might guess, I live in Seattle. Lately my 81SC has been my daily driver. Last night it was dumping rain and the car was in the driveway, plus I was driving it in the rain on the highway last night. This morning there was a little bit of water on the floor pan on the driver's side, and some new moisture in the glovebox. I don't know if this is a common problem.

I inspected the front seals on the exterior, and the black gasket under the driver's side rear view mirror is very torn, and the driver's side upper corner of the windshield rubber seal doesn't cover the paint like it should. It sort of falls into the corner. The whole bottom of the rubber seal looks a little crusty, but not too bad. There is what looks like a small rust bubble under the paint near the lower driver's side of the seal. I am thinking it might be time for one of Wayne's 101 projects and replace the seal, but I think you need to remove the dash, etc. Yikes.

What to you all think? Thank you in advance.

Miguel

you should address the problem asap. change those rubbers. Most worrisome is the moisture in the glovebox, imho.

Miguel

theiceman

James

I think you need to remove the windshield to remove the dash ,not necesarilly remove the dash to remoe the windshield but zi am not sure. Maybe you do given you have to pull that chord to reseat the widshield. I think this would be a fairly big project for over a winter .. oh yah right no winter.. Once you do have it out though you will discover you need more rust repair as it will be creeping under the paint "looking for oxygen" I also have a spot where the rubber dips into the body cavity and doesn't lie over the paint.. I thought of putting some silicon under neat . letting it harden then put the seal bak , but i never drive in the rain so is largely cosmetic. .

Goos luck

SeattlePorsche

Roger that. Thanks for the advice gentlemen. It rained again last night. No new moisture in the glovebox. Still a little wet on the floorpan, driver's side. Ice, your advice is correct; I don't need to remove the dash to do the windshield.

I gotta rub out the hood of my jeep today (bird poop stains) and get it out of the garage. And there my little red SC will stay until I get the windshield out and resealed. Might have to bite the bullet and go to a body shop if I find a lot of rust. Hope not. I read Wayne's procedure last night and it looks very do-able. Since this might be a rust issue, all the other projects have a lower priority to me now.

Thanks again!

theiceman

I agree James a body shop may be in order for some prep and paint. Make sure you have a friend help you with the windsheild ., I hear they are heavier than they look.

stay in touch

ice

codyfr

Oh man, did it rain yesterday. I felt like I was driving on a river.

SeattlePorsche

Yeah, I drove two nights ago and was doing 85 on 405S and hydroplaned half a lane to the right, so I slowed to 55. Fortunately I wasn't on a curve, so it slid straight right.

Ice, yes I will have two friends come over when it is time for the removal. My rear deck is out right now, so I might do the rear glass too, because the lower lip is very crusty.

Edgy01

I'm sorry to say but that is not an acceptable situation. In fact, you are soon going to face a real mess. You need to get that vehicle protected soon, and you need to pull the windshield out (go ahead, sacrifice the rubber) and see what damage you already have in the windshield channel. DO NOT PUT THIS OFF, as it will only cost you more in the long run. Unfortunately, even with galzanized sheetmetal, a Porsche will rust over time, particularly if you live in the wetlands and we all know what Washington State is. What's happening is the rubber seal is effectively letting the water sit in the channel and it is slowly eating away at the metal. Be prepared to do some repairwork--and that definitely includes paint.

Dan

r911

good advice - this is a good time to replace the dash if it needs that.

maybe painful but that's what you have to do.

SeattlePorsche

Painful? Nah, I consider this a slow restoration project. Since I got the car in running condition, I just put things on hold so I could have fun with the car this summer.

Randy, the dash is actually in perfect condition. The 2 PO's must have garaged this all the time.

Front seal comes off today.

r911

I'll be glad to store the dash for you (on my car) while the restoration proceeds...

SeattlePorsche

No rust, thank god, at least nothing major. I was expecting to see rust eating out the entire rim. Once the windshield was out I inspected the metal rim all around. It's the rim that you pull the rubber gasket over when installing. There was no major rust. There was some pooled moisture in each of the lower corners. My car was in a wreck in 1989 and I think the car was repainted in this area. I am not sure if this is how the water got in, but I was not impressed with the seal. I don't think any adhesive was used except on the lower passenger side corner (maybe this is why the passenger's side was dry).

I can see red paint all around the perimeter. In the lower drivers side corner, on the outside of the rim, there is a small hole drilled into the metal. I am not sure why it is there. I don't know if it came from the factory like this but it seems to serve no purpose. It is covered by the rubber. But the bubble in the paint I saw before I took out the window comes from this hole somehow. I can only guess that there is a tract of rust from the hole that goes under the paint and into the bubble. On the inner side of the rim, in the corners, there is some rust. But it doesn't look like rust from the rim. It looks like something was smeared into the corner because it is several mm thick. It is right where the corner of the dash comes close to the glass. The rim is very solid in this area.

I took pictures in case anyone is interested. Although it was intimidating and scary, it was really quite easy to do and I did it all including the glass removal without a friend coming over to help. Here is what I did, in brief. I pried up the trim at the upper center and then used my fingers to carefully lift the trim out. It didn't bend, so I should be able to put it back in later. (2 photos) Then I cut into the gasket perpendicular to the edge of the window, lifted it up until I could grab it, and peeled it easily off the window all the way around. (photo) The glass stayed put, but then I reached in through the door and pushed it forward until it was loose all the way around. Then I put a blanket and a rubber mat on the hood and just carefully pushed it forward from the top and let it flip onto the mat (very carefully). So the inside of the glass was pointing up now. (photo) You can see the inside of the winshield rim in the last 3 photos.

Well how would you all suggest I proceed? I could just clean up the rim, paint it with por-15 and then reinstall the glass. But I have been bothered by flaking clearcoat in the roof dripguard gutters as well as paint damage on the dripguards probably from a roofrack. I wanted to get both dripguards and gutters sanded and repainted at some point, hopefully without having to do the entire roof. Then there is that rust bubble near that drilled hole at the lower driver's corner. (Help me I am sliding down the slippery slope...)

r911

slide now - they can mask at the cowl edge

theiceman

James looks like you did the right thing and headed offa problem that would have been far more serious in just another year. I think it is a simple fix for a body shop.

Miguel

Jesus, the things you guys do to your cars, with your cars!!? Don't they say " don't try this at home"?

Don't you guys have mechanics stateside, canadaside? Don't you feel as you should give work to those guys?