<VV> Re: I need LM body/floorboard repair answers

[Marc Sheridan]

Don't know about the "smeared on sealant" but the exit flap is an easy one. 
The entry point is the vent below the windshield. GM had a fancy name for 
it, which I don't remember, but the theroy is that the air coming from the 
cowl would flow through the rocker and exit out the flap, taking with it all 
the bad stuff. Unfortunately, there isn't enough air to flush out the leaves 
and other stuff that got in there and held the moisture next to the metal, 
but it was a great selling point and the cars weren't supposed to still be 
around 40 years later :o).

Marc Sheridan

>I am restoring/modifying a '69 500 Coupe and ran across some  "unknowns".
>
> (1)  the rocker areas have a rubber "exit" flap on the inside - just 
> forward
> of the rear wheel, but I see no entry point for water up front.  My
> passenger side seems sealed off at the inside rear of the front wheelwell 
> at the
> level of the rocker..  Good undercoating and no openings for water  entry. 
> The
> left (drivers) side is quite opposite.  It has gaps in the  lower 
> folded/lapped
> sheet metal at the bottom of the rear of the front wheelwell  and since 
> some
> rust repair has been done recently in that area, the undercoating  is 
> gone.
> Looks like water can easily run down through the rocker.   Did GM 
> completely
> seal off the rockers at the front and should I put it back  like that?
> Makes no sense to me that there is an apparent "exit" point at the rear of
> the rockers and no visible "entry" point - forward.
>
> (2)  about 2 or 3 inches to the left of the clutch pedal rubber  footpad 
> is
> an area of thick smeared-on sealant.  It's on the sloped  vertical part of 
> the
> floorpan.  There is an exact copy of it on the  passenger side also.  I 
> could
> see rust there so dug out some of the sealant  and found rust-though. 
> There
> seems to be 3 layers of lapped sheet metal  there...one being the front
> subframe member flange.  No rust anywhere else  in the vertically sloped 
> floorpan.
> Everything behind the gas tank  looks solid and clean.  I don't see any 
> water
> entry point so was wondering  where the water came from to cause this 
> "cancer"
> since I want to prevent  recurrence.
>
> Any wisdom greatly appreciated.
>
> Joe Dunlap
> Cen. Florida
> 2 Corvairs and a buncha other stuff