Sealing foot boxes watertight

[Nelson jr]

Hi guys I am assembling the foot boxes and I see there are gaps along the lower sections of the panels as they go around the frame. How will this be sealed so water doesn't get thru. Not sure if I am getting ahead of my self but I can't see how this will be sealed any suggestions out there ?

[jlfernan]

You don't want them completely watertight. In the event you get caught in a heavy rain you want a way for the water to drain out.


http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/9124/jorge.jpg (http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/private.php?do=newpm&u=111)

[frankeeski]

While I agree with Jorge on enabling water to get out, here in the golden state it don't rain much. My main concern was hot air from the engine bay. What I did was to make filler panels for the large gaps and foil tape in the small ones. I then used "duct seal" on all of those joints. Fat Mat on top of that and then the carpet. I may be sorry if I ever get caught in a downpour but I don't see that happening here.

[emac]

I thought about drilling a couple of holes and putting in rubber plugs that I could remove in case of a flood. Never did it....just thought about it!

[RMB]

Trust me, you want holes in your foot boxes. In 2008 I was driving back to Houston from Austin for the Texas Cobra Club Meet. I drove in a complete down pour for over an hour, and had between 2-3 inches of water sloshing around on the floor. The first thing I id when I got home was drill holes in the floor.

Rob

[GWL]

I remember my Triumph TR-4A and later TR-250 had solid rubber grommets in the floors. Although, I accidentally left the cars out in the rain once or twice I never had to pull the drain plugs. Most of the time, I used a top or tonneau cover to keep the rain out.

I drove MG's and Triumphs from the '60's through to the '80's. I just don't understand anyone out there not owning a top to put up when it rains. My roadster is going to be an everyday driver, so my perspective is a little different.

Just in case, I'm planning to drill a hole and add one of those grommets to each footbox. Look up Moss Motors for the grommets.

George

[Crawleyscobra]

Any gap more that about 1/8" I made filler plates, for the smaller gaps I use black RTV, covered by aluminum tape, covered by black duct tape. As for drains I put two plugs in each footbox.

[Gumball]

I've been using a combination of "filler plates" or "flashing" made out of thin (.025) aluminum and 3M Strip Caulk. Here's a shot of the front of the passenger footbox and the plate I made to cover the spot where the chassis tube exits the front of the footbox. That cover was placed on top of a generous bead of Strip Caulk, then riveted into place. You can see that it's only slit on one side, making is a clean installation when viewed through the hood opening.

http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab15/CCRsAC/img_4146.jpg

This shot shows how I sealed the large gap along the bottom of the inside panel on the driver's side footbox, also using flashing and Strip Caulk. This one also gave that panel quite a bit more rigidity.

http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab15/CCRsAC/img_4142.jpg