As Tanner will be quick to tell you there are "x" amount of inches of
weatherstrip at each door and yada yada. The B doors leak, period, and
people have done everything including siliconing the entire door shut
(pass). The earlier models were even worse because of the stamping of the
cage was primitive and there is a washout (no pun intended) at the leading
corner which can leave gapping spaces. The hinge areas are problematic and
Tanner's solutions includes placing small rubber "kickout strips" the
length across the hinge, the strip of rubber about 3/4" wide and about 1/8"
thick, glued behind the weatherstrip. The other part of his solution is to
replace the OEM hinge bolts with ss low profile panheads thereby lessening
the deformity of the door seal when closed. These leaks sometime travel
down the A pillar instead of entering the passenger compartment resulting in
the rust out of this area and beneath (the the fuse box), or travel back and
into the hatch area, so don't be fooled by a dry lap. New door and cage
seals help, and for 74s and early 75s, adding a small pc of weatherstipping
at the leading corners helps. Door alignment is critical. Tanner would
instruct that the doors be installed first and the body lined up with them,
but as usual, according to Tanner, no one at the factory listened.
The next problem area of seepage is the door itself due to very poor
window/door design. The rain simply travels down the window, thru the door,
and into your car. There are drain holes, often plugged, at the very bottom
of the door, but water often finds another way out long before it reaches
these. The solution here is to remove the interior door panel and line the
door with a sheet of plastic by attaching it with a butyl rubber strip
available from NAPA. After trimming the plastic, re-install the panel. This
step cuts down on water into the cabin AND drafts substantially and is used
by many other car manufacturers.
Oh, another water entry is through the airbox when rain enters the
fresh air vents. There are 3 drain holes, one at each end of the plenum,
and one in the center, all located in the engine compartment, that need to
be kept cleared. Just look for some black drain hoses if you're still lucky
enough to have them. Do not block these air vents since besides fresh air
deprivation (if you have not removed the hood seal back there), water gets
in this area via other openings in the plenum. All of these solutions
reduce, but do not eliminate seepage entirely. The only way to accomplish
this to date seems to be keeping your B out of the rain. Using marine grade
products help the B's resilency. Also, treating the weatherstrpping
periodically with a product by BMW called Gummi-Phlege does help. I've
used other numerous products of this type and this stuff really works while
some other treatments actually breakdown the rubber overtime. BMW uses it
for their convertibles.
stephan #2821
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