Soft top drainage (again)

[mnahon]

I wasn't able to reply to some relevant older posts on this topic, so I'm starting a new (old) topic about soft top drainage.

Following PUB, where I was victim of 'water ingress' after we drove through many monsoons, I tore out a lot of my interior to find the source. Of course, it was a complicated story---I had water coming in from the front and the rear. I've since scoured the forum for relevant posts and found a lot of useful info, but not everything I need.

For now, I just want to ask about how water makes its way from the soft top box back to the outside world, rather than ending up in places it doesn't belong.

I understand clearly the drain holes at the front of the soft top box, and the rubber tubes that dump the water into the cavity behind the door/ahead of the wheelwell. The picture below, borrowed from a previous thread, shows a nice 'cutaway' of that area, with the tube.

What I'm not clear on is the path of the water from there and to the outside, partly because my car has had work done there and I think they closed up the exit paths. Looking from the inside access (after removing the vertical trim), I can see a groove where the water would likely end up. I've put a green arrow on the picture below. In my car, that groove seems essentially closed. I'm guessing it's supposed to lead somewhere.

A previous poster (signalred280sl) said in an earlier thread: "Any water collected in the soft top storage area is , I guess, supposed to find its way to these holes, then free fall down each side and behind the [rocker] panels and out little rectangular openings at the bottom of the [rocker] panels. If you look at the bottom edge of the [rocker] panel where it overlaps the floor sheet metal you will see these little drainage openings about 1/8 inch by 1/2 inch long."

So apparently, the water should eventually exit from the drain holes in the rocker panel covers. I know where those are. So, my burning question: how does the water get from the groove in the cavity to the area between the rocker panel and the rocker panel covers, so that it can then exit the drain holes?

Thanks,

Meyer

[450sl]

Hi Meyer,  the water runs through a rubberhose downwards into the panel  and then exits through a small hole in the bottom of the panel.
this hole is located near the spot where you place your carjack. 

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Two years ago when I returned from Wiliamsburg VA. I too experianced some water leaks with my soft top. I since decided to keep my hardtop in situ I find the car looks like a true Pagoda with the hardtop in place. No more worries, water leaks or storage issues

[mnahon]

Hi 450sl (M),

For further clarification: the hole you mention in the panel should be where exactly? Below is a picture of the outside of my car in that region. The green arrow is at the level of the bottom of the inside panel. It's pointing to the front corner of that inside panel. Is that where you figure the hole should be? Once it comes out there, it would make its exit either around the jacking point (red arrow) or out the drain hole in the rocker panel cover (yellow arrow).

I think if this is the case, I plan to remove my rocker panel covers and ensure there is a hole in that location, allowing water to go from the inside panel to the outside through this path.

Rolf-Dieter,

I agree with you that the hardtop gives the car its nicest look. And I agree it would probably solve this leakage problem. But I'm also a big fan of top-down driving, so I really want to fix this issue with proper drainage. I'm also fixing issues with drainage at the front of the car which wouldn't be resolved by the hardtop.

Meyer

[Benz Dr.]

If you go to the top picture where your red arrow is showing you will also see an L shaped bracket a couple of inches above it. This bracket diverts water that comes from the soft top seal. If you look closely at your soft top seal seal, you will see that it has a channel in it that ends with a small hole in the rubber at either end of the seal. Below that hole in the seal is a small hole in the groove that holds the soft top seal.
 
Any water that collects in the seal will drain through the hole in the seal and through the hole in the groove. This water will hit the bracket that's welded to the top of the wheel house and drain out the same way it does for anything draining out of the tubes. If any of the holes are plugged in the seal or they don't line up properly with the holes in the groove, you can get a lot of water in your car.

[114015]

So apparently, the water should eventually exit from the drain holes in the rocker panel covers. I know where those are. So, my burning question: how does the water get from the groove in the cavity to the area between the rocker panel and the rocker panel covers, so that it can then exit the drain holes?

A picture (often) tells you more than a thousand words....

Not my car, downloaded somewhere from the net.

Achim
(rustbucket collector)

[mnahon]

Hi Dan,

I went and compared your description to my car, and now I have more to worry about-- the seal drainage will need attention.

Achim,

Those are great pictures; thanks a lot. I can use them to compare to what I find when I take the rocker covers off (which I won't do for a while because of having to work on another car).

I took one of the pictures and annotated it to see whether I understand the purpose of all these holes; see below. Here's my take:

1: seems to be the holes for holding the lower chrome trim on. Not clear why they're so large
2: this must be the one I was looking for: the exit from the inside cavity so the water gets out to between the rocker and rocker cover
3: these 3 small holes are for the screws holding on the rocker cover
4: why would they have a hole here? it can't be a drain hole since it's too high up on the rocker. It would let water INTO the rocker box, which seems not a good idea (and in fact, is one of my other problems)
5: no sight of this thing on my car

Any comments, especially on 2 and 4 would be much appreciated.

Meyer

[stickandrudderman]

Achim, you didn't find those pictures "somewhere on the net". They are my pictures and you found them right here on this site.

[mnahon]

Hi stick,

I found the link with the full set of pictures. Thanks a lot for making those available, I can see how they could be useful to a lot of people.

Today, while cleaning out the passenger side cavity at the back, I found the hole that matches #2 in the picture above, so that solves my mystery of how the water should make its way out. I definitely don't have that hole on the driver side, so it was closed off in a prior repair before I got the car.

The only other thing I have to sort out is how some of that water makes its way inside the rocker panel (not between rocker panel and its cover; but inside the box section) and ends up at the front of the car in the corner of the footwell, creating a rust problem there. This is especially bad if the car is parked on a downhill and it's raining. This issue has been mentioned in an earlier thread:
http://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=375.0
I guess I will find out more about how it makes its way there once I remove the rocker covers.

Meyer

[jameshoward]

Stick,

Emulation being a form of flattery, there's no need to be quite so hard on Achim. He's one of the good guys, after all. I know for a fact he has a vast resource of pics, just like the rest of us. Good work travels far and fast on t'interweb. "Spiders" replicate stuff all over the place. Im sure your pics are to be found on many sites. And very useful they are, too.

JH

[hauser]

Have a look at this old thread   Some of this deals directly with drainage.  Not sure if some of our long time members have the pictures to go with this.

Hope this helps!



http://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=2332.0

[mnahon]

Thanks hauser,

Definitely a good thought there---to more positively route the water out of the car. I know when I first heard about the tubes dumping water into an interior cavity of the car, hoping it would make its way out, I was in disbelief. It just seems like a solution not becoming of the rest of the engineering of the car.

When I decide on the water exit path, more positive drainage will definitely be high on my list. Too bad I don't quite understand from the thread exactly where he routed the tube exit ("The neoprene tubes exit from the caps in the rear well boxes, and have been venturi”ed” to create a negative atmosphere that draws the water out.")

Meyer