For all those who are wanting to remove the rubbers in the bottom of the hood compartment

Wont lead to this:

It will blow your mind how much water there could get in


Here's were the tank has been removed.

You can see the water can easy get under your floor mat or couse other problems like I have witnessed today






On further inspection

This is the inside (other side is worse)



and this is the outside naar the weel. It does seem like there ar no worries



Ow.. When the door wont open what do you do?

Cut a hole?

Bollie, I can't see the pictures, I just get the little box with the red 'x'.

strange i can, try using google chrome as browser

I used Google chrome and I can;t see the pictures either.

Pictures seems to be posted on a website that requires you to login/have an account.

What about now?

Yep, that's worked. Next question, where did the white paint go???

Oh SUGAR!

Better get something to block that hole up then

Thanks for this insight bollie.

Would it not go under the cabin lining then out of the car?

RightGuard said:

Thanks for this insight bollie.

Click to expand...

Where's my thanks?

RightGuard said:

Would it not go under the cabin lining then out of the car?

Click to expand...

There are no draining holes where the seats rest, only in the front.
But water under the lining is very bad. The mat will soak up the most of it and it will stay moist.
resulting in funga and rust

Verry difficult to dry out unless you remove it completely.

I have figured out a solution to weld or glue a little pipe to those drain holes, connect them to a tube and connect that to the draining pipe of the hood compartment side drains (with a y splitter).
But I don't see doing this to my daily as it has no water issues

Btw I have 2 other B"s other than te white one.
I'm braking this one, as it belonged to my buddy who crashed it.

By the way bollie, without being pedantic, isn't the red circle where you are showing where the water flows out in the wrong place, shouldn't it be further back?

Unless you highlighted another point where it leaks, in which case I eat my words

RightGuard said:

By the way bollie, without being pedantic, isn't the red circle where you are showing where the water flows out in the wrong place, shouldn't it be further back?

Unless you highlighted another point where it leaks, in which case I eat my words

Click to expand...

Yeah youre right it's a bit further to the back. I saw that today. i'll correct tomorrow. But I hope you understand what way the water will follow.

Thanks and a like gladly given!

And it is a genuine thanks too because you have made me realise where that water could go. No need for a endoscope now!

Maybe I should have PM'ed you about that mistake. Sorry about that.

I am with you on putting a pipe in. I seem to remember pouring water down the mystery holes and it coming out under the car just near the rear jacking point. Also, while working under the car near the brake compensators, I saw some open ended pipes either side of the car.

My idea was, if it does drain out from where I say, put a pipe going direct from the mystery holes bypassing and going direct to the drain hole to prevent water going anywhere other than straight out of the car.

That said, from your ability to really get to know the B by breaking/parting it, it looks like my suggestion of a rear drain hole is false.

Cheers,

Chris

Thank you so much for this. It follows on from my previous post.. I have added pipes now to conduct the water away and have had no further problems.

Sort of what I thought was happening.

I've just recently reworked our "B" to make life a lot easier when water does enter around the rear hood/window or "B Post" area.

1) Finally decided to remove the bottom half of the trim panel that drapes over the tank area into to rear hood well area. I still have full protection for the screen when to hood is folder down but the bottom trough is exposed, visible and easily mopped up. Before cutting the bottom part off one had to remove the rearmost lining to allow the tank bulkhead lining to be removed.

2) Water entering around the "B Post" area can still frop on top of the bulkhead and drain forward. As explained before when this happens some/most of the water actually get under the rear mats. To help get around this problem I have mounted with waterproof tape plastic sheets to divert any water over the hidden top lip of the rear floor matting. Any water that does get here will hopefully drop into the rear footwell matting and drop into the deep recesses so is easily mopped up.

Clearly bodges (oops mods) like this will not replace the correctness of a propper fitting hood and all seals. However as we all know Fiat spare seals, hoods etc. are either no longer available to way to expensive.

Something I can now do is to remove the rear part of the floor linings. I have to remove the seats but I can totally remove the rear sections of the integral floor lining.

Beyond this then one has to look at implementing the "open floor" approach. e.g. as in a stripped out race car but then fit custom and easily removeable matting to allow one to chek for damp and rust, fully dry out as required, but accept a possible increased noise level and less professional trim level.

As they say! Horses for Corses!

V2

s130 said:

2) Water entering around the "B Post" area can still frop on top of the bulkhead and drain forward. As explained before when this happens some/most of the water actually get under the rear mats. To help get around this problem I have mounted with waterproof tape plastic sheets to divert any water over the hidden top lip of the rear floor matting. Any water that does get here will hopefully drop into the rear footwell matting and drop into the deep recesses so is easily mopped up.

Click to expand...

I've done this on the full mat on the sides. You're other ideas are a bit dramatic.
I've made mine totaly leak proof in the past 2 years of ownership.
Damn I remember getting towels always in the car, moist killer and wiping after every serious rain.
Now for the last 5months water never came in. No rust, no towels no nothing.
Just feels great!

bollie69 said:

V2

I've done this on the full mat on the sides. You're other ideas are a bit dramatic.
I've made mine totaly leak proof in the past 2 years of ownership.
Damn I remember getting towels always in the car, moist killer and wiping after every serious rain.
Now for the last 5months water never came in. No rust, no towels no nothing.
Just feels great!

Click to expand...

Hi Bollie69

Not sure what you are trying to tell me? 99% of the time I don't have a problem. However soemtimes we have to park on the 1 in 10 slope on our drive which also has a 15 degree list and is exposed to the wind. Sometimes a little water can get blown in. Last time this happend it was well over a year since the last time. Be it one day or one year getting any water, no matter how little, under the mats is a pain in the arse.

However I gather other "B" owners are consistanly fighting water ingress and the mods I've spoken about will help reduce the required cleanup and drying out process when an ingress has occured.

Finally I've never had any leak that has required perpetual towling and drying out. A small cup of water over a year or so is what I'm talking about. Any more water than the foam backed liners can absorb will just drain out anyway. It is what is retained in the foam backings that does the long term damage.

Anyway, OTT or not people have both our suggestions/ideas to think about.

s130 said:

Hi Bollie69

Not sure what you are trying to tell me? 99% of the time I don't have a problem. However soemtimes we have to park on the 1 in 10 slope on our drive which also has a 15 degree list and is exposed to the wind. Sometimes a little water can get blown in. Last time this happend it was well over a year since the last time. Be it one day or one year getting any water, no matter how little, under the mats is a pain in the arse.

However I gather other "B" owners are consistanly fighting water ingress and the mods I've spoken about will help reduce the required cleanup and drying out process when an ingress has occured.

Finally I've never had any leak that has required perpetual towling and drying out. A small cup of water over a year or so is what I'm talking about. Any more water than the foam backed liners can absorb will just drain out anyway. It is what is retained in the foam backings that does the long term damage.

Anyway, OTT or not people have both our suggestions/ideas to think about.

Click to expand...

It's an upgrade, and those keep me going with the barchetta.
Do you have pictures of the setup you made?

Would be a great add to the topic.

Yes s130, It would be great to get some photos. Picture paints 1000 words!

You could even make it into a guide, if it works so effectively. Then get millions of thanks from people with flooded 'little boats'! Water intrusion is a problem that brings people to abandon ship...or boat.

Or you could keep the secret to yourself, What ever floats your boat.

I'm on a roll!

Pictures.

Oh dear, it is a little late for the poly sheet liner as the car is all back together again and wife will not be pleased if I start pulling all the trim off again.

Next time the hood is down and it is not raining I'll try and get a picture of the milk bottle water trap.

Meanwhile some words/description to help one visualise what I did.

First of all with the hood in the folder up postion (rubber straps keeping the rear clam folding section vertical by looping round front hood release handles) take a carefull look around the whole area of the hood well and tank bulkhead.

Fixed to the bulkhead we have two trim panels. One drops backwards into the hood storage well and the other goes forwards and down the front of the bulkead behind the passenger seats.

Both these trim panels need to come out. Sadly the hood well panel is located under the edges of the hood well walling panel so this has to come off as well. We'll take these out in a short while.

First we need to take the plastic mouldings that hide the seat belt reals off. Just two screws secure these, the 3rd screw does not require removing as it secures the little bent bracket that the gas strut shield molding is partly secured to.

Next we need to remove the plastic moldings that hide the gas struts. These mouldings have the sprung loaded flaps.

To remove the rear hood well wall panel you will need to remove the wire spring assembly that retains the hood cover in the up position. The mounting plastic hinge is secured by two hex head screws. Before attempting to remove these one should gently tie the hood cover flap in the up position. I used bungees straps to our boot rack or you can go over the boot to under the rear bumber / exhaust.

Now carefully remove the little button switch for the hood alarm. Remove the single screw and gently lift the switch out. It is a close fit to the hood compartment rubber seal but a little wiggling will allow removal. Disconnect the wires. Once this is remove you can pop out all the plastic buttons that retain the wall liner. NOTE! You do not need to remove the rubber seal that goes around the hood well as with the buttons out the liner will drop a little and it can be gently slid out from under the rubber flange that overlaps if.

Now we can remove the rear facing trim panel by removing the three plastic buttons on the top of the bulkhead.

We we have to remove the side trims that run from the center of the door to the rear of the car. This is not so easy as there is a screw under the seat and access is very limited. I found the best way to get at the screw was to loosen all four seat bolts and optionally remove the two rear ones. Then you can lift/tilt the seat to get under the runner and straight onto the screw head. Also remove the bottom seat belt bolts. Lastly there is a screw securing the top of the rim to just below the gas strut. (There migh be another screw in the rear as well. Can't remember so just go carefully. Once all the fixings are removed you can pull the trim moulding up. Note how the leading edge tucks in under to front half of the sill trim.

Next we need to remove the forward facing trim panel that drops down the fron of the bulkhead. To get this out you have to remove center rear glove box. This is easy to do. Lift the lid and remove the little rubber mat at the bottom. Underneat you will find two large screws. Remove these but do not attemp to lift the box yet. Now remove the felt rubber handbrake level shield by gently lifting it upwards. Once remove you will see a third screw holding the box assemble to the rest of the centre console. Remove this. Now you can gently lift the glove box/arm rest clear.

So with the rear all clear you can see the following potential problems.

1) water coming in at the top of the 'B' post go either backward into the hood well or forward down the bulkhead

2) water running down the bulkhead will drop own underneath the rear floor liner

3) water can also run along and down where the fuel tank cover panel is located

4) water can also enter at the top of the "B" post and run down the sides behind the gas struts and again under the flooring.

This is what I did.

Using waterproof gaffer take or aluminium tape about 30 to 40mm wide do the following.

1) tape over the bulkhead ledge going over the tank cover join area. Also all the way down the sides of the tank cover so that water can not travel along the seam/recess contact area. Remember you want the taped sections to overlap each other from the top down so do the sides first. It get a little fiddly around the curved bulkhead top and where the seatbelt top mount brackets are (I remove the seatbelt reels to gain good access.

2) Obtain a large and strong polythene sheet, preferably black. It should be wider than the car by about 12 inches / 30cm either side. It should also be deep enough to go from top of bulkhead down into the rear footwell overlapping the flooring.

3) position the sheet about 1/3rd of the way down the bulkhead front wall. Note! we want to be able to tape the sheet into and around the corners as high as possible just below the gas strut area. And water running down this recess/side wall is to run over the tape, onto the sheet and down towards the floor. Hold the sheet in place with small strips a masking tape while you play around with getting the sheet in the best position. It took me several attempts to find the right height and best access/sealability into the corners.

4) once the sheet is strung across you can see that the bottom corners where the wires travel through the bulckhead will be the next tricky area. This is why the sheet is much wider and longer than neccessary. With all this extra material you can folder the sheet over and around the wires and over the bottom corner ledge. I also cut some small secondary backing sections to cater for any water that could possibly find a way around the main sheet.

Basically you have to look carefully and think like water. Also do not assume a level car. Think of 20 degree or more slobes in any direction.

Also do not cut the sides or ends too short. An inches of excess at the sides will curl/folder nicely behind the trim and provide a channel for the water.

5) Now for the tricky trimming. Basically you slowly start putting all the trim and panels back. You will have excess sheeting everywhere, especially the rear floor area and corners. Carefully trim off the excess material following the edges of panel/trim. You won't get it perfect which is why I recommend black sheeting.

Now, if you have done a careful job then any water entering onto the bulkhead or in front of the bulkhead will run over the waterproof tape, onto the sheet and come out in the rear footwell BUT ON TOP of the rear flooring where is can easyily be mopped up.

I doubt you will ever be able to stop water getting in. Even a build up of dirt around the rear clam seal, or a trapped leaf can allow water onto the inside of the hood lid and it will the run around the inside of the seal and drop off buy the corner seatbelt caps. Same for leaky screen stitching or a split screen. Hopefully if water does get in then it won't go under the flooring.

First post, just got a '97 silver B, Italian built, 10 yrs in the UK and now back in Italy. Starting to do the TLC it needs after an abusive owner cut the back window out after locking his keys inside. Never fixed it and then left it in a field...... Lots of water inside so the floor removed.

bollie69 said:

Where's my thanks?


I have figured out a solution to weld or glue a little pipe to those drain holes, connect them to a tube and connect that to the draining pipe of the hood compartment side drains (with a y splitter).
But I don't see doing this to my daily as it has no water issues

Btw I have 2 other B"s other than te white one.
I'm braking this one, as it belonged to my buddy who crashed it.

Click to expand...

Saw this and thought a good idea, however when I have a good look the holes in the roof compartment are lower than the hole on the wing behind the 'B' pillar where you can see the drain pipe. Am I missing something? Or did you make new drain holes at the back of the car near the tail lights?

Tom