Topic: 65 Fastback Vent Drains

[kowalski]

Hi all,
Can some of you big brains please advise me what (if anything) you are doing to overcome the design flaw with the fastback vent drain hoses and their routing into the sills?
Had some rust come to the surface at rear of sill from the vent drains and now have ended up here......


Yet the drain trough itself on both sides is remarkably good for 55 years old


Surely there must be a better way to run the drain hoses that doesn't pour water into the sealed chamber of the sills? Also without the obvious cutting a bloody great hole in the floor for the hose to protrude from??
I'm sure it's been answered a thousand times, but can't find anything with search function.
Thanks in advance.

[jwc66k]

As always, plant and scheduled build date would be helpful. I know that 65 Fastbacks had a hose, 66 did not, but there may have been a running change made in the 65 model year.
In the meantime, don't drive in the rain, and park in the garage.
Jim

[67gta289]

I have to question the assumption that the root cause was water from the vents for a couple reasons:

1. As you mentioned, the trough is solid.  The trough would have seen 100% of what went through the hose.
2. It appears that you needed to cut out more than just the rear of the rocker.  Assuming that it was in part due to rust, those other areas were not impacted by the hose water.  Could the same root cause of those issues be the same for the rocker?

What other areas were rusted? 

The rockers are not sealed, there are weep holes.

[J_Speegle]

There are likely a number of issues at work on your particular this is not a commonly IMHO seen issue everywhere.

Since the car bodies were not dipped like more expensive Fords of the time period there is allot of uncoated/unprotected bare surfaces in the nooks and crannies of the car. One is where you found the issue on your particular car. Add to it your region of the country, where the car was stored and so on.

You will likely not be driving nor storing the car the same way as it has been over the past 50 years so since you have had this issue and have it opened a fuller coat of primer sealers and paint in those hidden areas and the assurance that none of the sealants were missed will likely go a long way. Plus you will likely not be driving it in the rain very often, may never wash the car with water and also store the car inside

So, during restoration, coat the insides of the rockers with waxy like products to try and reduce or cover over what every is already in there. Sometimes this can block the drains or weep (depending on the product) over the long term also. Personally have not done this to  my cars

[Bob Gaines]

There are likely a number of issues at work on your particular this is not a commonly IMHO seen issue everywhere.

Since the car bodies were not dipped like more expensive Fords of the time period there is allot of uncoated/unprotected bare surfaces in the nooks and crannies of the car. One is where you found the issue on your particular car. Add to it your region of the country, where the car was stored and so on.

You will likely not be driving nor storing the car the same way as it has been over the past 50 years so since you have had this issue and have it opened a fuller coat of primer sealers and paint in those hidden areas and the assurance that none of the sealants were missed will likely go a long way. Plus you will likely not be driving it in the rain very often, may never wash the car with water and also store the car inside

So, during restoration, coat the insides of the rockers with waxy like products to try and reduce or cover over what every is already in there. Sometimes this can block the drains or weep (depending on the product) over the long term also. Personally have not done this to  my cars

I believe Jeff is referring to rust inhibitors many of which leave a waxy finish once they dry. Do this after final paint so that you can let the rust inhibitor drip out of the weep holes in the rockers.

[kowalski]

Thanks for the comments guys.
Car is a July 65 Dearborn, and yes, did/has the vent hoses.
I've had this car since 95 when I shipped it to NZ from LA (Rockford DSO). Was in poor shape/been raced and I "restored" it as best I could as a kid in my 20's before the internet came along and in a small, remote country (parts).
Been in a few minor accidents along the way (none my fault, mostly people staring and forgetting how to drive), driven in the NZ snow and shipped home to Australia in 2000, so it's seen it's share of challenges over 25 years....
The current state of the car is result of visible rust patches coming out at the location mentioned at rear of sill. We chased it up through the quarters and found minuscule traces under the paint. Already had some minor rust in the rear window surround.
Seemed as good a time as any to replace sheetmetal with traces of rust and previous damage, plus some historical poor repairs from pre-95.
You are correct in that it's probably seen it's last snow and certainly won't be spending any more time on the ocean 
Also, as you can see, every surface has now been epoxy coated, even up under the quarters where I found miles of bare steel.
Maybe this won't become an issue going forward, but now is the time to ask and haven't seen it addressed before.
Stay tuned for the next silly question.....
Cheers
Wazza