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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Measurement problem in reverse

You've all heard of Schrödinger's cat. A quantum event only happens when it is observed. I have the same thing on my car, but in reverse. I have the hardtop on, and keep getting rain inside on the driver's side. I have applied layers of rubber all round and still it leaks. But it never does when I am testing it. I have simulated rain with the hose and nothing gets it. Last night there was a heavy shower and I rushed outside to sit in the car, but nothing came in. However if it rains when I am away from the car there is a substantial puddle. I think it's doing it to wind me up. I am keeping the carpets out until I have cracked this. If I do, I'll write it up for a physics journal.

Ah, it's raining now...

Les
L B Rose

Les, have you checked the corner of the bonnet gutter between the wing and the scuttle. It bolts together at that point to form a continuous gutter, but if it isn't sealed it breaches at the corner and water runs down via the pedal box to the footwell. Easily sorted with a little seam sealer.I

If course,like the cat, it could be leaking at two places at the same time.
GuyW

Les is your weight a factor? IE when you sit in the car the suspension sags a bit closing up the leak?

Chris Madge

It's not the footwell, it's the floor next to the door. Sorry, I should have said that.

Les
L B Rose

Have you try with a different person sitting in the car ? Is the car playing-up only with you ?

Good luck :)
CH Hamon

Are you sure it isn't Schrödinger's cat leaving the puddle?
Dave O'Neill 2

Les

An unfortunate analogy if the car is the box...

Remove the carpet now, accept water is going to come in and then quietly do some detective work on the potential source and entry location(s) of the leak(s) as well as where they run over and pool to, over the next couple of months to sneak up on those pesky leaks. Keep some dry newspaper in a bag in the boot to drag out to spread out into the footwells, on seat, over dash etc for static drip detection (NB not perfect method as water could be driven in when the car driven!). Also keep a chinagraph pencil for drawing round drip runs. Not too long as gives time for any new rubber seals to sag or perish! (Ah the joys of new part spec and quality). Have you done getting a volunteer to gently tip buckets of water/use of a slow running hose pipe while you sit inside crazily checking for leaks,switching between on both seats, behind them plus head in both footwells?

Good luck, hopefully you will get drier without being driven to distraction.

Cheers
Mike
M Wood

I am only 65 kg so not an excessive effect on the car's attitude. When testing in the rain I sat on the passenger side. I did find a leak under the o/s of the hardtop just behind the door. This is poor design because the edge of the hardtop is straight while the top of the rear wing is curved - more so on a Mk 1 of course. Also the hardtop sits exactly on top of one of the studs that hold the hood. There is a small relief in the fibreglass but it isn't quite in the right place - I have had to attack it with a small grinder. The hardtop came with the car 40 years ago and seems to be a factory one, or a copy of that. Frankly it has never fitted very well. The profile of the side is nowhere near a fit to the sidescreen. Anyway I have extra rubber under the edge, and I tightened the wing nuts that pull the top down. That leak seemed to stop, but I think there is another one over the top of the sidescreen. I had the same on the other side but extra rubber has cured that.

Last year I set up the hose on top of a step ladder so that I could watch from inside. Nothing came in then.

As I said before, I am not putting the carpet back until this is sorted.

Les
L B Rose

Les,
I had the same problem and sort of pinned it down to water draining around the end of the cockpit finisher and down the side of the trim into the seat well. The finisher didn’t quite reach to the edge of the door opening. I removed the finisher, drilled a new hole in the coaming further for’d and positioned the finisher so that it was right at the edge, a bit of mastic to seal it and it seems a whole lot better.
Simon

S Holt

Perhaps diagram shows it a bit better.

Simon

S Holt

Ah, of course, now I look at your profile and realise you have a frogeye......!
S Holt

I had a Frogeye with a wet floor after parking in the rain. Not while driving in the wet. This is my solution so far.

Flip

Flip Brühl

This thread was discussed between 12/03/2020 and 13/03/2020

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