Sounds like your on the right track getting the leaks fixed................keep at it

 

This will seal anything save your money and give this a try you can push it into any crack or hole it's super soft and never gets hard. I got it at AutoZone and you get a lot more than the picture shows.

​

 

I thought that El Camino's were suppose to Leak!?
Rear Window was "Standard Equipment" and the Wet Passenger Side carpet was a very Popular Option...

 

HK, thanks for the tip.

69/84, that must have been RPO DRIP. The original owner of this car must have checked that box multiple times when they ordered this thing.

 

Make sure your smugglers box is sealed. My PO drilled holes in them thinking the rain would drain to the ground. Instead it drained into the cab.

 

Make sure your smugglers box is sealed.

Scott, please pardon my ignorance. But where exactly would this be? I can see many places to hide contraband on an El Camino. :laugh:

 

OP, When you put new weather stripping around the windows/doors this gave you a nice seal? I put new OEM stripping around the doors & while the door is good the window frame has huge gaps allowing water to enter. Just wondering, do I add stripping on the car frame to thicken it or is my window frame bent out slightly? Sorry if I hijacked your thread. Ken

 

Ken, my door seals are now tight after swapping in new ones. Take a 1-2" strip of paper, place it between the door and door frame, and close the door. Determine if you can pull it through easily or it's either tight or requires a good tug. Do this around the circumference of both doors and you should easily be able to determine where your window frame has the gaps (after installing new seals). What I would do at this point is get some this 1" wide rubber (an old bicycle tube would work perfect) and cut the right sized sections that you need. Then use 3M spray adhesive or another form of contact cement and put those patches where you need them. It will be a little slightly, but the only person that will know is you (unless you park and drive the car with the doors open)!

Dont Try To Pull Old Glass To Reseal The Old Glass Is Brittle And Will Crack Or Break
Easley. Best To Have Pro's Install New Glass If Your going That Route

Agree 100%. Since I live in So Cal I can drive to OPGI on a Saturday and pick up the new rear glass myself. I seriously doubt most of the local installers stock that item, but they should have access to the front windshield.

1. The kick panels/air vents will normally get water from the cowl, but the water is supposed to drain through a hole in the bottom of the body. Remove the vents and make sure that there is not trash and leaves plugging the drains. If there is, clean it out and unstop the drains, you should be able to see them from the bottom of the truck. I have seen them filled up to the level of the vents.
2. The trucks are famous for leaking from the seam where the cargo box joins the back of the cab. I would suggest removing the cover in the front of the bed and make sure the seam is sealed at the joint of the bed and the cab. While you have the cover off, it is a good idea to make drain holes in the bottom of the compartment.
3. If you are getting water from the windshield area, remove the wiper cowl panel and check for rust holes in the cowl area, this is very common. You can also, with the panel removed, look from under the dash up to the cowl area for light sources (holes). You can also have someone put water on this area while you are looking under the dash. It is best to make sure where the water is coming from so you are not guessing what needs to be repaired.
Good Luck

All of your inputs are EXCELLENT. Thank you! I did find a lot of leaves in the passenger-side cowl and shop-vac'd that. Will do the same on the driver's side (though I did see a lot of water draining from that side, so that is a good sign).

In the bed just behind the cab to the front of the wheel wells is a panel that is bolted down. Not sure if your year model had it. I think it did.

Now aware of this on my '68. But I will inspect.

Thanks to all for the feedback and sharing of ideas/experiences!

-Dean

 

I have an 84 So. Cal car that leaked into the cab really bad. I too suffered from the previous owner not being 100% truthful. Here is what I found. After removing the chrome trim from the front windshield and the rear window I found severe rot. About 4 inches at the bottom right side of the rear window were completely rusted through. Same thing with the right side of the windshield but only two holes about the size of a pencil eraser. I cleaned them both with a wire brush, treated them with a rust preventer and then used 100% silicon to fill the holes. That was 3 months ago and still holding fine.

Good luck with yours.

 

Dont Try To Pull Old Glass To Reseal The Old Glass Is Brittle And Will Crack Or Break
Easley. Best To Have Pro's Install New Glass If Your going That Route

 

1. The kick panels/air vents will normally get water from the cowl, but the water is supposed to drain through a hole in the bottom of the body. Remove the vents and make sure that there is not trash and leaves plugging the drains. If there is, clean it out and unstop the drains, you should be able to see them from the bottom of the truck. I have seen them filled up to the level of the vents.
2. The trucks are famous for leaking from the seam where the cargo box joins the back of the cab. I would suggest removing the cover in the front of the bed and make sure the seam is sealed at the joint of the bed and the cab. While you have the cover off, it is a good idea to make drain holes in the bottom of the compartment.
3. If you are getting water from the windshield area, remove the wiper cowl panel and check for rust holes in the cowl area, this is very common. You can also, with the panel removed, look from under the dash up to the cowl area for light sources (holes). You can also have someone put water on this area while you are looking under the dash. It is best to make sure where the water is coming from so you are not guessing what needs to be repaired.
Good Luck

 

The gaps I'm left with even with brand new weather stripping are still huge, I would say the thickness of 5 business cards. That's why I'm thinking the window frame could be bent outwards? (Both doors). Fits tight on door but from door handles around top to small window vent it is big, obviously not bad at vent or door handle but biggest gaps would be top of vent window backwards. Again, I'm thinking I might add a weather strip to the body that would in essence double up with the one on the door frame, any thoughts to this please? Thanks.

 

I worked at a Cadillac dealership in the 80's, and sometimes we had to "Adjust" the fit of the door frames to the body on new cars during make ready. We did this by rolling the window down, putting our knee on the door panel and pulling the top of the frame inwards. we then rolled the window up and checked the fit. A good fit was measured by placing a dollar bill on the weather strip and closing the door, then pulling the bill out. If a slight drag was felt, it was OK to ship.

 

That sounds like quite a gap. Any decent bodyshop would be able to at least take a look at the situation and tell you what they have done when they encounter the same situation. You're probably not going to like to hear what they say, but it sounds like your cab took a hard hit at some point in its life and bowed the door frame. It's fixable, but not without some pulling/hammering/welding. You might get away with applying thicker rubber against the door weatherstrip, but rubber-on-rubber is not how these seals are designed to repel water. Good luck with whichever direction you take.

-Dean