KAKABOX build update:
After returning from an ax last Saturday, the 'BOX was treated to a full blown thunder storm complete w/lightening displays and audio! While the ax was dry, I drove home in very heavy thunder showers.
When I first got the car, the interior was very much like a terrarium, a result of being parked outside in the Seattle climate (it's been known to rain a 'few' days here). The source of the water inside the car, I thought, came from clogged sunroof drain tubes and an aged sunroof gasket. The leaking sunroof was cured by using aluminum "speed" tape over the sunroof seal on the outside of the car:
Very ghetto, but no more leaking sunroof and dry floors (bare)!
I thought I had the source of the water ingress blocked, so, imagine my surprise when I went to the back to take out my ax gear and found a puddle of water in the spare tire well!
Using a flashlight, I believe I've tracked the source of this new water to the tail light housings...water appears to be getting past the tail light gasket and running down into the spare tire well.
As a soln, this is what I did: Removed the rubber body plug that is located under the spare tire...it appears that this is the lowest point of the back well area...the water now has a place to drain out (drains out right on top of the muffler heat shield)
I then pulled the tail lights and center panel to reseal them against the body. This was all good as I also wanted to restore the tail light lenses to their former glossy glory!
Here are the tail lights on the workbench...I replaced the worn out oem seals w/two layers of 3M Strip-Calk on the housing edge that contacts the body:
...I also put "rings" of strip-calk around the tail light fastener holes in the body:
I also used the opportunity to replace the cracked Si center panel w/a DX one I bought from a local junk yard. After removing the back-up light lenses, I carefully ground off the raised CIVIC letters, wet sanded smooth, primed and painted it matte black. Then, with all the rear lenses removed, I clamped them up individually in a B-D Workmate and took the scratches out using a couple of grades of polishing compound on a foam pad attached to a Porter-Cable random orbital buffer. I restored their gloss using Klasse All-In-One on a waxing foam pad and the Porter-Cable.
Before:
After:
Looks better, imo, but, more importantly, I hope I've solved the water leak issue! We'll see!
Cheers!
Edited by kakabox, 16 April 2006 - 11:04 AM.