I learned a lot about rust and painting from my trunk repair. It was a fairly low stakes area, but it gave me the confidence to know that I can tackle this project with a little sweat equity.
However, we now have a bigger problem. All that rust removal is for nothing if we can’t fix the reason for water getting into the car in the first place. Yup, it’s that damn flow through ventilation. This is the third Mark III I have owned, and they all had the same problem. Drain hoses will deteriorate. When they do, they allow all the unwanted water inside. Unless you are opening your trunk on a regular basis, you won’t realize it is flooded until there’s already standing water. When I was living in Arizona and garaging my car–not such a big deal. Now that I’m in one of the rainiest parts of the country in the Pacific Northwest it’s no bueno.
Problem Area
The area in question is over that shelf in the trunk that is supposed to house your spare tire. If no one has messed with your car, you might see the fragments of rubber tubing dangling from the location. Most of the time you’ll see something nasty like a garden hose shoved up into the rotting metal and a bunch of silicone trying to seal it up. In most cases they have created a new problem. The hose is higher than the water can flow into, leaving a skiff of moisture that can’t drain. If that isn’t your problem, then usually the neck to attach a new hose has also usually rotted away, leaving nothing to clamp onto. I realized I needed a better solution. Water must flow down, into a tube and never run into any impedance.
I will admit there is a fine line between Jimmy-rigging something, and creativity. This is definitely pushing those limits, but I’m trying to be as utilitarian as possible, without duct taping something ugly up there. For this we are going to need a few parts…
Parts List
I was looking for something designed to handle moisture that wouldn’t cause new problems. For this I turned to a wide-mouth, stainless steel cooking funnel. This isn’t the exact one I used, but similar. Make sure the smaller nozzle has a 1 inch outer diameter. The top diameter will probably be 3 inches or more to cover the original downspout and its likely corrosion. Now I can position this underneath the drain spout and have a fresh platform to clamp a hose on the OUTSIDE of the nozzle, instead of running up inside.
I am not even going to try finding an OEM downspout. They were garbage from the factory, and they are garbage today. I don’t have a numbers matching car. This is an area that is almost never visible to the public, and I desire function over aesthetics. Instead of the factory hose, I need something robust enough that is designed to handle water flowing through it for many years to come. Head on down to your local hardware store! I settled for this product at Lowes EZ-Flow EZ-FLO 1-1/4-in Inner Diameter PVC Clear Vinyl Tubing.
Clear Vinyl tubing is designed with a thick wall that also allows me see if any major chunks of debris is clogged. This tube has a 1 inch inside diameter, so it’ll clamp to the outside of your stainless steel funnel, and is small enough that it can also get shoved through the trunk ledge hole that’ll then drain all the water out safely under the car. Grand.
Attaching the Funnel
We have one complication, the Lincoln is made out of carbon steel, our funnel is stainless steel. These two don’t really like to weld together. How am I going to fix the funnel to the underside of this downspout area? My initial thoughts: epoxy. Tried it, and it didn’t work. I even put a jack under both of the stainless steel funnels to make sure they were keeping tight contact during the curing process. No dice. I didn’t want to drill holes, because that would just cause another problem for leaking.
What I ended up doing was tack welding a primitive bracket that the lip of the funnel could fit into. After using a wire wheel to prep my area to shiny metal, I tacked the bracket with the funnel to the underside. I will warn you, this is a really awkward angle to weld because while this space looks vast in pictures, it’s only a little wider than a tire and can be challenging to get in there with a welding hood.
Budget Welders
I was lucky enough to use some of my GI Bill to take a year-long welding/machining program after the Marine Corps, so I know just enough to get me into trouble with welding. But honestly my welding skills have improved immensely over the past few years because this car gave me plenty of places to practice. If you are looking to try your hand at welding give it a go. I did everything on this car with a Lincoln Handy Mig that I picked up from Lowes for about $550 in 2019. Some places are still selling it for a similar price Lincoln Handy Mig Eastwood.
Know that there are much “better” and more expensive welders out there, but buy the best one you can afford and be reasonable about your expectations. A $6000 welder is impractical if you plan on welding once a year. At the same time, a $500 welder wouldn’t be up to the task of a full-time fabrication shop.
The nice thing about the Lincoln Handy Mig, is it only requires a regular household outlet. 220v is not necessary. But I would limit any other appliances on that circuit while you are welding, because otherwise you’ll trip breakers. I also can not stress enough the importance of using a shielding gas. You’ll produce better, cleaner welds, and you can know that anything going wrong is probably your technique and settings and not the atmosphere. Pick up a bottle. The Handy Mig comes with the attachments. They are primitive but they work. Any welding supply shop will give you the right recommendation for the gas blend if you tell them you are welding mostly carbon steel–or just say you’re welding on old cars and they’ll hook you up accordingly.
Alternatives to Welding
For those of you that don’t have access or the finances for a welder–trust me, I’ve been there. You might be able to scuff the surface really well and try something like JB weld to adhere the funnel to the underside of that downspout. If it works and you don’t slop it on, it should actually look pretty clean.
Finishing Up
Finally, I ended up priming and rattle-can painted the funnel and the underside panel before I attached my hose with a clamp. If you don’t mind the stainless steel look, then you can keep it as is. Overall I was satisfied with the result. Painted black, you really don’t notice the drains unless you’re looking for them. But I now can sleep at night knowing my trunk isn’t turning into a wading pool every time it rains here in Washington…which is pretty much always. Your end product should look something like this. Good luck!
