RE: GTV6 Cowl Vent Drainage

["alfanatic" <alfanatic@domain.elided>]

Hi Bert,

I've had this exact problem with both my Alfettas.
Where you'll find the cowl drainage on
GTV6/Alfettas is somewhere on each end of the cowl
(I've yet to actually see the drain hole), from
there, it drains inside the fenders, behind the
front wheels, where it is supposed to drain
between the spot where you place the jack for
lifting the front wheels, and right behind the
front wheel arch.  Problem is...any tiny leaf or a
large amount of dirt at once, will clog these
holes, which will in turn, flood your front
footwells in a hard rain.  The surprising part is
just how much muck the inner fenders can hold!  I
scraped out at least three pounds of crap out of
each car.  The easiest way to do it is to remove
the rear wheel well panel which is held in by
rivets.   Drill them out, and take off that panel,
and you'll most likely be looking at a very scary
sight.  Scrape it all out, and spray some
pressurized water into the cavity to flush it all
out.  Do not, however, pour or spray a large
quantity on water into the cowl vent, as it will
send water through the two fresh air dash vents
located on the outermost edges of the dashboard
into the cabin (ask me how I know this!).  A small
amount of water can be poured through the cowl to
flush out the rest of the stuff collected up
above, just be gentle with  the force of the flow.
I'm guessing that this will need to be a regular
maintenance item, which makes the removal of the
rivets an eventual good thing, since you will need
access to that area from now on.   I would
strongly recommend that anyone with one of these
cars do this - whether or not it leaks.  The build
up of muck will rapidly promote rust in the lower
rocker panels and lower front fenders.  If you
need further clarification, let me know and I'll
send you some digital pics of what and where to
look for this.
Happy excavating!

- Jeff Barhoum

'77 Alfetta Sedan
'79 Alfetta Sprint Veloce
'92 Ducati 900SS
'72 Honda CB500/4
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Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2002 19:26:36 -0500
From: "Herbert Neily" <neily@domain.elided>
Subject: GTV6 Cowl Vent Drainage

    I recently solved a leak problem in my GTV6.
Earlier, I had replaced
the door gaskets (needed replacement anyway - BTW,
I got mine from
Re-Originals) in a vain attempt to cure a
passenger compartment leak that
was soaking the driver's-side carpet.  Further
forensics led to the
discovery that water spayed into the cowl vents
would trickle from the lap
seams where the cowl vent sheet metal bottom
joined the fenders (inside the
engine compartment).  That water would run down
directly on the hood release
cable firewall penetration (no sign of a sealing
grommet) and then follow
the cable to the low point at the release handle
in the left footwell.  The
sneaky part of this scheme is that the firewall
penetration seems shielded
by the bodywork above, so the absence of a grommet
doesn't immediately raise
a red flag to the non-paranoid.  I've since sealed
the hole with "The Right
Stuff", an expansive foam RTV-like sealant.  We'll
see how it does in
tomorrow's forecast rains.
    I mention this to possibly help someone with
the same problem and to
also ask a question:  Is anyone familiar with the
*intended* means of cowl
vent drainage on the GTV6?  Is there some kind of
invisible tube that is
supposed to drain to the fenderwell, or is the
weeping lap seam an
accidental solution to the factory's failure to
realize that the water
needed an outlet?  I probed the non-visible areas
of the cowl vent housing
with my trusty straightened coat hanger and slid a
vacuum cleaner crevice
tool into the far reaches to try to suck out any
latent debris.  If there's
a *real* drain, I'd like to unclog it.  Thanks.
Bert Neily
Raleigh, NC
'84 GTV6 with hopefully dryer carpet.

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