Has anyone owned,or seen an fb rust in this area?
This is a car I recently bought(just for the wheels & parts), and I just looked at another sa for sale and it had the same rust
It looks like it would be difficult to repair

 

Because leaves and debris buildup under the windshield cowl and hold constant moisture. Remove the vented section between the hood and windshield and clean the crap out of there. Another cause can be plugged sunroof vents as they down the A pillar , through the cowl void and then through the sheetmetal, emptying behind the inner plastic fender liner.

 

SO SA sunroof troughs run down the A pillar, not down the B pillar and out the plastic cabin vents as on FB bodies?

 

I think on the FB there is one trough running down each pillar, a and b pillars

 

The FBs have 4 drain tubes, I'm assuming the SAs do too.

 

It's a little late for that, I was wondering if the sa was more susceptible to rust in this area.
There is no sunroof on the car I have, but there is one on the one I just looked
at.
If the sunroof drain was plugged, the sunroof gutter would rust, not the latter part?
I took the center cowl out earlier today, and there were some leaves in there, but access to the sides was very limited. It doesn't seem like enough bulk could get past the small openings to block the drainage.
I've taken fenders off trucks I've owned and the drain/vent area was full of leaves, but there was nothing stopping the crap from getting in there.
Stainless steel screen would be nice!

 

yep here's what I had to do to mine just under that vent(between the windshield and hood http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...Image310-1.jpg then I glassed it.

Then here's the driver's side way up under there(leaves were the culprit)
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...s/Image317.jpg
Had to remove the whole dash to get behind it and cut it all out, then glassed it.

And here's the passenger side after it was glassed http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c2...s/Image313.jpg

Then had to repair the passenger floor right under the electronics(that I didn't even know was there.
Oh and had to repair valley in hatch-back, whew!

Where's hillbilly city, Fl ?

 

Of all the SA-specific -7s I have seen, that would be a few dozen at least, I have NEVER seen rust there. Any chance this particular car had a repair there maybe? I am sure there is a factory joint of the top and inner fender panels there, but no different than an FB. Weird.
Also, FWIW all the -7s I have seen are western cars... I know East Coast cars can be whole 'nother thing
Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

 

I do know on the FBs that that area drains naturally between the unibody and the fender. When I foamed my car, I inadvertantly filled that area with foam and blocked the drainage ways. Now, when it rains hard and I take off from a stop, the water runs in and soaks my feet. One of these days I need to pull the fenders off and open the drainage ways back up.

 

the best way to clean the drains is to run a weedwacker line through the drain tubes. heh helps keep my rear hatch and sunroof rust free for 2 years now!

 

Stu All, the car I have, and the one I went to look at the other day, had the same rust on both sides(both red 79's btw). I don't think it was a bad repair.
Yes, the southeast cars get rusty if not stored right.

Trochoid, I don't beleive water flows through that area, at least not on a 84.
I don't have the sa stripped like this 84 gsl, so the pics are the 84.
In the first pic, I can put my finger through that hole and touch the same area thats rusted on the 79.
The 2 x's mark separate chambers not connected, you can see the vent above them.
The second pic is just an arrow pointing at the sunroof drain on its route to where ever, probably to where the water from the center cowl goes.
I'm going back out to study this some more.

 

Jacksonville.

Do you have any pics from a farther away of the 2nd and 3rd links you posted.
What year is your car?

Here's another picture of the 84, behind the fender now.
Arrow 1: is the sunroof drain.
2: where some pine needles, and leaves were hiding..
3: Could not see a connection to the center cowl, but from the debris, I think it drains through there.
I guess I'd have to strip the sa to the same level to be sure it's not drain related.

 

I have an 85 GS
the second pic was me just sticking the camera in the hole where the grill used to be(between the windshield and hood)and pointing it towards the drivers vent, just to show all the damage, but no I don't have any pics taken further back.
The third pic same thing I just stuck the camera under the dash and took the pic, sorry. Now that I'm really close to completing this car I wish I would've taken a whole lot more pics, especially of the day I brought it home...you couldn't see through any of the windows anywhere, it had dirt/dust/spider-webs so thick, couldn't even tell the color,lol.

 

Trochoid is right, as usual.
In the 1st pic, the area circled is where I was sticking my finger in from the other side. I thought the rust hole was in that area, but it is just above it, in another section connected to the cowl/drain compartment, though the rust is making its way down into it.

The 2nd pic is reference for the next 2 exciting closeups!, view of inside right cowl.

3rd pic looks to be where the water goes.

4th pic, if a lamp is held up to the rust holes, light can be seen where the arrow is pointing.

5th pic is left side under cowl with drain hole, still not clear on where the water goes after that.

So, though there was not a lot of crap plugging the drainage ways, I guess the high humidity, rain, storage under large groups of trees, kept those rusted areas moist. I just looked at a fb a month or so ago stored the same way, and it was rusted, but I don't recall those areas because I was dismayed by the whole car.