Victor,
I did a whole article on drilling the frame rails, for inspection and removal of water, a few years ago. It was printed in the club newsletter and I think photos of the process were on the old photos page. I don't know how many people have done this but everyone should since water does get into those frame rails and will rust them out. If you can't find that old article or the photos, let me know and I'll see if I can find my original copy. I did the writeup in July of 2003 so I expect the article was in on of the fall newsletters.
I'm sure I have photos of this modification too but here's the copy I did on my computer:
SECRET RUST IN THE FRAME RAILS
I have two Amphicars that I have restored over the last couple of years. One of them has always been an extremely dry car and has had almost no water in it since I bought and restored it. Its previous owner also hadn’t operated it in a number of years. Therefore I was surprised to find water dripping out from behind one of the front wheels several days after having it in the water. I had operated this car in water many times and never had this type of leakage before. I found the water was seeping from the rear area of the steering linkage box. . The water was coming out of a small hole which I was able to open to about ½” wide and 1/8” high. At first I couldn’t understand it since the water was coming out about 1/2“ above the floor and the floor inside the car was dry. It turns out that the frame rails run along the floor and are welded to the back of this box. The water was coming from inside the frame rail that had rusted through the back of the steering arm box. Since this steel is fairly thick, I became concerned that there might be serious damage in the rails.
I had always assumed that either these frame rails had drains in them or were completely sealed against water. Neither of these assumptions was correct. There are no drain holes in the rails and although they appear to be sealed, there are holes from various things that puncture these rails. Incidentally, one thing that does not puncture the main rails are the smaller, front frame rails that are open ended in the trunk area. Water that might get into them simply will pool on the top of the square main frame rails since they are welded to the top of these rails.
I decide to drill inspection holes in the top of the frame rails several inches in front of the transmission mounts. The hole I drilled was 1 1/8” across. Since the forces on the rails are running down the sides, making this hole doesn’t compromise the strength of the rail and yet allows easy inspection and clean out if necessary. If your car is relatively dry, water won’t get into these holes and if your car tends to flood, you can plug these holes with a rubber plug to keep water out of the rails.
When I drilled the second rail, there was moisture inside and old rust flakes so clearly water had been in there too at one time. After finding this, I drilled both rails in my other car and was stunned to find ¾” of water in one side and moisture in the other. Clearly rust in these rails will seriously weaken the frame of these cars and I have only seen one reference to this problem in the past.
I cut out and replaced a square section of the steering box where the rust and leakage had occurred. Although I have the equipment to suction out any water that might get into these rails, I decided that it would also be a good idea to have a way to drain the rails in case of an accidental flooding when away from home. I decided to install drain plugs at the front end of the rails where the original rust through had occurred. Drilling at this location also gave my a way of seeing just how much rust damage had already occurred in these areas on the rails where it hadn’t rusted through. I was also able to flush out the debris that had accumulated in the rails. I used ¼” to 3/8” brass bushings with ¼” plugs to form the drains. It’s a bit tricky to solder the bushings in at that location but I was able to do it and now I have simple plugs that can be removed to drain the rails in an emergency. While doing this I also coated the inside of the frame rails with a rust preventative that is made for automobile rocker panels. Although this coating probably isn’t necessary if you keep the rails dry, it will add extra protection.
I feel this is a problem that deserves much more attention than it has received.
John Friese
John Friese jfriese(at)mindspring.com
67 White
67 Red
