I have decided to strip out my K reg 1.1 to see what state the body shell is in. I have removed all of the interior trim panels including those held in with rivets. What surprised me was just how much water was contained in the foam components under the passenger footwell - it was all sodden and weighed in at about 10lbs. The floor pan is in very good condition with only a small hole near the sill behind the drivers seat and at some crust the front of the driver footwell. I have continued to shed weight by losing the rear bumper and fitting a body-mouned foglight. With all that gone the car is much nimbler - and noisier inside. Some build quality issues emerged like two different types of bolts used to secure the front of the front seats and two strange bags of sound deadening material which had been stuffed up the door posts adjacent to the seat belt upper mounts. Heath Robinsony.

I found the exact same thing with mine. Took the carpets out to change for black carpets and the sound deadning had absorbed so much water, it was surprisingly heavy so I took that out before it started rusting the floor. I can't say that I've noticed mine being louder/noisier though.

I also took out the sponge like sound deadening beneath the carpet and it did get noisier but I fitted a 10mm rubber sound deadening material on top of self adhesive bitumen instead and that has brought the noise level down to what I think is a bit bellow the original level. also the carpet doesn't sit right when fitted without sound deadening is my experience.

do you know where the water comes in? my water came in between the door and the a-pillar above the mirror due to a old rubber seal, so I changed the seal. the water outlet in the heater blower being blocked is also a common source of water ingress but sometimes in a-series cars the water can also come in through holes in the horizontal metal around the heater blower or brake pedal plate.

pictures of new sound deadening material

Thanks for the replies - I haven't found where the water is coming from yet but I'll leave it as-is until I do. BTW - my first drive with no carpets or foam was a surprise as I thought that the clutch pedal had become disconnected due to its travel - thinking about it, my foot is now a good couple of inches lower than it was and so the biting point is much higher. Bit like driving an old van.

Drat! - just went out in the rain and the water is coming in between the seal and metal at the bottom / mid point of the passenger door so it looks like the seal is in some way faulty. Anyone else fix this without replacing the seal? and where can one be bought from? none on eBay ...?

....and Happy Easter!

**Update** - Checked the door rubber and apart from some local distortion there are no rips etc. I noticed that the door was a bit proud of the body so I've used a 17mm spanner to adjust the door striker pin in a bit and the door is now flush - did this on the drivers side too - now I'll see if anything is different....

Re-Carbed wrote: ↑Sun Apr 16, 2017 5:45 pm Drat! - just went out in the rain and the water is coming in between the seal and metal at the bottom / mid point of the passenger door so it looks like the seal is in some way faulty. Anyone else fix this without replacing the seal? and where can one be bought from? none on eBay ...?

....and Happy Easter!

**Update** - Checked the door rubber and apart from some local distortion there are no rips etc. I noticed that the door was a bit proud of the body so I've used a 17mm spanner to adjust the door striker pin in a bit and the door is now flush - did this on the drivers side too - now I'll see if anything is different....

maybe it was the same place mine was leaking, just above the mirror. the rubber seal had gotten flat from years of being squeezed. Its a standard sized seal you can buy by the metre, so it doesn't have to be a metro specific item you look for. I also tried adjusting the door but it didn't help, only lead to the door being harder to close properly. any way, I hope you are successful in curing your problem.

**Update** - the cause of the fault was not the door seal but a warping of the plastic at the bottom of the engine-bay mounted heater blower unit. This was allowing water coming in through the bonner grille intake to pass through into the chute that carries air into the cabin rather than all out through the duck bill hose. I removed the unit from the engine bay, removed the clips and split it into two, and applied sealant between the two halves before clipping/screwing it back together. It's now "curing" and i'll see what happens when it rains.