1981sc Targa leaks profusely, need input on replacing seals - Page 2

DEAN911 · 12-02-2007, 04:48 PM

Definitely a vent window adjustment. You will have to remove the inside door panel though. The vent window assemble adjusts vertically as well as tilting into and away from the center of the car. Pop off the rubber caps in the door frame and look for the adjusting bolts at the bottom front of the vent window then find the bolts at the bottom of the window track inside the door. You can get the gap closed and water tight. Then while you have the inside door panel off look at the rear window track and adjust the tilt here as well to make sure it lays the window into the top seal. I might take a few tries but if you stay with it you will be weather tight and have little or no wind noise.

Greg

Head416 · Head416's Garage

Thanks for the tip Greg. I'm still a Porsche newbie - it never occurred to me I could adjust the height of that little window! Man, EVERYTHING on these cars is adjustable!

Mr.Puff · 12-02-2007, 10:54 PM

If the rear of the window isn't resting on the felt strip you may need to adjust the doors clasper (for lack of a better word). It's on the door frame and has two star shaped bolts that you can loosen. Adjust the stopper. Then tighten back up

.

--Puff

slodave · slodave's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryD

Dave,

Be careful with this fix. My Targa had an awful amount of wind noise and the front clips would pop out of the frame. I adjusted them every possible way until one day I noticed that the PO had put some extra weatherstripping on my front seal. I took the extra material off and readjusted my clips. Now I have much less wind noise and the clips stay against the bar as they should. Most likely the PO was chasing the wind noise but did not realize that the extra thickness of the weatherstrip was forcing the front bar to disengage and make the problem worse.

BTW-My top does not leak even with a slight gap over the wing windows.

The material I used was a spongy/foam. It really can't cause any problems. I have some other issues with my roof and while my fix isn't the best, it has helped when caught in the very rare SoCal downpour.

I have to recover my roof, correctly, before I can fix that leak.

Dave

HarryD · 12-02-2007, 11:11 PM

It may very well be that your front seal it not fitted properly. When Porsche modified the original seal, they changed the design but did not change the part number. The later part causes the front to ride up and leak. Our Buddy, Dan Pechtel (pelican handle carsinc), has identified the problem and offers a proper replacement part or if you write him, will tell you how to modify the factory part to fit like an original.

Read about it here: http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?t=320855

Dan has posted quite a bit on proper Targa Sealing. You want to contact him before you ge tto carried away.

DEAN911 · 12-03-2007, 03:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Head416

Thanks for the tip Greg. I'm still a Porsche newbie - it never occurred to me I could adjust the height of that little window! Man, EVERYTHING on these cars is adjustable!

No problem Aaron. Once you get your hands on the "Sealing the Targa" manual it is all spelled out, but even without the book it can be adjusted if you look closely. The beauty of these cars is the great engineering, well most of the car anyways. Between that and the friends that share your pain on this board you are in for a long, happy, but probably expensive relationship with a wonderful car.

Greg

vulcan300 · 06-03-2008, 07:16 PM

Hi all, did a PDF copy Sealing the Targa ever get posted? If I could get a copy too I'd be very grateful. I'm a new Targa owner and I have some wind noise and water leakage to deal with. I'm going to try Greg's suggestion to adjust the height of the vent window on the driver's side to achieve a proper seal. I also have a high pitched whistling sound coming from somewhere at speeds above 130 kph (80 miles an hour). I'm thinking it could be coming from a gap in the front Targa seal, but if there are any other likely spots that can produce that kind of sound please let me know what you think.

J

moneymanager · 06-04-2008, 06:56 AM

Puddles of water on the passenger floor reminds me of my problem...but it had nothing to do with seals. The short hose from air box fed by the front vent had disappeared from my car. Lots of water came thru the air box drain into the smugglers compartment and then into the cockpit via holes cut for a primitive air conditioning installation. Worth a check.