'35 Coupe Windshield Drain Questions

[Detonator]

My 5W coupe is an early model (door handles forward) with a Canadian VIN: (star) C18J-41XX (star). I pulled the windshield to install a new seal and service the regulator. When I moved on to the drain holes I ran into issues:


Photo 1: This is the channel the windshield cranks into, driver's side. There's a drain hole there, but I'm wondering if it's factory? It seems to drain efficiently it would be drilled at the lowest point of the channel; it's not. The hole itself is pretty rough, and there's NO hole in the channel on the passenger side.


Photo 2: This is under that channel, driver's side. If the hole passed into the cab, it would come out between those two rivets. There's no hole, and no "nipple" anywhere for a drain hose.


Photo 3: Same area under the channel on the passenger side. No holes, no nipples, no nuthin'



Does anyone have photos of what these drain are supposed to look like? Thanks.

 

[nelsb01]

Looks like the rubber hoses have left the cowl.
There is suppose to be cylindrical metal tubes that have a lip on them that fit into the holes in picture 1. And yes there is one on the passenger side. The lip keeps the tube from falling thru the lower frame of the windshield opening in the body.
The tubes are about 2 inches long and a rubber hose fits over the end and then goes down the side of inside of the cowl to the bottom of the body. There is a hole at the bottom of the body for the water to drain out.
I am using my learned experience working on my 1936 pickup -- cant believe that the passenger body is different.

 

[Detonator]

Where do those tubes come out inside the car?

 

[Randy in ca]

My early '35 3W also never had either those drains or the ones that later models have in the corners of the trunk channel. It only had drains for the cowl vent and the rear window.

 

[terry]

Mine is a 36 sedan. As I recall, the nipples were welded to the underside and offered enough room for the hose to be pushed over them. Is your fabric kickpanel removed? The hose goes behind it and comes down to another hole in the floor that takes the water out and it drips on the front of the running boards Terry

 

[Lawson Cox]

In my reaearch for the ill fated 35-36 Ford pickup book I found some interesting information regarding windshield drain holes on early pickups. After the EFV8CA threw Jerry Grayson and me under the bus on the book we both sent all of our research to Don Rogers, author of the 35-36 Ford book, in case he wanted to include the pickup in any revisions or republications of his book. A discussion of this was included in my rough draft of the pickup book. Much to my regret I did not retain a copy of the draft, primarily because Jerry and I felt so screwed by the EFV8CA. Maybe Don can chime in here with the information contained in my draft, and any further information he has. What say you, Don?

 

[Detonator]

My kick panels are out, and no, there don't appear to be any tubes behind them. I'm starting to think my car might be like Randy's -- an early model. The weird position of the drain hole in mine, against the fold and above the low point of the channel, make me think the hole was owner-installed.



Lawson -- sorry to hear about your EFV8CA experience. It sounds as if you put together information that would be very helpful to a lot of truck fans. I hope your research shows up -- and there's some drain-tube info there. Thanks.

 

[Detonator]

My early '35 3W also never had either those drains or the ones that later models have in the corners of the trunk channel. It only had drains for the cowl vent and the rear window.

I dug out my 35-36 Ford Book and discovered this paragraph (pg 20):


"In January 1935, a modification was added to some models to eliminate leakage around the windshield frame. It consisted of steel drain nipples at both lower corners under the windshield frame leading into the cowl area..."


So, my Canadian coupe and Randy's must've predated this change. I'd still like to see pix of this tube in place. Thanks

 

[rich b]

My early '35 coupe has drain holes; but no nipples as on later cars. Poked a small wire into them to see where it came out; appears the water was supposed to drop between the kick panel and cowl side and out the bottom.

I'll see if I can get a picture of the drain hole location when I go out in the garage a little later.

 

[johndee138]

I plumbed my windshield drains to the cowl vent drain with a 1/4" cross T fitting. Now. any water exits via the cowl vent drain tube.
The windshield tubes were blocked with years of dirt, so I hand turned a small drill bit in there to clear them.

 

[rich b]

Here are the drain holes on my early '35; the holes just drain into the sheet metal where it runs into the cowl sides.

 

[Detonator]

Here are the drain holes on my early '35; the holes just drain into the sheet metal where it runs into the cowl sides.

THAT'S what I'm looking for. Thanks Rich. Yeah, my driver's side hole isn't even close to being in the same position. Mine must be DIY. Do you have a photo of the nipple underneath (is there one?) -- or like you say, does it just drain onto the sheet metal?


Again, thanks.