[DeTomaso] Italian Concours monsoon suggestion

[Christopher Kimball]

As President Mike just put out on the forum, the Seattle Italian Concours was fun, but completely wet.  Torrential rain, complete with thunder and lightning, make it a bit challenging.

Once home, I realized there was probably quite a bit of water in my car's frame, so I tried something I'd like to share with the forum.  Forgive me if this is already common knowledge.

I took my shop vac and hooked the hose to the "blow" position.  I then turned it on and placed the end of the hose over one of the holes in the engine bay (toward the back of the car) and sealed it as best I could with my hand, to force the air into the hollow frame.

What happened was amazing!  For almost 40 seconds, the bottom of the frame at the back of the car became a sprinkler system, shooting out lots and lots and lots of water.  Three or four minutes later, drips were still being forced out.  I did the same on the other side, and more water came out of that side's frame base.  Next I'm going to get under the car and suck water out of the bottom drain holes on the hollow frame portion further forward, on which there is no topside access.

I highly recommend this procedure to anyone who has driven in the rain.  It's better to blow out as much moisture as possible than let it sit in the frame and rust.  I know a thing or two about frame rust, since I recently had to have a lot of frame work done to my car--the shock towers were literally collapsing into the engine bay due to frame and engine bay rust.

Fellow Pantera owner Brian Devine told me he has a dehumidifier in his garage, which also sounds like a good idea.  I'll be picking one of those up soon, since "The Evergreen State" isn't green because it's dry.

Sincerely,

Chris