<VV> Tech Tip & shameless ad

[Mark Corbin]

All,

Back in the '70's I remember seeing old rusty LM Corvairs running around, and part of the rust-thru's were the front corners below the turn signals. One possible cause of this could have been leaky turn signal to body seals. Guess what? The problem may be returning. The cause? Turn signal housing gaskets that have hardened, cracked, or even broken due to decades of age, and thus lost their sealing ability. They are critical to proper trunk sealing.

The housings were designed to have molded gaskets seated INTO the housing, then be mounted with the gasket floating the housing just off the body. The inner part of the turn signal housing is hidden in the trunk corner by two sheet metal cover panels, both held down by three sheet metal screws each. This makes almost all of the gasket not visible from either side, and creates an out-of-sight, out-of-mind problem.

Note that without the gasket, the housing would rest ON the body and damage the paint, causing rust to develop. Also the housing was NEVER designed to accomodate a flat gasket, and MUST use a molded one. 

I'd recommend to every LM owner to check them by removing the corner covers, hosing down the turn signal areas with a hose or car wash sprayer, then checking inside for leaks. Clark's used to sell a die-cut flat gasket that was totally inadequate for the job. They now exclusively offer an exact, molded reproduction gasket (#C1459). Check yours and see if you need to replace it, before your corners fall out, or body seam rust develops. If not checked, by the time you DO see it, it will be too late.

-Mark Corbin