i have noticed that my Mk1 has a lot of condensation, it has a nearly new soft top fitted by the previous owner. I have checked that the drain holes are clear.
i think that the problem might be associated with the rain rail, but so far hasn’t had the carpets out to look at it. If I take the carpets out of the ‘parcel shelf’ and firewall is the rain rail visible? What am I looking for? if it is damaged, is it easy to replace?
Whilst looking at this, I have found that the plastic moulding which trims the edge of the car and joins the roof appears to b damaged, it’s not viseable from the top but the edge dosn’t feel smooth and there lots of mastic sealant, could this be the cause?
should I need someone o look at this do you have any recomendations? Cambridgeshire or Norfolk?
You could try taking it along to a local meeting - there’s a Cambridge meet tomorrow, check it out on this Forum - there is usually somebody there with a bit of technical knowledge.
Or failing that there’s the East Suffolk meet on Thursday.
If you can’t get to a meeting try talking to Fast Eddy, he’s in Norwich, but is pretty knowledgeable on all things MX-5.
It’s not too hard to check the rain rail isn’t leaking, it’s visible once you remove the carpet on the parcel shelf.
The best way to describe how it works is like a gutter round the base of the hood, you should see water if it’s leaking. To be certain you could get someone to pour water over the hood while you watch from the inside.
If it is leaking in that area I’d have thought the carpet or the soundproofing underneath would be wet.
With the belt line moulding it sounds like it may have been removed at some point, mastic shouldn’t be visible if it’s correctly fitted. I replaced the moulding on my Mk1 last year and mastic is used only where it grips the edge of the bodywork, you should be able to see if water is getting in from behind the moulding.
This shows the rain rail on my car (white tape was to block some holes on it).
This is the rain rail after the hood has been removed.
And this shows the belt line moulding after the rain rail has been removed.
Here are another couple of photos the last time I had it all apart.
there were two seperate problems, firstly the rain rail was not actually in use! The previous owner had fitted a new soft top but not located it into the fold of the rain rail, which was the biggest problem. The secondary issues related to the condition of the rain rail, it was cracked and had some small holes, patched these up with aluminium tape.
The rain rail used on Mk1’s is fairly brittle and the fact that they will all be at least 18 years old hasn’t done any favours to their condition either.
I fitted a rain rail out of a latter car as it is made from a thicker plastic and is far more durable. It is possible to fit without removing the whole hood.
The better rain rail is fitted to the Mk2.5 for certain, and possibly the Mk2 but maybe someone else could confirm the date they started to fit it.
They are about £160 new () if you’re happy with secondhand I paid £25 for mine .
If the alloy tape doesn’t do the trick get a rail rail from a letter car, you won’t regret it.
(Only joking, some photos were taken when I replaced the rain rail and a couple were taken when I was rebuilding the back end after a bit of paintwork).
