The Party's Over!

[wetminkey]

What happens when someone has removed the original parts:



Mouse party!
There are supposed to be rubber valves to control access through the cowl drains!
Anyway,...after the cleanup:



Amazing how easy that was with 4uall's pictures and information.
Thank you!
Pieces of metal window screen will keep the drains secure until I can find replacement cowl drain tubes.
On to other possible mouse accesses to my car,...
Todd.

[narfire]

They like the spare tire well. Under the rear seat... You have the cowell covered.
I set traps loaded with peanut butter in my garage over the winter. Not too close to the car though.
Chris

[RRoller123]

Mine was stored in an unheated garage/barn, covered, for 4 months last winter; Dec 1st - April 1st. I left a box of opened mothballs on the front floor and had no problems. It only took a couple of days for the smell to completely dissipate.

[wetminkey]

Yeah, narfire, the little bastards found the spare tire well and I found mom, with four furry babies, under the back seat! All evicted now (the babies were ready to be on their own anyway). I've stripped the floors, pressure washed the entire trunk, interior, and cowl areas and just completed using a rust stabilizer on any surface rust I could find on the floorpans. I think I can re-install the original carpet underlayment, and all my red carpeting has been pressure washed and dryed. Looks pretty good. I've got all of my rear seat items cleaned and ready for re-installation, too. Next, I'll pull my lower and upper console and clean under them.
Gosh rroller123, I had a whole box of mothballs in this car, with a handful of them in the trunk, and the mice seem to be oblivious to them,...I guess we've got tough mice in Colorado! Or cheap mothballs (don't tell the moths I said that)!
Anyway, I'm just waiting on rust stabilizer to dry on the intake valve in the cowl, and paint to dry on a cowl grill retaining clip that I found floating around under there before I close it up. Interior starts going back together tomorrow.
Thanks to all of you for your tremendous help!
Todd.

[wetminkey]

Just closed the cowl after re-inserting the freshly painted grill clip.
I found four brand new body plugs of proper fit in my "body plug bag" and closed the openings in the front floor pans. The four original plugs had been removed at some point,...probably another mouse entry.
The rust stabilizer on the floorboards is nearly dry, but I'll not begin re-installation of the underlayment and carpet until tomorrow.
I also made contact, via private messaging, with 81SPIDERMATT, who is only 20 miles east of me. In addition, spidernut and I have been PM'ing back and forth, so I've established a couple of really good contacts to help me with my work on Spidey.
4uall has been of great help, with his photo pictorials, in addition!
I find this forum to have some really great members!
Thank you!!
Todd.

[wetminkey]

Just finished carefully removing the red upper and lower console and found about 3/4 of a dollar in change and two dead mice on the tranny hump. It was easy,...although it takes a little wiggling and angling to get the upper console out, and then the lower just angles up from the rear and over the e-brake handle and shifter handle. I have a Sony Xplod stereo head which made things a lot easier, because it just slides out and unplugs.
I repaired a crack along the base of my passenger side rear window pocket this AM with some black silicon caulk, and will aluminum tape it to strengthen the repair after it drys. The red vinyl-covered rear side panels cover that area anyway, and I just re-glued them with 3M contact cement the other day.
I believe that mice could have been entering the car through the e-brake shaft opening, so that will get a split grommet from my "grommet bucket".
That covers all of the possible entries that I can identify,...anything else would be by traversing through sheet metal openings in the body, although I do not see how. I even checked with a mirror to look inside the front and rear shock areas.
Back to cleaning the console and the tranny hump, and then I can begin re-assembly.
This forum, and some help from it's members, have made all this really easy!
Thanks! Todd.

[4uall]

Was at a car show tonight and found a car that was mouse proof

[wetminkey]

Yeah, isn't that a beetle? With a stuffed pussy cat in the passenger seat,...
Todd.

[wetminkey]

The upper and lower consoles came out beautifully (especially for being the originals!) after being heavily Armour All'ed and are re-installed. Working on getting all of the original carpet underlayment back in place,...the firewall pieces are going to be a slight challenge, but I've got a plan. I'll post some pics when I've got the carpet back in place.
Thanks for everybody's help so far!
Todd.

[wetminkey]

Oh, and BTW, my split grommet for the e-brake shaft worked perfectly! More mouse-proofing.
And wait until you all see how beautiful the original red console is re-installed in the car!
Todd.

[wetminkey]

The entire floor and lower firewall are finished with the original asphalt backed jute (or underlayment that I had on hand) to near factory condition. I'll re-install the original red carpet next and try to get those rear seat unibody openings covered with screen this next week to "mouse proof" the trunk.
Todd.

[wetminkey]

Just finished placing the aluminum window screen covers that I fabricated for the rear unibody openings that allow access to the trunk,...geeze, easier said than done!!
I found that to get good clearance to them, I would have to remove the entire convertible top and bows so that the plastic pockets that the rear windows drop into could be removed. I decided to loosen things up and work behind the pockets.
I cut and trialed a pair of pieces of window screen multiple times until I was sure that they were the right shape, and would cover the unibody holes. Then I created a "frame" on each one with polyesther body filler, pressed them flat, and set them in place, when dry, with black silicone caulk using a myriad of long tools.
I'll need to touch up a couple of spots with the black silicone, but otherwise, the trunk is mouseproof, even if they gain access to the interior of the car!
And with seabeelt's help, I've identified the under-hood accesses to the interior, and plugged them with body plugs from my stash.
I think "Spidey" is mouseproof now. Pics ASAP.
Todd.

[wetminkey]

Here's the pics that I had time for yesterday. First is what I produced for the passenger's rear unibody hole, just coming out of my improvised "press":



And second, the best picture I could get of the installed driver's side mouseproofing. Again, I was working behind the rear window "pocket",...



Point is, it worked, and the trunk is mouseproofed.
In the engine bay, I was simply able to use standard vehicle body plugs that I had on hand. I'll still need to pull my plastic inner fender liners up front and check for the two body plugs that seabeelt told me about (on the steel fender channels). Otherwise, the car is mouseproofed.
I had to do this due to the need to store the car during the winter alongside my Superbeetle in my building that is about 800 ft from the house and surrounded by fields. The bug has never had a mouse in it, but it's been a chore keeping them out of the Spider! Hopefully, I'll not have that problem now.
I hope this post can help other folks with the same problem.
Todd.

[81SPIDERMATT]

looking good ... behind the map pockets you may have a speaker hole that you should deal with also ....

[4uall]

This might help as well

http://www.hastingsreserve.org/mammals/MiceInCars.html