Water leak on front passenger side

[algtrader]

Hello,

It rained hard in Southern California last week. My 66 Lemans was parked outside and when I got inside I saw the front passenger side has about 1/2" of water on the floor.

What the? The driver's side was dry, only the front passenger side was soaking wet. Where could be the source of the water leak?

I removed the piece of metal under the windshield wipers and saw there was opening in the cowling. See pics. Could water go in there and end up in the passenger flooring? Even if it did, shouldn't the water drain outside and not in the car?

 

[melsg5]

cars dont come with drain holes in the passenger compartment, if you went through a deep puddle water would get in from underneath.
use a water hose to soak sections of the car at a time to determine the source of the leak. Quite possibly the windshield.

 

[cammerjeff]

If it is water getting in I would also suspect the windshield, but with it being on the passenger side it can also be a leak around the heater box on the firewall, or a door seal on that side.
Now it could also be a leaking heater core. When the heater core rots out the leaking coolant usually ends up on the passenger side floorboards.