The recent rain forced me into doing a few jobs on the NC2 after finding both footwells slightly damp and one of the rear lamps misting up.
Rear lamp is a very easy job. I ended up replacing the gasket as it was about £9 from MX5Parts but you
could probably get away with cleaning it up and then just dabbing a bit of sealant, i used Sika Lastomer 710, around the gasket and bodywork mating surfaces.
Had a good spell of heavy rain since and so far, it seems to be holding up well.
As for the scuttle grommets, some tips for anyone thinking about embarking on doing this job on their MK3 - mark the angle of the wipers with tape as it'll help with refittment; take pictures of the scuttle panel (corners, middle, bottom of scuttle/top of engine bay) so you can realign it properly when refitting; purchase new scuttle covers (#E016-50796;
MX5Parts) as yours are likely be brittle and snap when removing; and most importantly,
if the grommets look in reasonable condition and not completely mangled, just gunge them in sealant and move on with your life.
However i went with the, "well i've got new grommets, so i might as well do them" approach and i very, very quickly regretted that decision.
So even after watching nearly ever guide on Youtube and various forums, i could not for the life of me get either of my grommets out using the the usual methods of plastic interior and prying tools or pliers and grips to release the clips and pull them out. After a couple of hours i had to revert to brute forcing them out using screwdrivers which, even with trying to be as careful as possible and attempting to not damage anything, resulted in mangled holes stopping the new grommets fitting.
Another few hours of rudimental body work and painting the exposed metal got the new grommets fitting and i could then slather them in sealant and refit everything.
So a supposed 30-60 minute job ended up being a good 4-5 hours of stress and non-stop cursing.
This has to be one of the worst designs on the car and whoever came up with it and signed it off needs a good slap. But the footwells have remained dry, so that's something i guess.
Next job is to grab some Aquasteel and tackle a few spots of surface rust behind the dash where water has got in - hopefully that'll be an easier task...
P.s - No pictures because i wasn't particularly in the mood given there were a fair few times i was searching for the nearest cliff to push the bloody thing off of.
