After washing my 76 beetle today I noticed water was leaking in from where the radio antenna meets the body, running right down into the front portion of the heater channel. This scares me a big, because there's already rust there and I really don't want it getting worse. As I understand it, repairing it in there would require taking off the quarterpanel and doing some major work...something I would rather save for an off the body resto further down the road. What can I do to stop this leak? I don't want to put rtv sealant or something like that on there, since the paint is still really nice on the car. Are there any other alternatives?
Also, I've got alot of surface rust and chipped paint in the rain channel area. The paint on the car is great, despite a few small rust spots, and I was wondering if there was a way to fix that rust without messing up the rest of the paint. I have a base coat/clear coat pain job if that helps any. I really love this car and I hate to see the rust advancing over the years. I just can't afford to do a full resto on it right now, and I was just wondering if there were any other simpler fixes I could do. Anyway, any advice would be appreciated. Thanks
Jon
76 standard beetle, still fuel injected.