Re: [T3] John's Rubbers-Now door seals-

[John Jaranson <jaransonT3@comcast.net>]

<x-flowed>
On Oct 31, 2004, at 7:27 PM, Dave Hall wrote:

> I seem to remember John saying it took more than one Ford Focus seal 
> per door -
> our doors are relatively large, but modern medium car standards (maybe 
> not
> compared with the USA cars).  Also, he pointed out the small holes 
> that make the
> hollow tubes of sponge rubber compress more easily.

OK, OK.  I will give you all the scoop on Sophy's door seals.

I did use Ford Focus door seals.  They work quite nicely, but are a 
little stiff for our doors.  They tend to hold the top of the door (the 
window frame) proud a little.  They also increase the door closing 
efforts.  I think with some time they will settle in and these two 
minor issues will go away.  They seal really well.  With everything 
closed and the windows up, the sunroof poofs up to release the pressure 
when the door is closed.  Doors close much easier when the sunroof is 
open.

It does take slightly more than one Focus seal to go completely around 
the door opening.  I had to add about an 8 inch piece from a third seal 
to each side.  Now I am going completely around the door opening, 
including along the sill, with a single length of bulb seal (plus the 
extra 8 inch piece).  This is a bit different that the DDBs solution, I 
think.  The DDB stops at the edges of the aluminum sill plate and then 
has a seal on the door for the bottom edge.  Correct Martin?

To go completely around I had to modify a set of sill plates, since the 
pinch welt for the bulb seal would not fit over the sill plate.  I 
basically trimmed off the part of the sill plate that goes over the 
flange on the body.  I left the outside vertical flange so that it is 
captured by the pinch welt of the bulb seal.

I used the Focus seals because I happened to have them and my stock 
seals were not in very good shape at all.  I have since added a set of 
decent stock seals so that I am doubly sealed.

I did notice at my local flaps a generic 3M bulb seal that looks like 
it would work reasonable well.  It was 13.5 feet long for about $30.  I 
don't know off hand how far it is around our doors.  But I would guess 
you would need at least 3 of these seals to make it around both doors.  
I think the DDB seal kit alternative is a good way to go and would have 
likely ordered a set if I didn't have the Focus seals available.

BTW, the Focus seals I used were from a 4 door sedan.  I suspect that 
if you got the seals from a 3 door hatchback they would be long enough 
without adding the small filler piece since the 3 door hatchback doors 
are longer to improve ingress/egress to the rear seat.

Later,
John Jaranson
'66 Square (Sophy)
'71 Fasty (Jane - darkside project in waiting)
various parts.....don't we all.
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/jaransonT3/jaransonT3/
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/jaransonT3/2004Invasion/
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/jaransonT3/notavwclub/

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

</x-flowed>