356 door seals

[Peter Roberts]

I will be shortly fitting new door seals. In the door seal groove are several tags which i am told are meant to secure the seal in addition to gluing. How do you use these?
Do you put a small slit in the seal slide them in before bending them over or is there another way.

[Ignatzcatz]

I really don't know but I remember when fitting the seals in for the quarter lights I did have to cut them to allow the two hinges to poke through and then they sat into the bodywork nicely. I queried this with Messrs Roger Bray at the time and they informed me that this was correct. So I would think you may be right in thinking a slit in the seals would be correct but I can also remember breaking all my tags off and grinding them smooth because I thought they were a little incongruous. However I am certain many DDKers' far more learned than I will be able to fully answer your query.

[Winston Teague]

Ba$$ard Door seals.....
The most annoying job when fitting up my car. Bought Porsche seals, hoping it would be a do-it-right-do-it-once soloution. WRONG!
Talk to Mike or Paul at PRS about seals, then buy what they tell you, from them. The knowledge they have is immense and based on experience. The Porsche seal was too fat and the wrong profile. The PRS seal fits well. there is also an annoying rubber flap that goes on the door structure top front. I used the prongs to hold it on, but also needed some dabs of superglue (sorry Mike). The bonnet seal is as much misery too, same but different. Good Luck. W

[Julian Hunt]

Bought Porsche seals, hoping it would be a do-it-right-do-it-once soloution. WRONG!

There are early and late door seals, the seals Porsche supply are for T6 & C.
There are early and late bonnet seals, too!

[Winston Teague]

Indeed Julian, but Porsche list different seals or seal part numbers for T5 & T6 and they believe they've got it covered! W

[Julian Hunt]

Indeed Julian, but Porsche list different seals or seal part numbers for T5 & T6 and they believe they've got it covered! W

Oh, interesting! I thought Porsche just sold the late seal for everything. (and Stoddard sold the early seal for everything)
I guess it's all changed now.

[VCG]

Hello, I have also been doing these and was lucky enough to have some superb advice from a brilliant upholsterer.

We don't have tabs on our car but my method was to have a few dry runs trying out the best method to get it installed, ensuring the seal was seated properly and the door would close. I found curling the seal away from the channel and feeding it in cm by cm pushing it home with your fingers then, with the appropriate sized bit of wood, tapped it in to ensure it was seated properly so the door would close.

The crucial piece of advice was to put an undercoat of adhesive (Alpha adhesive S1358 High Heat Resistant Contact Adhesive) onto the body and leave it go right off overnight. Then put another layer of glue on the body and the rubber and immediately install the seal whilst there is some movement in the glue, there won't be much but it gives a little wiggle room, ensure it's seated properly and shut the door and walk away. The dry runs helped a lot with seating it quickly and correctly with the glue applied, probably even more crucial to be familiar with this when holding tabs need to be negotiated

Hope this helps.

[Mike Smith]

We don't have tabs on our car but my method was to have a few dry runs trying out the best method to get it installed, ensuring the seal was seated properly and the door would close. I found curling the seal away from the channel and feeding it in cm by cm pushing it home with your fingers then, with the appropriate sized bit of wood, tapped it in to ensure it was seated properly so the door would close.

The crucial piece of advice was to put an undercoat of adhesive (Alpha adhesive S1358 High Heat Resistant Contact Adhesive) onto the body and leave it go right off overnight. Then put another layer of glue on the body and the rubber and immediately install the seal whilst there is some movement in the glue, there won't be much but it gives a little wiggle room, ensure it's seated properly and shut the door and walk away. The dry runs helped a lot with seating it quickly and correctly with the glue applied, probably even more crucial to be familiar with this when holding tabs need to be negotiated

VERY GOOD Advice - These jobs take time

[Peter Roberts]

Thanks for that great advice advice. Am i right in assuming you fit in two parts. The rear upright and the front and top with a 45 deg cut at the rear top corner. With regard to the tabs it seems nobody knows how the tabs should be bent in . There are only two ways i can see it can be done. 1) a small slit in the seal slide it over the tab and then bend the tab flat. 2)Bend the tab flat after the seal has been fitted and the glue has gone off.
If they were not needed i cannot see why Porsche would fit them in the first place so they must serve some purpose.

[VCG]

Mine are in 2 parts as you describe and, as Mike says, it takes time, far more than you would think. I'm still working on the drivers side, it just won't sit properly in the channel all the way around so I'm using an off cut to find the where it is not seating properly and then I'll maybe shave a bit off the sides of the square profile section at those points. What with everything new, and things thicker than original, the paint definitely is, and the paint also seems to hold onto the rubber so it needs a good push/belt to get it in plus some innovative pushing tools made from shaped wooden dowels.

Be a darn site easier if someone would develop a soap that transformed itself into glue once it was seated properly, any wizards/witches out there good at spells? Good luck

[VCG]

Quick update on the drivers side installation;
Having gone all around the channel with the off cut and chalk marked the areas where it was really difficult to get the square bit pushed in I decided there was less potential for a damaging cock up to sand the rubber as opposed to the paint. I got a steel rod, that would fit inside the square profile of the rubber and a sanding block with medium grit paper and, using the steel rod as a support, sanded the sides of the profile until it could be pushed into the channel and I could shut the door. As you can imagine this took a while but I don't think it is a good idea to cut away the sides as I believe you would loose the 'push back' of the rubber which forms the seal. I left this for a while, with the door shut, to settle in, then pulled it out a few times for trial fittings and a bit more sanding in the tightest spots then glued it in using the method outlined earlier. It still took a lot fiddling, pushing and hooking with shaped dowels, scribes & picks, particularly where the fluffy headliner is and near the end when the glue had become very grippy, but it's in and the doors shut.

On an entirely different subject I have recently used the company Replica Parts for some bits and bobs and they and the bits I have bought are superb. With a bit of lubricant the speedo cable grommet slid in beautifully and formed a perfect seal with no fiddling necessary. I also had a chance to have a look at some of their other rubber bits and they are also superb, I particularily like the quality of the compound and the joints, e.g. on their windscreen rubbers.

Hope this helps someone.

PS I Forgot to mention earlier prior to putting the glue on all surfaces were wiped over with iso propyl alcohol to ensure they were nice and clean.

V

[Peter Roberts]

Well i finally got around to fitting my door seals and based on the tales of woe i have heard about fitting it was not that bad.
First thing i noticed was the a screw that holds the coat hook on was sticking out into the back top corner so removed this before starting.
I was recommended Evostick "Time bomb" glue as it does give you some time to work the seal into the grove before it goes off. This worked rather well as it is applied with a paint brush.
Washing off the talcum powder was a pain especially in the groove but a good blast with the air gun and a good wash seemed to take care of that.
Tools used were only a screw driver and the handle of a 4" paint roller which forced the seal well into the groove. I also masked off the painted areas to stop overflow of glue
I started in the back top corner and worked about 6" at a time holding the seal in place for a few mins for the glue to go off. It got easier and as my confidence grew i was doing about 12" at a time.
On occasions it was obvious that it was not going fully into the groove but peeling back the lip and forcing it in with the screwdriver sorted that out then i held it in with the roller handle.
Trimming the bottom was fun as you have to cut off the back part that fits into the groove and leave the seal longer than the groove so that it comes onto the sill.
All in all it has turned out to be a very satisfactory finish but i have to ask a question. Why is everything on this car so difficult and fiddly to assemble. Stripping everything out was simple. Reassembling can be a nightmare.

[Peter Roberts]

I spoke too soon. Fitting the door seals was straightforward but when i fitted the door theer was no way it would close. Nearest i could get was about10mm proud of being flush with the body which is a ridiculous amount for a rubber seal to hold off the door.
My first thought was that it was hinge bound on the front face of the door. Put some blobs of bluetac on the face and closed the door. The resultant squash showed there was plenty of Clearance.
Pulled the seals off the B post up as far as the window frame and the door closed perfectly so i had somewhere to start.
With the seal out of the way and the door closed i checked the clearance between the door and the edge of the seal groove on the B post and could not believe what i saw. I know these are hand built cars but I thought the shape of the flange on the seal groove would follow the contour of the door pretty closely. No way. the flange was about 6mm from the door inner skin for the top 4 ". It then opened up as you went down the door to about 18mm by the time i was half way down the door. it then narrowed to 6mm again for the bottom 4". I should add this is a fairly new OEM door and is in perfect condition.
With this variation shaving the seal would do nothing so i took drastic action. Where the gap was narrowest I cut away half the section of seal that fits into the groove. This still left a few mm's of flange on the seal to slide into the groove. Where the flange was a long way away from the door i left the seal complete to take up the big gap.
Re glued the seal in and closed the door for the night.
Next day i checked the fit. The door closed and the seal did seal on the door all the way down.
So my advice to anyone fitting seals is to check the gaps between the flange and the closed door before fitting the seal then trim the back of the seal accordingly.