Complete Header Seal in EPDM

[Jamie N]

This is the one that I have been the most eager to develop, a full and complete header seal with the side parts, all in EPDM rubber, it took a fair while and a mountain of experimentation but I have finally cracked the nut, (along with my sanity ) . Once I had finally sussed the whole thing out and managed to make the first prototype that fitted and looked how I wanted it to be, I was then able copy that one and made another 5 fairly quickly considering the time it took to get the first one , its not so much the making them that was the problem it was developing a method to begin with.

The side sections have been made to replicate the originals as close as possible and I have made the intermediates to go with them the same way, virtually an exact copy of the original intermediate but in rubber.

I had wanted to do this one more than any since I got my first Elan way back, I always knew they held in a lot of water but I was shocked when I removed the original one, the car has not been out in rain for many months and has sat in the garage at all times yet the seal was still sodden inside, this is one the reasons that latch screws are often rusted solid, constantly damp from waterlogged sponge.

Again pictures are never great at showing these sort of things but gives a rough idea.



This is the header with the matching intermediates made to replicate the shape of the originals, others I have done were with a lip.
One of the main inspirations for me doing these seals is to make the whole hood look really neat and tidy, the comparison between this picture and what it looked like when it arrived here with the originals is like night and day.


Picture with the hood closed, getting the side sections positioned exactly where they need to be can take a while but well worth the effort, this setup shown here is completely sealed watertight.

[niall]

That all looks like a wonderful piece of work. Congratulations.

[Fredjohn]

Nice work, but are you suffering from erectile dysfunction??

Mine stays up without external support

[LotusEnthusiast]

That looks fantastic! I will pay you if I could get one from you please!

[Rice crispy]

Likewise I'm interested in one

[novacaine]

Nice one Jamie! Looks awesome, add me to the list for one please :p well just the front bit

[hodge]

Looks good good good. PM sent.

[WienLot]

That looks fantastic! I will pay you if I could get one from you please!

Me too, please. Would be great thanks !

[Ian T]

I have to agree, that does look good.

I got a perfect indoctrination to 'damp knee syndrome' at Brands Hatch last weekend; that is an experience I would like to minimise...

Well done.

Ian.

[B_land]

Great work I'd like a seal too please, if it fits the S2?

B

[Peter D]

I'm interested too !
Is it the SE or S2 version ?

[Jon]

As ever, looks tip-top! I'm certainly interested!

You really need to set yourself up as a cottage industry the "elan seal man"!!

[Simon_P]

Looks very tidy!

At Brands Hatch Ian Doble mentioned that he had a box of rubber seal in his spare room that would be suitable for the header. I thought he said he had a box of header seals, but it was something from a different project - Geoff is going to make contact so we'll see what turns up.

[Jamie N]

Thanks for the interest Folks, much appreciated.

However I am a bit stumped as to what do here regarding the people that have expressed a desire to have them though, I really need a bit of help with this for a couple of reasons, The main thing is I have not developed these from a commercial viewpoint, not at all, the main goal was to replace my own with something I was happy with as a replacement for the original..... you know what , and the main reasons for doing the others were (1) so that out of five, I could choose the very best one of them for my own car, and because I reckoned the others would have come in useful for the handful of folk I personally know that could have them fitted by myself, and therein leads to another point, I have obviously made them to fit my own Elan as perfectly as I could, but as we know all hoods are set up differently and therefore may not be "exact" straight away and need some adjustments made, so the thought of sending one and the recipient not having the ability to adjust (if needed) gives me a bit of anxiety .

The other point is that I don't have the slightest clue as to what would be a fair price to charge even if I did sell any, I know what kind of effort I have put into them to get to this point and I can honestly tell you that it took a Mountain of devotion to say the least.

But basically for those interested I could potentially make a few but its never going to be "en masse", provided that we can come to some conclusion about the points above I would be willing to make a limited few. Something that could potentially alleviate the possible fitting differences is if either someone could come and get one fitted, or someone feels confident enough that they have "fettling" skills if it is necessary, then that person could have the first one and we can gauge from that?.

Or am I waffling a pile of nonsense , Help me out Guys, im open to suggestions.
Jamie.

[Ian T]

But basically for those interested I could potentially make a few but its never going to be "en masse", provided that we can come to some conclusion about the points above I would be willing to make a limited few. Something that could potentially alleviate the possible fitting differences is if either someone could come and get one fitted, or someone feels confident enough that they have "fettling" skills if it is necessary, then that person could have the first one and we can gauge from that?.

Or am I waffling...

Waffling... Better than sponging perhaps?

Can't help you much with pricing as I don't know the market, or rather there is a wide range due to people like me that like DIY and all the attendant fun, games, frustration and time consumption that goes with avoiding costs and others, who have a life and would rather pay someone else to go through it on their behalf. As I get older I am tending toward the latter, but haven't finally flipped yet.

Accepting that your heart isn't really in mass manufacture your approach above sounds reasonable, maybe post up the 'Make it yourself' thread for the fettlers and offer a small number to desperadoes . I personally expect that provided your car isn't a mangled wreck you may be surprised and the parts you have made will probably fit other cars better than you expect. Especially with some mild adjustment of the hood if it comes down slightly crooked.

And being uncharacteristically cheeky, if you want to PM me what the source of the main length of your new header seal was I might have a go at making it when I do my other ones...

Ian.

[novacaine]

I have obviously made them to fit my own Elan as perfectly as I could, but as we know all hoods are set up differently and therefore may not be "exact" straight away and need some adjustments made, so the thought of sending one and the recipient not having the ability to adjust (if needed) gives me a bit of anxiety .

Jamies' seals are very impressive and look much nicer than the sink sponges, but they are by no means universal. You need to be handy and as Jamie has said patient The rear plates took a fair bit of reshaping to get them to fit at the right width and angles, but this is always going to be the nature of semi custom products for our hand built cars. But if you can put in the time and effort to fit/make them it is well worth it, no wet knee on my drivers side since I fitted them (still need to fit the N/S seals). They had a fair bit of positive praise at the lotus festival, kept me nice and dry on the parade lap

The other point is that I don't have the slightest clue as to what would be a fair price to charge even if I did sell any, I know what kind of effort I have put into them to get to this point and I can honestly tell you that it took a Mountain of devotion to say the least

You other seals are invaluable to me! But these are a little more tricky I think, they have to be worth at least your time + materials + pocket money. Which must put them close to the price of the sponge worm. As long as you get a price your happy with, then I think that is the fair price.

[Ian T]

Yes, I agree there, any price has to cover the time you put in to make these.

Whether we call that profit or pocket money doesn't bother me as I know my 'spare' time is in heavy demand!

And Novacaine - I saw your car at Brands but didn't manage to bump into you - let me know when the next meet is and I will make an effort to come down and say hello.

Ian.

[LotusEnthusiast]

I'll pay you whatever you want for one of these haha Your A-Pillar seals are great, haven't fitted yet though, waiting on getting all of the other seals I need and this is the last one. I know its not a universal fit and might be tricky to make work but I'm sure I can do it. However I am scared about the federal and non federal seals... They might be different but I'm sure it should be fine.

[Ian T]

Here is something that might well help you Jamie - found a company down here that does extrusions, but critically has a very low cost for the die that allows them to make new profiles that they don't already carry in their catalogue.

http://www.walker-rubber.co.uk/s63/Rubb ... 15044.html

They do EPDM in a few different grades and their catalogue stocked stuff is very reasonably priced.

Just thinking that getting a couple of special sections made could make seals much easier to make up from extruded rather than moulded lengths, using the same end-capping methods you are using for the side seals.

It would be a doddle to draw up a profile for the main lengths, but I don't know how you go on with making it turn corners apart obviously from making backplanes and bonding them on. It might also save you having to look for exotic profiles on rare cars in the scrappy too.

Ian.

[GeoffSmith]

So, it looks like nobody ever did update the Wiki with the front bumper rubber lip details.