The "Fabricate your own Hood seals" thread!.

[Siverm100seturbo]

Hi Jamie...
I have just purchased a Silver M100 SE turbo from a dealer in Glasgow.. The car has covered almost 113000 miles ..
The dealer gave me a lady's telephone number in Scotland who have just spoken to.. She gave me your elan central details and told me to contact you through this forum

I understand that you have worked quite often on the car, so would be very interested in talking to you if possible please.about the cars previous history. . Very little service history came with the car, but was informed that the cambelt and tensioner had been changed in July this year. I was also told new modified hood seals were fitted recently...
I am based in South Wales near Port Talbot and have driven Lotus for 37 years now, owning 5 Esprits, Sunbeam lotus, Elan and Europas in that period.. Hope you don't mind me getting in touch.. Cheers and thanks.. Leighton...

[par]

This for sale thread should give you a good bit of history of the car, pity you didnt buy direct from Jamie as I am sure it would have been a far more pleasant experience and better deal:-

Silver Elan

p.s. Welcome to the forum lots of great information and help on here

[Siverm100seturbo]

Thank you for the link ....most interesting, and i was aware of the cat D issue - it doesnt worry me at all .

Great info on brakes , cambelt and hood seals ..i need to take a closer look at the rear brake mod .

I have just changed oil , filter , air filter , plugs and renewed coolant/ antifreeze .. no need to worry about cambelt now

If you could please contact me Jamie , i would love to chat to you regarding this Elan

Regards
Leighton

[dapinky]

Leighton,

Welcome to LEC.

It seems that over the last 6-12 months, more Elans are finding their way into this bit of Wales.... there have long been a few further East (Barry/Ponty/Newport areas), but now they're venturing West.

LDC have a 3-day Driving Weekend around Pembrokeshire, which I have tagged onto in the past, and there are regular Classic Car drives & meetings all over the place (as you probably know if you've had Lotus before).

[Siverm100seturbo]

Dapinky..

Yes i've seen the LDC group gathering in Saundersfoot a few years ago, my good mate with an exige is a member and goes away quite often with them.. I'm still a member of CL (37 YRS NOW)...

[clemo]

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 3762791478

This is what you are all looking for.
They don't come up very often.

[Kathryn]

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F153762791478

This is what you are all looking for.
They don't come up very often.

Oh, I missed out on that!

However, I bought some of this https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre ... 2584961903 and it has made such a difference. No leaks and I have been out in some heavy rain lately!

F6314813-BE33-4305-BD31-DFD57BC0EC7C.jpeg

And I’m doing the LDC Pembrokeshire Driving Adventure next year!

[dapinky]

And I’m doing the LDC Pembrokeshire Driving Adventure next year!

With the weather we've had here the last few days you'll need all the waterproofing you can get

[djwazza68]

After a torturous day trying to service my daughter's Audi A2, I thought I might take a minute to update on my roof seal quest. So far I have created just the centre seal on the hood using offcuts I had from the breakers yard, but the seal on the window is good so far; how effectively I can make them integrate with the other new seals will be discovered as I go along.

Superglue has proved ideal to glue the bits together... seal from a Renault Clio 2003 and a thin door seal from another Renault I think.

So the photos are as follows:

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Will take some better photos in good daylight, but you get the idea. I also need to get some flat rubber for the end of the seal so that when I create the adjacent ones they actually seal against each other, something the old seals never did.

[djwazza68]

Front seal half way created now, superglue remains my best friend. I have to take the plunge to chop off the old foam front section from the header sponge soon, but a trial fit proves that it does fit and the hood closes. I did find that the pressure of the seal is slightly pushing the A-pillar seal away so will have to adjust the profile slightly.

Not keen on the dust that is blown off when angle grinding, the cough I've got is either from that or COVID 19... I'm now wearing an old MOD respirator when cutting!

I really need some sheet rubber to finish off the ends of the seals and the top of the front seal before I can really test fit; any ideas where I might get some would be appreciated, the offcuts I have are too narrow to achieve a neat finish.

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[Saltire]

Something like this any good?

[dapinky]

Do you know anyone who does flat roofing? many such tradesmen use sheet rubber as the waterproof layer on large flat roofs and they will let you have a bit??

or Ebay has the usual selection options....

[djwazza68]

Well I've finished the Front seal after discovering a small sheet of rubber that I'd ordered to make some indicator seals for my Midget. I'll post pictures tomorrow; the Tigerseal proved effective at filling gaps between the rubber and the old seal. They look good on the car and seem to prevent wind whistling through, which was a 'feature' of the old ones.

I now need to adjust all the new seals so they butt up against each other and form a seal with the glass, I think this will prove pretty taxing!

Then new door seals to prevent water leakage into the foot wells...

[djwazza68]

Some pictures of the seal, as finished.

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[djwazza68]

Right I’ve finally given up on the Renault seals; perfect watertight fit at the front but the gap created at the falling pillar was too difficult to overcome.

Par (thanks Steve) sent me 2 old versions of Jamie’s A-pillar seals and so I was back to square one with the top seals, as mine had been created specifically to match the Renault front seals. So I decided to pull out the old Lotus sponge seals and see if I could fix them. The front seals were not in good shape with the back 50% missing due to incorrect fitting and plenty of door slamming I presume, plus the usual wear and tear that they get when stowed. The rear seals were also tatty but at least mostly in one piece. So I found some suitable foam (door jam insulation strip) and cut pieces to size and ‘Tigersealed’ them to the old sponge.

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With some careful filing and coating (with more Tigerseal), who dry papering and a couple of repeat performances; I think I now have fully waterproof seals; although I do need to properly hose test them.... when it’s not chucking it down outside! I also need to get the Tigerseal off my hands too.

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[Jamie N]

Keep at it mate, practice will yield results. .

The seals I do now have progressed a long way since the days of these threads though, hard to believe over 6 years have passed , even these ones from a couple of years ago have been refined.

[djwazza68]

Jamie are the one piece front and intermediate seals made from the 207 door seals as previously? My refurb solution will eventually succumb to the rigours of friction, even Tigerseal will fail!

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Therefore I need to come up with the single piece rubber solution on my own and I would guess within 6 months if the hood goes up and down too much. Any advice gladly received.

[shirt]

Keep at it mate, practice will yield results. .

The seals I do now have progressed a long way since the days of these threads though, hard to believe over 6 years have passed , even these ones from a couple of years ago have been refined.

do you sell these jamie?

just started on my build, the current seals came off in sections in my hand so will need the whole lot.

[wedig]

Hi guys,
So I am collecting bits to have a go at this in the new year. I have new intermediate and drivers door to windscreen seal that came with the car. I am hoping to make the other bits, found both NS and OS of an MR2 not sure of need both so might have a spare of someone is searching. Will see what its delivered next week.

[wedig]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124038042143

Has anyone tried the 3M auto rubbers on ebay? £30 so thought worth a play.