Seal replacement

[ektrolleyboy]

Can anyone shed any light on the attachement of the rubber seals? Particularly those on the door frame and rear hood stowage.
Mine are knackered! Do they come with a sticky side of are they some how bonded like the A-pillar seals?

I was wondering if it's a job I can do myself or would I be better off giving the car to Paul Matty's, given my mechanical retardedness?

[tweetdriver63]

The service/shop manual in the manuals section shows how. They are basically glued into carrier strips with sikaflex (sealant), and the carriers are attached to the car by screws. You rip the seal out of the carrier, then you are supposed to remove the carrier and either clean it out, or replace it (if they're still avaiable). I cleaned mine out while still attached to the car. Then you follow the instructions in the manual for installing the new seal.

After that, there's a very good chance you'll have to make adjustments to the window glass for it to go up and down properly and seal properly.

[BFG in the BRG]

I've just done mine - allow plenty of time (about a day for the two A-pillar and two days for all of the intermediate and falling pillar) - removal and cleaning of the carriers takes ages - I ended up removing the carriers from the car - but the down side was some of the lower self tappers were badly corroded and so I carefully Dremmeled them out with a grinding wheel - cooling the self tappers with water as I went and used pliers and molegrips to get the old screws out.

I got the Sikaflex from E-bay - make sure you are told of the use-by date - Sikaflex has a 12 month shelf life (I used black Sikaflex 221 I think).

You'll only need one tube - it goes a long way - beware the Sikaflex eventually cures in the tube once opened - apparently it reacts to moisture in the air - so do all your jobs over a few days and store in a cool place - save you buying another tube.

Sikalfex takes overnight to cure, wear plastic/rubber surgical-type gloves (eg from screwfix) and old clothes - the Sikaflex is very sticky when un-cured and gets everywhere - if you need to remove it from your skin or anywhere else - meths works - also good for degreasing the carriers.

The intermediate and falling pillar seals are held in by a phillips-headed bolt and a captive nut which is held in the carrier - if you look carefully at the carrier from inside the car there are two cutouts on each of the black metal carrier immediately behind the rubber seal - that is where the nut is - a philips screwdriver gently pushed against the inner side of the seal will reveal the bolt

I found the A-pillar seals were pretty easy to get right - intermediate and falling pillar were real pigs to get right because you have to get the edges to line up properly - they still ain't right - trouble is youu have to adjust them a bit and then sikaflex them on place - leave it to cure and then adjust again .

Now I am on the lookout for a header rail seal - being as I discovered than whoever did the roof - cut off the back of the seal to ease fitting - (wondered why it was twisted and looked crap - only £200 odd from SJ's )

[ektrolleyboy]

My A-pillars are fine right now. Another year or two left in those.
It's the door seals at the top when they fold over the edge of the door and push against the soft top that are knackered. It then in turn damages the bottom edge of the soft top seals behind the window glass. Super glue has fixed the soft top seals, as they were torn rather than perished. But the door seals look tatty and it bothers me!
I could do with a header rail seal myself, but like you, I saw the price .

[Gazza]

The door seals are quite easy to fix. Just need to pull the old ones off and remove any black sticky stuff remaining on the door frame. The seals have little white pegs in them every 6 inches or so that fit into equally spaced holes in the door.

Just add some sikaflex to the rubber between the pegs and push in place. This is the same as the roof stowage seal.

Only thing is, i didnt think the door seals were available anymore from Lotus or at least one side anyway.

Gazza

[ektrolleyboy]

Unfortunately Gazze you're right!
Bum!
A wasted journey to Paul Matty and now I have to look at my scruffy seals knowing they can't be fixed. Passenger side is available but drivers are not for some strange reason. I guess the drivers side sees more action?
Another A-pillar saga no doubt...

[ektrolleyboy]

Does anyone know the part number and or cost of the seals that sit inside the doors. It's the flat-ish looking seal that sits under the A-pillar and is viewed when the door is open. It lines up with the kick plates... Looks like a small strip.

It stumped Paul Matty Parts Dept'. Somewhat.