3.5 Year Shell Restoration, build finally started

strugrat

Club Member
Interior now pretty much sorted with a few minor jobs still on the snag list, overall not too bad.

Need to glue the door and hatch seals in. Was too cold this weekend and the adhesive was a complete nightmare to work with.

Few pics.

Could use some advice on a few things though!

  • Drivers side door frame is about 8mm proud in the corner. There is no more adjustment in the frame left. Does anyone else have this issue?

  • The door seals (new) do not seal to the door frame along any part of it. Obviously its much worse where the frame sits proud of the quarter window. Is it supposed to be like this?

IMG_20190202_175733.jpg IMG_20190203_214604_262.jpg IMG_20190203_214604_263.jpg IMG_20190203_214604_265.jpg IMG_20190203_214604_268.jpg
 

jonbills

Membership Secretary
Site Administrator
Do you mean the door window frame doesn't line up against the 1/4 glass frame?
Is that what you're showing in the last pic (or is the door open?)
 

uk66fastback

Club Member
I am not sure how the frames are secured - is it possible to 'create' any more adjustment somehow? Others who have refitted these things will have more of an idea ...
 

jonbills

Membership Secretary
Site Administrator
Your door seal doesn't look like it's got a bulb (is that the right word?) facing the door. I think it should have shouldn't it?
 

Rob Gaskin

Treasurer
Staff member
Site Administrator
Yeh the door seal isn't specific to the car is it? It looks flat so I can understand why it doesn't seal. However when they have a good seal it can be hard to get the door to fit correctly with the rear quarter (or even shut without slamming). You may have the better of two evils.

Does your window rise a fall ok? If you have no more adjustment to bring it in at the top you may have to bend it but why?

The guys who have done this a few times will know more than me.
 

strugrat

Club Member
Yeh the door seal isn't specific to the car is it? It looks flat so I can understand why it doesn't seal. However when they have a good seal it can be hard to get the door to fit correctly with the rear quarter (or even shut without slamming). You may have the better of two evils.

Does your window rise a fall ok? If you have no more adjustment to bring it in at the top you may have to bend it but why?

The guys who have done this a few times will know more than me.

The door seal is the precision rubber one that I think MSA and Vintage Rubber supply. The window at the drivers side rises and falls ok but is tight as it engages on the frame on the drivers side (would get worse if I bent the frame).

The passenger side is spot on.

I just want it to look right and at the moment I am worried that its not really watertight!
 

strugrat

Club Member
Your door seal doesn't look like it's got a bulb (is that the right word?) facing the door. I think it should have shouldn't it?

It does have one but it isn't very big, they are the precision rubber seals from Vintage Rubber but I bought them in 2014! (which shouldn't matter)
 

jonbills

Membership Secretary
Site Administrator
My driver's door is similar, both alignment and tight winding up.
I've always assumed the door was distorted when repaired back in the 90s. I have a California replacement waiting to fit this winter. I guess that will prove whether its the door or the hole in my case.
 

strugrat

Club Member
My driver's door is similar, both alignment and tight winding up.
I've always assumed the door was distorted when repaired back in the 90s. I have a California replacement waiting to fit this winter. I guess that will prove whether its the door or the hole in my case.

Does it sit tight to the door seal along the frame? And if not have you been caught in the rain? If so do you take a shower while sat in the car!?
 

jonbills

Membership Secretary
Site Administrator
Does it sit tight to the door seal along the frame? And if not have you been caught in the rain? If so do you take a shower while sat in the car!?
I used to have a problem with the upper rear section of the window frame not touching the seal. It wasn't a problem with water coming in, but was a problem with wind noise and some nasty air turbulence making it vibrate at speed.
I bought some thicker bulb seal from ebay that I use now in that section which is much better.
But I still bought another door :-O
 

strugrat

Club Member
I used to have a problem with the upper rear section of the window frame not touching the seal. It wasn't a problem with water coming in, but was a problem with wind noise and some nasty air turbulence making it vibrate at speed.
I bought some thicker bulb seal from ebay that I use now in that section which is much better.
But I still bought another door :-O

Thanks. Well at least I wont get wet. I haven't glued the door seals in yet so maybe time to get some thicker bulb seal.
 

Albrecht

Well-Known Forum User
Could use some advice on a few things though!

Drivers side door frame is about 8mm proud in the corner. There is no more adjustment in the frame left. Does anyone else have this issue?

The door seals (new) do not seal to the door frame along any part of it. Obviously its much worse where the frame sits proud of the quarter window. Is it supposed to be like this?

If there's no more adjustment to move the whole door shell IN at the hinge area (you can use factory shims to move it OUT) then one solution is to shave down the surface of the hinge at its face, where it joins the door frame. You can take several mm off both top and bottom hinge faces. This moves the door shell IN towards the body, allowing you to use the factory shims to move it OUT to where it lines up. The wild card here is the front wing/fender. Replacements (new or used) are often subtly different in shape, and even originals can change shape quite a lot when worked on. Lining your door shell up to that can be a challenge...

It might be helpful to differentiate between the door shell and the (stainless) door window frame. Ideally you'd want to be lining up and gapping the door shell on the body first, and then fit the window frame and window. The window frame should be adjusted to fit the door shell and the rest of the bodyshell (door shell takes priority). You should be able to make it fit, as there is quite a lot of adjustment available in the various fixings. The window itself should follow the frame, but the window too has a lot of adjustment available via the winder mechanism and guides. It's a faff, but as long as everything is 'correct' (rather than Frankensteined together from unknown bits) it should be possible to get it lined up fairly well.

Door rubbers give endless problems. For me, there's no real substitute for the two-piece factory originals on a pre-73 car. The seals from Precision had a poor reputation for some time, and I believe they modified the design later? One of the problems is that aftermarket suppliers tend to supply a one-type-fits-all item when there was quite a big variation over the 9 year life of the S30-series models.
 

Albrecht

Well-Known Forum User
That actual seal would need replicating though. Have you anything at that part of the join?

Quite a complicated subject, as the 'early' cars (certainly pre-'74) didn't have the full seal at the quarter window front edge. That front edge of the (metal) quarter window frame was painted matt black, and had two small seals which were glued to the top and bottom corners. Later design had the single piece seal which was a slide-in fit to the frame.
 
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