Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

OK, ok, I know this subject has just about been beaten to death, but........
I am so close to finishing this torture off......
I have tried seals from PM, Sue Miller, Bean (US), woolies, etc etc. All these seals made door closure near impossible.
I do have the original door seals, theyre tatty but i could tart up and reused, except....after tarting up, when offered to the door aperture, both seals came up about 4 inches short!
Now, I am sure I can recall reading a post by a chap who had the same problem with the original seals from an S4, i.e. apparently shrinking, he asked if anyone had experienced this and could the seals be stretched back into shape. Ive tried to find his post but have been unable to do so. Can anyone help? Did he resolve the issue?
Regards
Bob

I doubt you could stretch rubber, with heat. It would shrink again.
What happens when you align the striker with the new seal. And/or the hinges?

You could consider cutting the hump “D” out, so it is only covering interior trim and rand/edge of door opening. Also, you could elevate some of the “D”. And/or only leaving 2-3mm of where the “D” leaves the “C”
Probably I should make a drawing!

Obviously not perfect as it could allow water, dust. Though if it is that tight, maybe not. And if you have many meters to spare.

That might have been me.......

I did exactly the same thing as you, i rebuilt the car not knowing the seal was that much of an issue. I got samples from all the usual suspects and all the manufactures i could think of with no joy, so i spent some quality time gluing the original seal back together only to find out it was 2 or 3 inches shorter after being sat for six months in a box ...... i thought if it shrunk it could be stretched back so the seal has been round two beams in the roof of my garage with weights attached to either end for the last year or so but thats not worked......

Sadly the best i could do was to buy the softest bulb seal i could find. I managed to adjust the doors so they were a little tight but closed without sticking out but it's messed up the fit under the screen pillar.

One of my biggest regrets that i didn't modify the doors before i painted the car.

Strangely the biggest issue was getting the seal fully on, if the seal isn't fully on it catches the bottom of the door which makes the problem ten times worse.

The bulb bit wasn't that bad, i just adjusted the door too tight for a week in the summer and when i adjusted it back to the right place it had really helped.

Hi Chris
damn, thats another solution to the problem dashed!!!
Is your old seal like this in cross section???
Which seal source did you eventually use??
regards
Bob

Hi again Chris,
Is your nightmare a coupe or a drophead? Im assuming a Coupe. Ive been fitting my doors to the bodyline then trying the various seals. When I recently fitted the original truncated seals, the doors once again closed quite nicely.
I was thinking, if anyone out there has ditched his/her original seals and replaced with new, would they be prepared to part with them or bits of them so that I could do some grafting???? Of course the seal cross section would need to be the same as mine!
Bob

My car is a DHC S4/Sprint in very early Sprint config.

My original seal looks like the one on the left in the picture below.
(Picture is a google special so i hope the original poster doesn't mind me using it)



Taking into account it was probably a couple of years ago now i went through all this aggravation, i think it was the Sue Miller seal i ended up using because it fit the lip on the body the best.

I agree the stock seal makes the doors fits really well, when i first picked up the car i noticed that the doors were flush and i'd never seen one that good that hadn't been modified.

This is my door fit with the original seal fitted, the door takes next to no effort to catch (if you gently push it from half open it would fully shut)


and this is the best i could achieve with the new seal, this now requires a moderately hard slam to shut it.


Not the best pictures but the first picture the door is flush (might even be set slighting in from memory) and the second protrudes approximately 5mm. The most annoying thing about the new seal is to get the door to close with sensible force required the top hinge/ball and cup to be adjusted in such a manor the door sticks out at the bottom of the a pillar (which drives me mad)

I managed with seal from Matty but it was not quite the same.
Anything from this outfit more to your liking?

http://www.automobiletrim.com/how-to-order.html

Or this is getting close?

https://coh-baines.co.uk/product/dx-73- ... -excluder/

Another biggish issue is getting the grip to be wide enough for the body and trim in the door frame and not too big for the windscreen rail.
Along with 3 hands to get the fabric nicely taut as well


On an aside about usual suspects not getting it right I had to buy door cap window weatherstrip from a 3rd party because both Matty and SJS were supplying stuff much too tall - it was half the price as well

Seems that we have many individual opinions / solutions, I'm grateful for all information, i guess i'll just have to keep battling on......I just wonder if someone out there has located the true solution, maybe even has OEM NOS tucked away and is awaiting peak rarity value!!!
thanks to all
Bob

I’m in the same boat as I’m reusing the original tatty seal post respray.

I’m given to understand that seal was used on Austin/Morris 1100 family. Perhaps we should search out any specialists who look after those ?

Regards
Richard

bloodknock wrote:Seems that we have many individual opinions / solutions, I'm grateful for all information, i guess i'll just have to keep battling on......I just wonder if someone out there has located the true solution, maybe even has OEM NOS tucked away and is awaiting peak rarity value!!!
thanks to all
Bob

you're not alone, and it's been a while...

as for OEM NOS, I've had a go on occasion (including Europa's) but some claim that in period there was also a bubble profile installed... (in any case it does not fit well imho, just so you know, so double check in case photos are conveniently fuzzy).

Last time I spoke to Vincent Haydon he was having the original trim remade so you might try him.

Vincent Haydon ?????? Any contact details???

I've got interest here so I've been following this thread. Is it these folks?
http://vincenthaydoncars.com/

Yes that's him.