That’s right, you are demonstrating that the rubber doesn’t expand. It has been kept compressed while the door was closed and if the door is then left open for an extended period of time, it merely returns to its original uncompressed shape.
My point is that you fettle the new uncompressed rubber seals so they seal but with a minimum of applied force and thus you can close the door without slamming.
A typical example is that if a channel holding a rubber seal is pop rivetted into the body, then where the seal rides over those rivets, it’d be much too thick. Dremel off the rear of the seal sitting over the rivet and you’d find it still seals the same, but doesn’t appear too thick at those places or now require disproportionately more force than elsewhere along its length. Put “another way”, you might say that the seal doesn’t expand if the door is left open.
yes, basically a semantics discussion, but we both understand the concept.
And yes, if I wanted to go through the effort of ripping out the seals and refitting with the care you describe (as should be done on initial installation), I’m sure I could improve the closing dynamics of my doors. But, as I said, it’s not a problem and it has a very satisfying, solid sound when it closes.
Please don’t take it the wrong way, but I’d be uncomfortable with doors that close as easily as yours do with new seals. My '61 and '67 Mercedes roadsters close very similarly, but with 50+ year old seals (in very nice shape). I’d rather with new seals the doors close with gentle force, that 95% of people would apply to close the door. Over time, as the rubber ages and shrinks, they would still make a seal. Just my worthless 2 cents.
Well the striker is fastened by bolts that fit into a drilled plate inside a retainer cage .There is some freedom to find the best position.In my case I need more "freedom "
I removed both new strikers and did some add’l thickness measurements. These are “new” and from one of our usuals. Hard to believe the new parts are so badly made! Refer to these measurements:
Left Side: front top=16.0mm; front bottom=16.3mm; rear top=16.4mm; rear bottom=16.6mm
Right Side: front top=17.0mm; front bottom=17.3; rear top 16.9mm; rear bottom=17.0mm
Comments? Is this acceptable tolerances? Does anyone know where I can buy OE used strikers?
I just did the test on my FHC and it passed 3 times on each door. The driver side door had a couple of rubber pieces replaced about 10 years ago. The passenger side I think is still original rubber but I do need to replace a couple of pieces on it also. Best I can tell the doors have never been off the car.
I just purchased a mini milling machine so that I remove approx 1/16 inch off of the strikers. I know this may seem a bit frivolous, however I cant wait 6 months to a year for one of the usuals to retool and make these parts with the correct dimensions. I will find other uses for this very cool tool!
Question… In order to remove some of the aluminum material, I need to remove the rivets and then reinstall once I have the aluminum blocks ground to the OE dimension.
What type of rivets are these? I know the dimensions are 1/8 inch x 1/2 or 9/16 inch. However, the pressed end of these rivets do not look like the std pop rivets that I have been using on the XKE.
Any advice on the rivets is greatly appreciated!
Thanks,
Bob
Had my strikers apart to chrome the steel plate.
For the rivits I made my own from brass rod that that is the size as the hole. Using soft brass you can create the coutersunk head on the rod with a small hammer and a jig with the right V shaped hole to flare the brass rod. When assembling the 2 pieces place the striker on its face and tighten up the rivits from the back side.
Say Bob, when you have those apart could you lay a couple tape measures alongside and snap a picture of the innards if you get the chance? I think I want to make a pair for my car that has none hence no pattern. Also a fly cutter would be best for sizing the sides of the aluminum. Now that you have a milling machine plan on 3 times the mill cost for tooling and then 2 years to buy a bigger one and start all over on the tooling , then there’s the lathe (s), the 1800’s shaper, the welders and…
Here are a couple of pics. The innards contain a small lock wedge piece that floats on a small rod and spring and also has a small pin on the front end. I need to retake the pics with the tape measure. Also need to pull the innards out so you can see all of the various pieces.
Will this this in the next few days.
Bob
Thank you for the pictures Bob. The straight on picture has probably enough information to reproduce those since the bolt centers are a known quantity on my car. Now I’ll just have to rumage around for my box of gear hobbs!
, then there’s the lathe (s), the 1800’s shaper, the welders and…
