so I’ve scoured the web looking for how the factory intended for the door to fender joint (weather seal) to work but it’s still unclear. This is not my car but a good image of what I THINK this should look like. but who knows…
what is up with this joint? I cannot imagine how any configuration would be even remotely water tight after a while… surely I’m not the only one to have battled this. any thoughts?
water comes across the cowl, into the channel between the door and the cowl, turns the corner between the downward weather seal (push on bulb) then down the inner door hinge face, into the hinge hole, down the inner structure, and down onto the door sill, into the interior of the car entering at the front of the door down into the floorboard.
A few thoughts, Is the horizontal seal a bit too long thus preventing the water flowing down forward of the vertical seal? Were the original factory seals all one piece with no possible gap at the 90 degree angle which you have circled in red?
Your car looks very similar to mine. Black, beige interior and that BAS carpet that has the pink tint to it.
I’m not sure where you got your seals from. It is hard to tell from the picture if it is the same as mine. The top seal on my car has a 90 degree molded block section that comes down the side of the door about one inch and then blends into the seal that comes around the door. The two pieces are then glued together. My seals have been in for nine years now (how time flies). I have no issues with wind noise or water intrusion in this area,
Micah, I wish that were my car but it’s not, just a good photo I found online to represent the best effort at making that seal work… it’s a gorgeous car, unfortunately, mine’s not!
I think we have all come to the same conclusion though. The original seal was likely some convoluted piece or just simply glued within an inch of it’s life to turn the corner and not allow water down onto the shut panel.
I have ordered a handful of short sample pieces of seals to try and make something that will accomplish this with the least amount of gluing and fabrication… will report back with my findings.
Could you do what the examples on the Kriss website show in that they use some rubber tubing to form a smoother curvature at the areas where the rubber is compressed which also allows water flow through the hose. Have a look here:
wow, that is a good solution! unfortunately the circumstance here is that there is a decided gap between one seal and another. so the only reasonable solution is to either glue them together or have some molded piece to bridge the gap. I will totally do this on my next etype or mk2 build
