I am trying to figure out the correct way finish the rear quarter window area. My questions are:
Is the aluminum cantrail piece always covered in vinyl matching the interior of the car? My interior is restored to its original red, so it seems a bit odd to have a red strip of vinyl visible between the walnut wood and the window chrome.
Is there a rubber gasket that goes into the lip of the aluminum cantrail, sealing the inner face of the quarter window against the alum cantrail? If so, it is one continuous length of rubber seal, fitting into the alum cantrail pieces, from the front of the door frame, along the top of the door, and around the rear quarter window?
Here is a photo of what mine looked like when i took it apart before restoration. It had black interior, so black vinyl around alum cantrail, then a rubber seal fitting into the cantrail. But that rubber seal was different (smaller) that the rubber seal used in the cantrail on top of the door.
See my notes below on the subject, although these relate to my XK 140 FHC and I don’t know whether they differ and to what extend. They may be of help …
Thanks, Bob. That is veryt helpful! I would say is looks basically the same as the 120. Questions:
Is Rexine the same as vinyl? The first page shows 30mm vinyl covering the alum trim, and the second says covered with Rexine… if I am understanding things correctly.
What color is the vinyl / rexine? Is it black like to match the sealing rubber or is the color of the interior vinyl of the vehicle?
Is the BD2045 sealing rubber one continuous piece, from the front of the door frame, around the top of the door frame, and continuing around the rear quarter window?
My car 679187 certainly has suede green (original interior color) rexine covered pieces between the wood and the chrome frame, which I believe have never been removed.
As you meanwhile understood from the others, Rexine is a brand name for a vinyl based material
Like Rob referred to, Rexine is applied in the interior colour. Also in my case it was Suede Green.
As far as I remember, the BD2045 rubber runs all the way from front to rear.
Another remark in this respect is that many suppliers provide (or provided) Rubber BD2045 in a rather “hard” version which (in my case) lead to problems in getting a good fit of the door as the window chrome doesn’t close “far enough”. The door fitted perfectly with the 50 year old “perished” rubber that was in the car but with the new BD2045 version it was problematic. The fit became somewhat better after I received a softer “sponge/foam” type of rubber which became available some years later. Apparently the “usual suspects” are continuously learning from our comments and feed-back.
from memory the correct rubber at this point isn’t B2045 but a variation on it called BD4616 and the difference being that the glued edged (bottom) has a slit in it and part of the rubber actually goes on the inside of metal lip.
This helps in there is less rubber on outside of car, but the modern supplied BD2045 is certainly no good
I guess you are referring to BD.2012 (BD.4616 is the rubber button for under the bonnet) which is mentioned in the SPCs of the XK 120 and 140. If BD.2012 has indeed the profile you describe, then that would explain the reason for these FHC door problems.
Unfortunately all the part suppliers I know, supply now a replacement for BD.2045 which is therefore a “replacement for a replacement”.
In hindsight I wonder whether I could have modified the BD.2045 (or better its replacement) either by making a slit in it (like you describe) or reducing the height of the side that is glued to the car.
so much for my memory on part number and yes it is BD2012 but in fact this part started life as BD2045 and my guess is that the supplier either ran a knife down the length of it as a slit or the installer ran a knife along it as the cut/slit is through the outer surface to the inner part it wasn’t moulded that way.
I will do a nice drawing.
Yes, I am having problems with door fitment and the hard seals. Can’t use the ones i bought from SNG and XKs Unlimited. I ordered several softer types from Steele and Restoration Specialties, and will see what works.
Could you keep us informed whether the softer seal types actually help in obtaining a better door fitment? It is really sad to see otherwise proper restored FHC’s having these door issues.
Yes, mine has the original seals, which are still soft after 68 years, but getting a bit torn up, so I too would like to hear about new repros good and bad.
After trying a host of various seals, I ended up going with Steele 83-1048-73. It is a D shaped seal, and very soft and compressible. While it doesn’t have the same profile as the original, it does seal well. And you can get the door window and rear quarter window to align with one another. I hated to depart from the original profile, but in this case the original materials are just not available. And at some point you have go for functionality. The seal profile is not very obvious.anyway.
FYI, the runner up was #96009 from Restoration Specialties. I didn’t like it quite as well since it was a bit thicker and didn’t compress quite as miuch. But the biggest problem I had with it was that the extra height caused it roll over rather than compress, when the door was shut against it.
Hello! I´m Boris and I´m new here. I´ve got the same troubles with the seals BD2012. There is a picture in the book “XK120 Anatomie eines Kultobjekts Teil 2”. Until now i don´t know where I can get it.
You cant get it as such…
The photo is not actually correct for what the BD2012 was originally.
But you can make it you buy BD2045and use a scalpel and cut a knife line about where the big slot is shown in pic it was never a huge slot like this but originally nothing more than a slice in the BD2045 rubber.
terry tmcgrath@bigpond.com
