• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

!%$#!! Window Seals!

Share this page

jjbunn

jjbunn

Jedi Knight
Offline
I set about replacing the inner and outer door window seals, armed with new parts from Moss.

Removing the old seals was easy enough. Attaching the inner furry seal was a little challenging. The DPO had installed his the wrong way up i.e. with metal strip upwards, which threw me off the scent for a while.

It became obvious that I needed to remove the window rails to place the endmost clips, which was annoying since I'd just re-installed them after re-lining with new felt. But after a short while I had all the clips in position and the inner seal nicely attached to them.

Then I came to do the outer door seal. First problem was that the Moss part was too long, so I had to trim it at both ends. Then I followed the instructions that came with my Moss door strip clip tool, and placed all the clips onto the seal first.

This turned out to be a mistake: it's nigh impossible to position the seal so that the clips can attach to the door in this arrangement. It's obvious that the clips have to be pushed on from underneath, while holding the seal in place.

After huffing and puffing, and taking a piece of skin off my forehead (the clip tool developed a life of its own and sprang at me viciously), I decided that the job should be left for another day.

Does anyone have any tips for getting the outer door seal clips on?
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]After huffing and puffing, and taking a piece of skin off my forehead (the clip tool developed a life of its own and sprang at me viciously) [/QUOTE]

That's exactly what Dave said when Crypty attacked him in Dale's garage.

I think the evil spirits have been traveling to So-Cal.
 
Drat. I've seen a nice article on the subject written by Brian Kemp; but I can't seem to find it now. As I recall, he made his own tool, which was snug enough to grip the clip. Then he held the seal in place while stuffing the tool & clip between the seal & glass, and pulling it up from underneath to go over both the seal & the lip of the door.

Haven't gotten to that point with my Stags yet, so that's all the help I can offer.
 
Drat. I've seen a nice article on the subject written by Brian Kemp; but I can't seem to find it now. As I recall, he made his own tool, which was snug enough to grip the clip. Then he held the seal in place while stuffing the tool & clip between the seal & glass, and pulling it up from underneath to go over both the seal & the lip of the door.

Haven't gotten to that point with my Stags yet, so that's all the help I can offer.
 
The way I did it was to position the seal, then lower the clip, craddled in the tool. When I felt the clip begin to engage the metal lip of the door, I pulled the clip UP into place over the seal's lip and the metal lip of the door while holding the seal in place with a thumb.
I could suggest sticking a small magnet on the tool to help hold the clip in place while you manipulate the tool.
 
The Moss tool does grip the clip: it also has a magnetic pad that prevents the clip dropping off the tool. But even with the tool, this is a tricky business.

Actually, I think the tool has developed a strong dislike for me: I seem to be able to do just as well with fingers and a screwdriver /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

I have the glass out of the door: I can't even imagine attempting it with the glass in place!
 
poolboy said:
The way I did it was to position the seal, then lower the clip, craddled in the tool. When I felt the clip begin to engage the metal lip of the door, I pulled the clip UP into place over the seal's lip and the metal lip of the door while holding the seal in place with a thumb.
I could suggest sticking a small magnet on the tool to help hold the clip in place while you manipulate the tool.
Click to expand...

The main problem I'm having is that the clips are very tight, and the jaw of the clip needs to be somehow levered open in order to accept the thickness of the metal lip of the door and the seal. I must not be doing it right.
 
Poor old Julian is being............

Pedro-ized for sure. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/iagree.gif

Perhaps a priest is required to remove the demon?

d
 
Julien, I believe that the clips will stand a little speading open. You know, when I ordered the parts to do that job, I noticed that there was a difference between the clips for the inner and outer seals. and I do recall having to spread the clips open a tad, too, before putting them in the tool. My tool was home made from a drawing in an old repair manual.
 
Julien
I did the same as poolboy. Some clips required a little widening to go over the door lip and the bottom edge of the rubber seal. I did mine a few weeks ago and it went together without a hassle. I used a strip of aluminium bent to shape as the clip tool. I did have to remove the window regulator stop so I could wind the glass right down out of the way.
I had to trim my seals also. I think they are manufactured over length on purpose.
I also rubbed a little lubricant onto the indent on the rubber seal to persuade the clip to go on.
Regards
Craig
 
Julian: It's been a while for me. I wrestled with
this too.
Forgive me if I sound vague, but maybe something
I say will trigger an idea you might try that will
work.

Here goes: I think I placed the clip partially
onto the recessed oblong area in the rubber of the
door seal, kind of half on and half off. Place all
the clips onto the seal in this fasion.

Then lift from the underside and inside the door the
seal into place and with a screw driver beginning at
one end of the door, push the metal clip onto the
metal of the door that receives the clip. It won't
want to go very easily, you will have to persuade it
trying to focus on pushing the metal of the clip,
mostly, so you don't damage the rubber. You can also
push both rubber and metal from the bottom of the seal
with a blunt object as well. A little this and a little
of that.

You don't have to try to seat one metal clip fully
into place as it is not likely to work so hot.
Push each clip like from left to right side on just
a bit; then move on to the next pushing a bit; then
the next untill they are all on partially. This will
hold it into position as you work. Go back and repeat
the process until all clips and rubber are in place.

Hope I remembered well enough to be of help.

Next up: A chant such as the one I did for 'ole
Tinster. It was an exorcism, of sorts, and to tell you
the truth, next thing I hear....points went in and
Dale's piling up some miles on Crypt (Amos) ever since.
 
Also make sure that you are locating the clips where the window seal is designed to receive them. This part of the seal is a little narrower.

I was surprised that the Moss tool didn't make the job as easy as I thought it would. All in all I felt that if the door panel is off its probably better to push the clips on from underneath by sticking your arm up in the door.
 
I agree with widening the clip if you are using new ones. I used a bit of contact cement on my homemade tool (old hasksaw blade) to help keep the clip on the tool.

I actually did this with the door panel in place which must give me points for the difficulty factor. Did cheat tho and loop a length of thread around each new clip so I could retreive it if/when it got away form me.

I did not realize Moss sold a tool for this -- they used to just provide plans for making one. The one they sell looks like it has a fairly short hook, I made mine with a longer hook, reaching well around the clip.

door%20seal.JPG


Oh yes, I did do just one clip at a time, looked nigh impossible to juggle the seal and all those clips at once.
 
I bought one of those tools pictured above on eBay and it worked great when I did mine. BUT, I did do one at a time.
 
...everybodys advice is right on, but just for the h*ll of it, why not try a using Ramset. If nothing else, you might get some satisfaction out of blowing holes in your door.

PS, Geo...real men keep the grab side of the hacksaw blade straight and don't put tape on that end of the hacksaw blade.
 
Well, I started this job again today, and found it very easy. I must just have been tired when I tried it the other day.

What worked for me was to first remove the glass, loosen the rails at each side (necessary so that the endmost clips can be positioned correctly), positioned all seven clips on the metal rim so that they were just beginning to bite, and then push the seal down onto each clip, while pulling up on the clip with the Moss tool.
 
Back
Top