Author Topic: Door and Trunk Gasket  (Read 1272 times)

MarkH

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Door and Trunk Gasket
« on: February 11, 2016, 10:39:30 PM »
I'm having trouble finding the original profile seals for door & trunk gaskets.

I've looked at Restoration Specialities, SoffSeal and Steele Rubber and can't seem to find them.

Anyone had any luck finding gaskets that work?

Steele had the hood to fender bumpers and was pretty close on the hood to cowl rubber.
Fully restored '54 Aero Lark
Rusty '58 Austin Healey 100-Six
Barely running'74 Chevelle Malibu

Aeroman

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Re: Door and Trunk Gasket
« Reply #1 on: February 12, 2016, 03:21:06 PM »
If you could please list the part numbers, descriptions and where you found items, that would be very helpful for everyone. I am keeping a list of currently available parts and will add these when I can.
Rick Kamen
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1954 Willys Aero Eagle "Old Toby"
1964 Ford Econoline panel van
Once owned 11 other Willys Aeros and a Willys wagon, 2 Kaisers, 1 Henry J, plus Studebakers, Hudsons, a Nash and others.

Barnum

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Re: Door and Trunk Gasket
« Reply #2 on: February 12, 2016, 05:27:12 PM »
I just got a catalog from Kantor that lists rubber. You would have to go on line to see if they had anything, but might be worth a shot
1968 Buick Skylark Convertible
1954 Aero Eagle
Taylor Brugman

MarkH

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Re: Door and Trunk Gasket
« Reply #3 on: February 13, 2016, 03:24:53 PM »
If you could please list the part numbers, descriptions and where you found items, that would be very helpful for everyone. I am keeping a list of currently available parts and will add these when I can.

The hood to fender bumpers are called stem bumpers. Head height, diameter & sheet metal hole specs were right on, however the head profile was slightly less domed that the originals. More like a pan head compared to a truss head.
Photo attached, originals on the left.
Steele part #33-0395-42
The hood to cowl seal on my original was like a compressed "C" and the parts car had a "U" profile, both looked original and were what Steele describes as dense rubber. Steele sent a 5 sample pack with peel & stick adhesive, one looking like an expanded "C", 2 being  more of double bead or "U" type.
Photo attached. The far left one is foam, the other 2 are dense rubber and the far right is original from the '54.
Part numbers from left to right, #70-2684-42 & #70-2674-42. The last one, #70-2816-60 is listed as beltline seal for windows but was included in the hood to cowl sample pack and easily compresses to a "C" profile.

Something to consider on the cowl seal is that it may also do double duty keeping the rear lip of the hood from binding. During a final test fit before priming, with NOS hinges but without a cowl seal, one rear corner dropped slightly when the hood latch was released and the front popped up to the safety catch. That rear edge came extremely close to binding on the cowl lip but then raised correctly as the hood opened. The cowl gasket would've supported the hood lip for that brief range of motion but also makes me think I should test fit the samples before ordering.
The '52 parts car had a "U" gasket not nearly as substantial as any of the samples, and the rear lip was very prone to binding at the cowl when opening the hood.
« Last Edit: February 13, 2016, 03:27:50 PM by MarkH »
Fully restored '54 Aero Lark
Rusty '58 Austin Healey 100-Six
Barely running'74 Chevelle Malibu

MarkH

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Re: Door and Trunk Gasket
« Reply #4 on: April 28, 2016, 09:19:25 PM »
Went through the Steele, SoffSeal and Restoration Specialties catalogs with no luck. Emailed each with photos and they all sent gasket samples as close as they could get, all pretty large cross section stuff. RS thought they might still have some Aero stuff not listed but didn't. Checked various online sites and also a shoebox site hoping for something close because of the door profiles, totally different gasket system.
Ordered trunk & door gaskets for the '60/'62 model off Mercado, basically a US '55 four door. Arrived today and they look great, fortunately they didn't cut for the doors so that's still in one roll. The width is right on but they're definately more puffy than the old dried out/collapsed ones. Trunk on the left, door on the right.
The exchange rate is good right now but shipping is still an issue.
Fully restored '54 Aero Lark
Rusty '58 Austin Healey 100-Six
Barely running'74 Chevelle Malibu