Need help trimming and fitting upper door seals

[jmackro]

I am slowly reassembling my 2800 CS after a re-paint. Currently working on the door seals and have some questions about their fit:

1) I understand that the cross-section of the upper seal has an inner and outer bulge that fit into corresponding grooves on the aluminum channel that is screwed to the body. And, I can easily work the inner seal bulge into the inner groove. But how do I get the outer bulge to pop into the outer groove? I have tried working it in using various tools (plastic pusher, putty knife, screwdriver blade) but nothing seems able to compress the rubber enough to allow it to go in. Would it be cheating to just glue it on using trim adhesive?

2) Should the back edge of the upper door seal be cut at an angle to fit against the aluminum extrusion above the rear window (probably "yes"). See first photo below.

3) There is an odd-shaped part near the upper door hinge that fits between the upper and lower door seals. Do I have it positioned correctly in the second photo below?

4) The vertical rubber seal at the forward edge of my rear window bunches up when the glass is fully raised (see third photo below). Should that seal be trimmed ~1/2" below the top of the glass to prevent that bunching?

Thank you!

 

[HB Chris]

Jay, You will need to use some rubber lube but it needs to sit inside those grooves. The upper seal ends with a square cut, it always shrinks so push it back as far as you can. The weird piece looks correct, it only fits one way. The quarter glass rubber should be trimmed to a point upwards

 

[rsporsche]

Jay,

first thing, the rubber on the front edge of the rear window should be cut on an angle so it butts up to the upper rubber - the outer edge is the high part. interesting enough, new ones come already cut. it has to be able to act independently and the upper rubber stays there the full time and should have a nice cut to abut the rear window metal channel. in my mind, that's the point to start and trim on the other end to fit into the 'funny' shape rubber transition ... and as Chris has suggested, it tends to shrink so push it tight (compressed) all the way down

i am thinking that the 'funny' shape piece should be flipped over as it should align with the rubber coming from the top (which sits in the grooves).

Chris has already answered the fact that it has to sit inside the grooves

 

[HB Chris]

Oops, you are right Scott

 

[rsporsche]

just lucky Chris ...

 

[jmackro]

i am thinking that the 'funny' shape piece should be flipped over as it should align with the rubber coming from the top (which sits in the grooves).

Scott:

Thank you for your reply, but I didn't understand "flipped over". Flipped top-to-bottom, or front-to-back? I know that it isn't perfectly aligned in my photo (after all, it's only held on with tape), but sure, the top of the funny' shape piece needs to be bent more toward the car's interior. But there are bulges on the backside (e.g., the side not visible in the photo) that mimic the bulges in the door seal strip which look like they should also be fitted into the aluminum extrusion. So I don't think that I have it flipped front-to-back.

You will need to use some rubber lube but it needs to sit inside those grooves.

Chris:

You're right, I was attempting to do this without lubricating the seal. Paul had recommended something called P-80 rubber lubricant emulsion, but the only source I could find for it wanted 150% of the selling price for shipping, which always puts me off. What do you use?

A little more web searching turned up this product on Amazon; might this be the the stuff?

https://www.amazon.com/P-80-THIX-Temporary-Rubber-Lubricant/dp/B0C5L3V11B/ref=sr_1_3?crid=13XEX2OX6NFYH&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.S-7z4cB5JGgLxn1qbf5n3ujUinnZTAvFeWxnhlFzxmUxXE1Y3yX7cS0n_0shPRxhC2nFze69rbAknrrk72RdUm-e3QF09dXCK7F9ZSZh8Qn5ZQpxlhmEpvdSkwhxMInEjSVtxFS6UZiREY9xTdfjbw4a2P5hVk55imWKihfQNBbbYhsPTgg7L3gPGWh9XoiNBqMK789LGm2GbkQhdM-cMyepxpalO7OgOOrmjh4prME-w8HTHIrVfE77_L7rksbcpAGAOaOdHEeZiKY5cXhW-M7F2KixMguQT4pdcR2sMLc.N8wiaaCBuwz3Rk4D-JWnSocA-uNAwBuzHdw_3I8X80s&dib_tag=se&keywords=-+P-80+rubber+lubricant&qid=1764798388&s=industrial&sprefix=p-80+rubber+lubricant,industrial,222&sr=1-3

 

[rsporsche]

sorry - flipped over front to back ... but perhaps you are correct that it just needs to be rotated. now that i look at it again, that makes more sense as the outer edge of the top rubber is thinner on the outside ... so the 'funny' shape piece should be thinner on the outside as well

 

[HB Chris]

Passenger side

Driver side, it gets squished a bit as it seals

 

[jmackro]

Chris:

Thank you for posting those two pictures - they really explain things. It looks like your side window seal is a little bunched up too; does that concern you?

The orientation of your funny shape piece corresponds to what I had guessed. My only other concern is that the funny shape piece has a rectangular peg on its top side, while the long door seal has an "L" shaped hole. E.g., the peg doesn't readily fit into the hole. I guess I could try cutting and re-shaping the profile of the peg if I wanted to get anal about it:

 

[HB Chris]

It does not concern me at all.