Bonnet Shut Rubber ? Which way up, or another supplier ?

[rfs1957]

The new SNGB bonnet seal isn't like the one I've just removed (26 years old, unknown origin).



This had a true Omega section, was split underneath, and had a fitted width of 15mm.

Imagining that I was at last in for an easy job, I offered up the new one ................ it feels lovely but at 18mm it's just too wide, and cannot be got to seat properly - the channel is quite rounded and the square section of the rubber is never going to adapt to it.



Am I being daft ? I'm assuming the rounded section goes uppermost, BUT it would actually fit better in the channel if I turned it over.



What does everyone else do please ?

[nefematic]

Rory,

The rounded section goes up, the flat bottom part will fit more or less snuggly into the metal flaps securing the ends left/right. Your channel seems a bit sqashed on the pics? To me the open rubber doen't seem right, but I'm fairly new and haven't seen too many details on other cars yet so take that with caution.

Martin

[andrewh]

how about stretching the rubber as you fit it. That will make it narrower as you press it in and when glued MAY not spring out?

[David Oslo]

For sure the rounded section goes up, and the flat gets glued into the bottom of the steel channel. My car was riginal paint / one owner / low mileage and was definately the round & square type, just like you got from SNG. And it was bonded in with contact adhesive, rather splashily applied. Hard and crunchy, so it's been replaced by me. Was a bit of a tight / tricky fit, especially with properly dried contact adhesive on both sides. Think next time I would be tempted to lubricate the vertical sides of the channel and the rubber with dishwashing liquid, so as to not have the rubber 'catch' on the way into the groove.

[PeterCrespin]

+1 for your original being incorrect/SNGB correct. Contact adhesive, as others have said. It flattens eventually but until then a bead of Evo-Stik on both surfaces and you'll be fine. Measure the mid point of the strip and body and place from centre outwards and leave the bonnet shut overnight, before trimming the ends over the body tabs (missing on earliest cars).

[38E]

I hope the new seal is correct because this is something I'm about to order for my '62. My old one (which I'm pretty sure I got from Jaguar years ago) looks to be the same section as your new one.

The channel for the rubber in my bulkhead is .7" (18mm) wide inside, if that helps.

[rfs1957]

I suspect my channel has become round-cornered through filler and paint, but I have a secret plan for the SNGB seal ................
Secret unless it works, anyway.
Whatever, Contact Adhesive is a thing of the past for door seals, immediacy, grab etc.
We may have 60's cars but we don't have to use 60's products.
Anyone interested in alternatives, including Loctite 5910, might have a look here.

http://www.myetype.co.uk/forum/viewtopi ... 372#p71372

[PeterCrespin]

I don't actually want seals as good as welded to the car. I need ultimate grip for the heavy rubber buffers and external body trim on my old Buick, but on an E I've never had contact adhesive come loose if the rubber is properly prepped.

Just grippy enough not to come loose in service is all I want, and contact cement delivers that. Anything extra will just cause hassle in future and shred the rubber if you ever beed to remove it. In the case of the bonnet landing seal it takes very little to hold it in place and even door seals are held just fine with cement and solvent-cleaned surfaces.

The seals are always a fraction oversize anyway, so glue then trim to length works fine and is what thay did at the factory. Old E-types often have collapsed or rotted seals in my experience, but rarely have missing unstuck original seals, unless someone has pulled them off and bodged the replacements. Chacun a son gout though, I suppose.

[rfs1957]

You're dead right Peter, no point in over-attaching these things.
If you use modern alternatives in the way you would have used contact adhesive - over all the surfaces - then you're making work for the future, which in my first attempts with the 5910 was probably what I was doing
But I can't cope with the one-shot grabbing of the Evostick and w.h.y - I believe a thin and properly centred bead of a modern, slower, adhesive has the potential to produce a better - and more esthetically pleasing - result.
If the f--- shell was the right width for the seal it would !

[PeterCrespin]

.If the f--- shell was the right width for the seal it would !

Clearly yours was built on a Saturday morning when demand was still very high and they had a weekend
overtime shift to meet the order backlog..
Aston Villa were playing at home in a relegation decider, so to save time they hung your seal from the gantry above
and built the bulkhead around it. Trouble was they were in a hurry and someone left the door open so the seal moved in the draught.

Some you win, some you lose, except Villa who always lose

[rfs1957]

Two Olfa cutter blades bolted together (washer + thickness of one blade = slot width).

15/10 steel strip slid inside with a bit of washing-up liquid.



Couple of bits of oak floorboard and some g-cramps

Rubber now down to 16mm width, and it fits.



Just in case anyone else got a Friday one, or an over-enthusiastic dose of filler in the channel ....................