Renewing door seals -- 4kq(and prolly other models)

[Jpinkowish at aol.com]

Bob and the list,
Responding to Bob's plea for new door opening seals, here's my BTDT that
gives really professional results for dirt cheap.

Usually, the seals wear badly in the floor section.  Another wear spot is at
arm level along the seat back.  The beauty of the seals is that you can use
sections from other door seals you get from the wrecker to replace only the
worn sections.

Here's what you'll need:
--pack of new utility blades
--hammer
--foot long piece of board
--donor door seal you got from another car
--cuppla inches of small diameter vacuum hose

How to do it:
1)  Remove the seal from the car
2)  If you're lucky, the wear spot ends before the spot where the factory
joins together the seal ends.  Flex this spot to crack the plastic weld.  Use
a new utillity blade to PRESS CUT just the rubber section.  Make sure the
blade is perpendicular to the seal and don't use a back/forth motion.  You
won't get a straight cut.  Put this blade aside and use only for cutting
additional rubber only sections.
3)  Use another blade with the hammer(and resting the seal on the board) and
cut the plastic section.  You'll notice a reinforcing wire inside the
plastic.
4)  Repeat at the other end of the worn out section.  If your cut isn't nice
and neat/perpendicular, do it again.
5)  Reinstall the seal.  Position the seal so that your second cut is up by
the dash in a hard-to-see area that is straight(no curves).  You don't want
to make angled cuts.  Make sure you jam the seal to completely seat it in the
corner up at head level.
6)  Measure the gap using a tape measure
7)  Using the above detailed procedure, cut your new section from the donor
seal 2"  longer than you measured.  Since the section you removed was down on
the floor, it isn't faded from the sun.  You'll need to find a section on the
donor seal to match the "blackness" of the two cut ends.
8)  Install the new section first down on the floor.  Recut the end if
necessary to get a perfect butt joint.
9)  Press fit the rest of the new section up to the other joint by the dash.
Make sure you press the seal all the way into the curve.
10) Mark and cut the end to fit.
11) Use a 1" section of vacuum hose on each end of the new seal piece to
align the rubber parts of the seal.  Lubricate with spit.

If you're patient, the fix will look terrific.

Also, if you find a mint passenger side seal, you can use it on the driver
side.  The seals are flexible enough to conform to any contour.  Just turn it
around and install.

BTW, if you can't get a donor door seal, I have plenty of spares.  Contact me
 privately and I'll send you a section(s) long enough for a fix.


Jan Pinkowish
'85 4ksq
Bristol, CT