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| | | door seal rubbers all round | Joined: Dec 2012 Posts: 376 Likes: 2 enthusiast | OP enthusiast Joined: Dec 2012 Posts: 376 Likes: 2 | Hi, I have a complete set of door seal rubbers I will be fitting shortly, whats the best adhesive for this job? cheers | | | Re: door seal rubbers all round | Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 4,463 Likes: 12 pooh-bah | pooh-bah Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 4,463 Likes: 12 | Matman, I'm surprised your question hasn't brought up more responses!
I'll throw a little information into the mix to get things moving.
On the vintage Dodge vans I've worked on most of the door seals are held with small serrated plastic pins, but there are certain areas, like at the top of the rear cargo door seals, where what appears to have been a basic brownish contact adhesive such as DAP contact cement was often applied between the flat rear surface of the seals and doors, to improve the seal quality, in an effort to reduce leaks in that especially trouble prone area. When the old seals are peeled off, the adhesive often peels up a little despite it's age, so it must have been of pretty decent quality to remain flexible for so long. To my eyes, the adhesive appeared to have been applied via a small brush or buff applicator, rather than being sprayed on.
Many contact cements are intended to be applied thinly to both surfaces, allowed to dry till semi glossy, perhaps 15 minutes, then pressed together. This forms an aggressive bond.
Butyl Rubber cement is a very commonly used adhesive on automotive seals, such as on the windshield seals and roof vents. It's commonly pigmented black, and is available in small squeeze tubes and in caulking gun cartridges in many of the franchise auto parts stores. It cures pretty quickly, and remains flexible for extended periods of time, which is a great thing when attempting to install a flexible rubber seal!
I would tend to steer clear of any of the silicon sealer RTV type products or household types such as aquarium sealer or bathtub or window caulking. They may remain flexible for extended periods, and some can even tolerate ultraviolet and extended weather exposure, but they tend to shear badly in thicker flexed applications, and their cure time would make application on door seals a significantly larger headache than it needs to be.
I would definitely go over the area of the door to be adhered to with a quality degreaser, to remove any contaminants such as dirt, oils, waxes, or silicon. A light scuffing with a mild textured Scotchbrite scouring pad might even be desirable to improve the adhesion to the glossy painted surface of the doors.
From my personal experience, (-sigh...) I'd suggest that you may find it quite wise to apply a masking tape along the edge of where the seal will install, to prevent strings and drops of contact cement from dropping onto the cosmetic finish areas of the door. Contact cement typically contains some pretty aggressive solvents, which would definitely eat through the glossy surface of finish paint. Consider covering any nearby upholstery and the window glass too; it's unpleasant to clean off!
-It's been such a LONG TIME... BlueShift>> 1981 Dodge Ram B250 Custom Sportsman Maxi Van It's what you learn after you know it all, that counts... Are you living to work, or working to live? Learning from my own mistakes is good, learning from yours would be much better! | | | Re: door seal rubbers all round | Joined: Dec 2012 Posts: 376 Likes: 2 enthusiast | OP enthusiast Joined: Dec 2012 Posts: 376 Likes: 2 | Thanks Ram.... yep, I`m surprised at the lack of response, thanks for your reply, I have just contacted the people who sold me the seals, asking if they can recommend what to use cheers Matt
Last edited by Matman; June 29th 2017 8:29 am.
| | | Re: door seal rubbers all round | Joined: Aug 2016 Posts: 47 newbie | newbie Joined: Aug 2016 Posts: 47 | Get yourself a tube of windshield urethane sealant/adhesive. They will never come loose! 3M Urethane - Amazon | | | Re: door seal rubbers all round | Joined: Sep 2013 Posts: 1,015 Likes: 19 old hand | old hand Joined: Sep 2013 Posts: 1,015 Likes: 19 | I've used 3M 08008 adhesive on many other projects and it works great although a bit messy. I plan on using it for my van seals too. | | | Re: door seal rubbers all round | Joined: Feb 2014 Posts: 63 journeyman | journeyman Joined: Feb 2014 Posts: 63 | I'm dealing with this issue on a 1971 Chevy G10. I am trying to do all the seals for both front doors, back doors, and sliding door. I have no idea what the van originally came with or how it was done, it's hard finding accurate info on the internet it seems. There are door seals that are the correct shape to fit, but they have little plastic clips all the way around so I would have to drill a ton of holes to mount them, and still have to use adhesive to ensure a good seal. There are also some rails that I could put some of the gutter channel like weather strips, but they don't go all the way around the doors. So looks like just using an adhesive and a strip will work best for me. Anyone know of a good way to remove previous adhesive and gunk from the doors without stripping or chipping the paint? | | | Re: door seal rubbers all round | Joined: Sep 2017 Posts: 60 journeyman | journeyman Joined: Sep 2017 Posts: 60 | If you figure it out, let me know. I've got a 78 g20 that needs new window and door seals. | | | Re: door seal rubbers all round | Joined: Feb 2002 Posts: 522 addict | addict Joined: Feb 2002 Posts: 522 | The holes are already there under the old rubber. | | | Re: door seal rubbers all round | Joined: Feb 2014 Posts: 63 journeyman | journeyman Joined: Feb 2014 Posts: 63 | On my '71 G10 there are no holes around the door frames for the strip. It appears that it came that way, I do not see any evidence of holes or filling. Like I said I could drill a bunch of holes, but that would just open it up to rust, and even when using the holes you would still use a sealant. If anything I might drill a few holes around just to help line things up and keep it in place, and then remove the rest of the unused clips and seal it down. Is there any literature, pictures or diagrams anywhere to know what was originally done in 1971? | | |
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