Upper Door Velvet Seal

[hartland]

Have new seals from our host to replace old seals that were riveted in. Any wisdom on getting a flat close seal on reinstall. Rivets seem to work well and as much as I flattened, pulled, etc out from forward corner, I still have puckers. Garage was only about 50 degrees F. Any suggestions? I am drilling out rivets now for a try at a reinstall in a warmer garage. This did go a long ways to improving wind noise and now am working on front of door under 'vent' window to improve seal.

[Cloggie]

Originally Posted by hartland

Have new seals from our host to replace old seals that were riveted in. Any wisdom on getting a flat close seal on reinstall. Rivets seem to work well and as much as I flattened, pulled, etc out from forward corner, I still have puckers. Garage was only about 50 degrees F. Any suggestions? I am drilling out rivets now for a try at a reinstall in a warmer garage. This did go a long ways to improving wind noise and now am working on front of door under 'vent' window to improve seal.

I am just refitting these upper door velvet seals and having a few challenges.

Mainly the PO likely used larger screws and so most of the tiny screw holes are enlarged, so will have to upsize the screws.

I was thinking if I had to drill out the holes slightly, perhaps it's better to use rivets with small washers on the theory that the seals ought not ever have to come out.

As with the OP, any experience with that?

Second, I did a dummy fit, just held them on the door with tape and then checked to see if the door would close properly.

I am not sure....I have new rubber seals (the big one that goes all the way around) and of course new velvet seals and the two of them together put a lot of pressure on the upper window frame.

Its to the point that the upper window frame pushes outwards a few mm...too much in my mind.

Will this settle down a bit after use or do I really need to install them properly before I do any sort of alignment check?

Looks like these seals came into play for the 1977 model year, which explains why my previous 911 (a 1975) did not have them.

Any help and insight would be greatly appreciated.

D.