Door/window Seal Inatallation Problem

[Balloonmeister]

I have a 1972 911T and am trying to replace the rubber/felt seal that runs horizontally along the bottom of the door window. I bought OEM Porsche seals (not repros), part number 901.531.933.20 from our sponsor and am trying to thread the rubber seal into the chrome trim piece. I have tried freezing the rubber seal to shrink it and heated the chrome piece to expand it, and then use soapy water to try and lubricate - none of which worked. Any ideas on how to thread this new seal onto the trim piece? Thanx in advance.

[digdug]

I just did mine and never figured out the easy way.... What I ended up doing was to use a small 2 mm regular blade screwdriver and work it bit by bit in the grove from the back side. Its a really tight fit and takes about an hour per side to get it to work in there.

[blucille]

All of mine have just slid in, but only in one direction, there seems to be a blockage at one end, maybe I'm lucky.

I zoomed in on your photo, it looks like the ball is up against the window, it should have the flat against the window and the ball slides into the groove of the aluminum trim

[PZSPEED]

I just did this....trim the edges of the part that fits in the groove. It will not come out if you do this. And it was still a pain to get in,but at least it went in...there was no way without trimming it.

[Balloonmeister]

OK, so I took the moulding pieces and the new seals to a reputable auto body repair shop and after 10 days, they gave up. I got them back today and tried Haasman's advice of using straight Dawn liquid soap. I had to have the spousal unit hold on to one end of the moulding and thread in the seal, while I pulled the other end using a pair of pliers. Ridiculously hard to get the seal in but finally made it. While I had bought OEM Porsche parts, clearly these seals just didn't fit correctly (I am assuming that the chrome moulding pieces were original also, as they didn't look to have ever been removed except for repainting the car. I also replaced all of the small clips with the new metal ones.

[jimtweet]

Did this on 4 cars, all slide right in

[wrxnofx]

Odd. I just did this on my car this past summer, and both slid right on. I removed the strip from the car, slid the old ones out the back, slid the new ones in from the back. There is a tar like substance in the groove at the front to keep it from going too far forward, but the seal can't move fore or aft once the strip is put back on the car. The door frame keeps it from sliding.

There is a left and a right, and there is a difference for Coupe versus Targa (at least for my '87).

Incidentally, that P/N 901.531.933.20 you specify is not for the seal you have a picture of. That P/N is for the seal that glues to the metal strip and sits under the front, triangular window (item #11 in these images):




In your pic it looks like you have a Coupe. You'd want P/N 911 531 931 02 for the Left and 911 531 932 02 for the Right.

Perhaps this is your problem? Although 901 531 933 20 is only about 6 inches long, so I think you'd know.

[Porboynz]

I had the same issue on my 72, fitting new rubbers (genuine) was a real character test. No way would they slide in from either end. Interesting that the metal clips fitted, my chrome moulding would not accept the metal clips and the original plastic clips seem to be nla. Maybe early 1972 models had a slightly different profile chrome moulding?

[Balloonmeister]

Originally Posted by wrxnofx

Odd. I just did this on my car this past summer, and both slid right on. I removed the strip from the car, slid the old ones out the back, slid the new ones in from the back. There is a tar like substance in the groove at the front to keep it from going too far forward, but the seal can't move fore or aft once the strip is put back on the car. The door frame keeps it from sliding.

There is a left and a right, and there is a difference for Coupe versus Targa (at least for my '87).

Incidentally, that P/N 901.531.933.20 you specify is not for the seal you have a picture of. That P/N is for the seal that glues to the metal strip and sits under the front, triangular window (item #11 in these images):


[img]http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploads24/door21448327527.jpg[/img

In your pic it looks like you have a Coupe. You'd want P/N 911 531 931 02 for the Left and 911 531 932 02 for the Right.

Perhaps this is your problem? Although 901 531 933 20 is only about 6 inches long, so I think you'd know.

You are absolutely correct, I had quoted the pn for the shorter rubber strip that goes under the fixed vent window. I had ordered the longer seals as you mentioned from our sponsor.

[Balloonmeister]

Originally Posted by Porboynz

I had the same issue on my 72, fitting new rubbers (genuine) was a real character test. No way would they slide in from either end. Interesting that the metal clips fitted, my chrome moulding would not accept the metal clips and the original plastic clips seem to be nla. Maybe early 1972 models had a slightly different profile chrome moulding?

You may be on to something here wrt perhaps the earlier cars having a slightly different configuration to that chrome moulding that is causing such a problem for those of us with that piece and the new OEM rubber seals (my car was number 0101 in 1972 MY). BTW, after being utterly frustrated but finally getting the rubber seals in, I tried to put in my brand new metal clips. At first, they wouldn't go in their channel, and I was about ready to detonate as they were exactly the same size as a couple of older ones that had come off the channel when removed from the car (there were only four clips of the seven required used on both sides of my car). Then I simply turned them 90 degrees and they slid right in. I thought one had to squeeze the clips together to go in the channel, but no, they just slide in length-wise. Duh Yup, I'm a newbie, and the sad part is that after learning all of these things about this car, I will probably never have to do one of these repairs again. But maybe some other Pelican will experience this problem in the future and I can share my experiences - that's what so great about this forum. Thanx guys.

[wrxnofx]

Cool, Harry! Glad it all worked out in the end. I was hoping that maybe you just ordered the wrong part and that would help explain your difficulty. I would KILL to have a '72 of my own to work out this issue on

Also, one partial image of the door is not enough to satiate us. More pics please!

Matt

[Balloonmeister]

Originally Posted by wrxnofx

Cool, Harry! Glad it all worked out in the end. I was hoping that maybe you just ordered the wrong part and that would help explain your difficulty. I would KILL to have a '72 of my own to work out this issue on

Also, one partial image of the door is not enough to satiate us. More pics please!

Matt

Here ya go, Matt.

[wrxnofx]

So awesome! Love the color.

[Porboynz]

Originally Posted by Balloonmeister

You may be on to something here wrt perhaps the earlier cars having a slightly different configuration to that chrome moulding that is causing such a problem for those of us with that piece and the new OEM rubber seals (my car was number 0101 in 1972 MY). BTW, after being utterly frustrated but finally getting the rubber seals in, I tried to put in my brand new metal clips. At first, they wouldn't go in their channel, and I was about ready to detonate as they were exactly the same size as a couple of older ones that had come off the channel when removed from the car (there were only four clips of the seven required used on both sides of my car). Then I simply turned them 90 degrees and they slid right in. I thought one had to squeeze the clips together to go in the channel, but no, they just slide in length-wise. Duh Yup, I'm a newbie, and the sad part is that after learning all of these things about this car, I will probably never have to do one of these repairs again. But maybe some other Pelican will experience this problem in the future and I can share my experiences - that's what so great about this forum. Thanx guys.

Oh oh! I am starting to think I made the same error thinking the metal clips had to be compressed sideways. I gave up and put the replacement metal clips somewhere safe and used the few plastic clips I had left (not enough) My 72 is number 00048 so even earlier than yours, maybe made the same week though. Now, where are those metal clips....

[4495]

This is how mine fit...I changed mine a couple of years ago and don't remember it being very much trouble.

[IMG]
[/IMG]