Matt C

Some of you guys might remember that I recently bought a wonderful 1988 Carrera convertible. Even the top is in almost pristine condition. Except for one area: the seals around the windows seem not to be in the same condition as the rest of the car (see attached picture). Now, here are my questions for you experts ought there:

- Would you recommend exchanging them?
- How hard is it to replace them (given that I don't have a lot of experience working on cars).
- Which parts do I need
- Where's the best place to buy them?

Thanks very much for any tips and help in advance.

imcarthur

For a source see Pelican Parts - Seals

To-date, I have only done #75 - the door seal - but my rear windows ones are rough too. But they are VERY expensive. I ran into one guy who had an upholstery shop recover his rear ones & they looked like new.

You just rip out the old seal, clean the area with adhesive cleaner, then glue & replace. 3M products work well.

Ian

86NOH2O

I believe there are some screws in there so I don't advise "ripping" anything. There have been previous posts regarding this with some good instructions. I've looked a few times and I think it came to around 600- $800? for both sides, parts only. You can find them from different suppliers with a web search. My cab needs these as well and I just have not gotten around to the project.

Do a search of the archives here...

Matt C

Thanks for the advice guys. To be honest, I'm a bit hesitant when it comes to "ripping" and the car.

So does anyone know whether this project might be described in one of the books that are out there (e.g. 101 projects ...).

imcarthur

Ok guys. maybe my description was brutal . . .

You carefully disengage the old seal from the car, leaving behind bits of rubber & glue residue after ensuring that no other means of fastening exist.. (You rip it off).

I couldn't find a blow-by-blow but it is not rocket science. Wayne's 101 touches on seals but not in depth.

M491

I'd be interested in info on that, too.

It seems like the seals stay fine for a long time, it's just the fabric that wears out.

Seems like it would be relatively easy to remove the old fabric and install new fabric - if one could find a closely matching fabric?

Any thoughts about that? Anyone have a source for that fabric, or something very similar?

CN

I actually had the rear seals re-covered when I replaced the roof. It worked out great. See if you can get an apholstery guy to fix the existing ones as apposed to replacing them unless they are totally chewed.

donnieknoxville

The vertical seal on the back edge of window is easy to replace. If you get into the back seat and look at the main top support post, you will see 5-6 nuts that zig-zag back and fourth going from top to bottom, once you've remove all of those nuts, you can pull off the vertical seal. The seal itself and the bolts are effectively one piece. If you get a new vertical seal it will come with the bolts bonded into the piece. All you need to do is basically swap it out. The fabric from the convertible top wraps around the post and its likely that the bolts go through holes cut in the fabric. Its also likely that the fabric has been glued to the post, so when your remove the old seal - nothing will sping apart or be hard to get back together. The vertical is really pretty easy. Once source I checked is quoting $125-$140 each. I think one is usually more expensive than the other.

Don