Trim seals on bonnet and boot

[buzzer]

I am now getting round to sorting out the trim seals on the boot and bonnet. Anyone got any advice on the type and size of seals to use.

[EuropaTC]

On the front bonnet I just used foam, about 1" or maybe slightly thicker, glued to the inside edges of the lid. How thick depends on how compressible it is, it's only forming a rough seal for the plenum chamber. I ran for years without any and although it made a difference when stationary, when you're on the move you get plenty of air pushed in.

At the rear I have a small strip at the front of the engine bay, conventional "bulb" seal which goes roughly the width of the window.  At the rear I have nothing, when I tried foam on the rear boot box it was more trouble than it was worth.

Brian

[BDA]

Somewhere on this forum I posted pictures of the seal I used at the front of engine bay. I still have the original foam on the boot (!) but I have new foam (I think it's 2"x2") on the boot to seal the front of the trunk tray. IIRC (and there appears to be evidence) there was foam on the boot to seal the rear of the trunk tray. For me, that proved to be a hassle so I took it off. It doesn't seem to to be a problem. I have seen pictures where people have fitted a more "sophisticated" and modern sealing arrangement for the rear trunk. I doubt they work any better than foam rubber, but it did look more professional.

[Pfreen]

I used this Steele Rubber products seal for the trunk and boot seals.  I measured the distance between the hood and boot to the bulkhead and trunk insert with modeling clay and both were about 5/8".  I positioned the seal flap forward so the pressure in the front and engine bay would cause it to seal tighter.   It seems to work well.  I found the large foam rubber seal originally fitted and offered by a number of suppliers did not hold up and turned to dust in a relatively short amount of time.  I also thought it was not the most attractive alternative.

[EuropaTC]

Very neat and as you say, much more professional than the OEM materials.  Clever to measure the available gap with clay, that's a cute one !

[BDA]

Very neat and very clever! But then judging from the periphery of your pictures, you are pretty clever! Is that an A/C in your front trunk? What alternator are you using?

[Pfreen]

That is an ac-heater fan unit you see.  I bought it on ebay for about $100.  The car originally had a Coolaire dealer installed ac unit but it was kind of kluge since they kept the original heater.  I used the compressor brackets on the engine from the Coolaire system  and installed a new compressor, evaporator/heater/fan unit and an electronic heater valve.  The ac/heater controls were integrated into the original dashboard.  The triangular looking thing you see in the picture is a damper valve I made to control recycle air-fresh air to the plenum which feeds the fan unit.

The alternator is a Hitachi 80 amp marine alternator.  I used that because I had an extra one from my boat which has a Yanmar diesel engine.  I works well and it does not seem to discharge the battery at idle, which the original alternator always did.  Thus, the headlights would be very dim at idle.  With this alternator, the voltage stays up.  And, it is only $80 on ebay.  I did have to make a new tensioner bracket and a pivot bolt spacer.

[buzzer]

Thanks guys some great advice. I do like your install Pfreen. Looks really good. As BDA says a good looking  AC set up. Although no plans for AC here.

[Gmg31]

I bought self adhesive neoprene tape off ebay.  Very cheap and easy to use mine is 10mm wide and only 2mm thick but there's loads of sizes.