Top of front door seal - how to finish it?

[Safetypup]

Hello, I have a T5 Roadster and I wanted to know the best strategy for finishing off the top of the front door seal. I believe the roadster has some unique curves and angles here vs. even a Cabriolet, so any pictures are much appreciated. Pictures of this exact area are hard to come by. I'm not super concerned if it's 100% original, just want to to be a satisfactory solution as I glue the new ones on.

In this random example I found of a restored car that was up for sale, it looks like the person just sort of made a messy slice-and-smash approach. I guess that could work. As I am lining up my seal, I see if you cut it short, you end up with incomplete coverage and you could see body-colored metal at the top. If you make it stick up long, you end up having to smash (like the pic below) or something. I was considering making some fine razor blade cuts as I approach the top of the door and glueing the resulting pieces down as I go. (remove pie-wedge pieces basically to allow it to "fold and collapse" onto the door metal at the top). (click for huge version)



Here's another random pic I found. It's also not shot from a great angle, but it looks like the front seal sticks up like a mohawk. But looking at my door, that would seem to make a scoop that would funnel water inside the door - worse than having no seal at all maybe? Plus, I can't imagine this looks great when viewed from the top or outside of the car. (click to make it bigger)



Here's another found on Autos Intl's site. This is a work in progress so this may not be the final shape, but it looks like they're doing sort of a bend-and-smash with glue type approach




Some pictures would be awesome if you have any. I'm just looking for a "nice" install - doesn't have to necessarily be concourse-judge-approved haha.

Maybe this falls under the category of "if it looks good to you, then it's good"?

Thanks so much for any pictures you can attach!

Brian

[Jbrooks]

This is a T-6 but they are the same. This is unmolested original. The rubber is glued to the door frame, be sure the paint system is in good shape, I have found lots of rust under the seal.

[Safetypup]

Thank you so much, Jbrooks! This will let me put this on tomorrow (as I hide out in the garage from everyone else).

My paint is solid, so I think I'm good on that front.

Looks like what you do is cut a triangle piece out at the top (just like at the middle of the door) and then fold down and glue. I'll see if I can get it looking acceptable!

Thanks again,
Brian

[Safetypup]

Hello Again! Here is what I ended up doing. If you see anything really screwed up, please point it out so that future people that read the thread don't make mistakes that I made. It looks good enough for me, so I'm happy. I wish I had left about 2 mm more "tail" at the top of the seal for tucking under. Other than that, I'm pretty happy overall.

Parts used:

• Original 1961 chrome strip on top of door (outside)
• Original 1961 top cap with new vinyl I got - I think from Stoddard. The "kit" to recover the top caps was just two pieces of vinyl... uh ok. I guess I could have found that cheaper from a fabric store, but it matches the door panels so I'm not mad. Used DAP original (flammable, super smelly) contact cement for all glueing.
• Stoddard side window plastic profile under chrome strip https://www.stoddard.com/64453195100.html
• Stoddard window wipe rubber (for some reason it's oddly snug, but it works)
• Stoddard front and rear door seals - no complaints. Cut/slice as needed with razor blade or diagonal cutters.
• Stoddard "furry" window wipe pieces inside the door. Had to be cut to length. I used tin snips and it was really hard. Was worried hack saw would shred it up too much.
• Stoddard "furry" strip clips. Some of mine were missing and looked super crappy so why not go all-out and buy new ones? Installed with slip jaw pliers.
• Original 1961 chrome door pull - a bit dinged up, but I like the fact that it's original.
• Stoddard vinyl door panel kit with pocket x 2. Does NOT contain the metal accent strip - see below Dash Cover Set item (I am guessing Stoddard doesn't make any of the upholstery parts, but rather they come from somewhere else, but who knows)
• Stoddard door panel screw kit - This kit as I purchased from Stoddard didn't work 100% for me. The kit comes with (I believe) 3/4 inch screws with fancy washers. The problem is that my panels have a large pocket area that is much thicker than the upper and center screw (Under the pocket flap) portions. So I really couldn't make the 3/4 inch screws penetrate the pocket thickness part. if they would go through, it would have been by like one thread. I went on my own and bought 1 inch long stainless screws from boltdepot.com . I think they were something like these : https://www.boltdepot.com/Sheet_meta...el_18-8_6.aspx And if I remember, the screws around the perimeter are #6 with the top cap screws being larger diameter. I was able to use my Stoddard-kit fancy washers with the new boltdepot.com screws mix-and-match as needed so I ended up with 6 (should have been SEVEN - see below) of the 3/4 inch per door, 8 of the 1 inch per door, and the two top cap screws per door. I have seen some cars have an extra screw compared to mine along the rear edge of the door near the top cap, but my car didn't seem have these extra holes. No holes in the metal, and no holes in the factory door panels.EDIT/Update: I went back and looked at some pictures I took of my doors before I put the panels on... As well as some old photos of the original door panels. Turns out my car did have another screw/hole on the rear edge that I didn't install with these new panels. They were so misaligned with each other left door vs right door that I thought there is no way those are factory holes. Also one seems sort of stripped out. So I skipped these holes. Plus, I see pics of other cars on the internet that are often inconsistent on the exact number of holes. I even saw one car without a corner hole (which I know is wrong). Either way, I'm not going back and redoing it - not that big of a deal to me. And I'd rather have a missing screw (but it looks clean) than have one stripped out one on one side and another one on the other side thats off by like 1-2 inches haha. I just don't like spreading misinformation so I'm retracting the greyed-out statement above that my car didn't have the holes. I guess it DID - they were just installed by a sloppy person at the factory. A funny side note about how dumb my orig door panels are. My door panels were black (or so I thought). When I became more interested in the car, I looked up the factory paint codes and I found my car probably had a TAN interior... but I had black panels so what's the deal? When I looked more into it, some genius back in pre-1970 before my father owned the car spray painted (or something) ALL the vinyl in the car with some sort of black paint. The door panels and the seats both look TAN if you check between seams and under places like the escutcheon plates. Really - the things people did to these poor cars back in the day when they were just an "old Porsche". Anyway the car is sort of a guards red type color now, not the original Fjord Green, so black looks good with that to me.
  
  The factory door panels are in horrible condition. I'm not sure if anyone would want them, but I see people seem to try to ebay these things... why? I did notice the original lock hardware looks a bit different than the no-lock reproductions... are people buying these super ratty old panels just for the lock/latch? A TIP for now to locate the hole for the screw hole under the pocket flap. I rolled the window UP, then I installed a cheapo #6 home depot steel screw backwards (from the inside of the door) so the pointy part is pointing toward the passengers. Then, get your door panel EXACTLY lined up how you want it, and stand outside the door and gently brace it with your shins. Then lean over the door carefully without putting your weight on it.... and push the door panel against the sharp screw tip. This will push the door into your shins, but you have braced it. The reason I do the bracing with my shins is to avoid putting the stress on the door swing stoppers. You only need to push with a few pounds of force for the sharp screw head to make a mark in the soft door card. Make 100.00% sure that door panel is exactly where you want it and is fully seated downward on the door. Anyway, remove the door from the car and OPEN THE POCKET. Now carefully use your drill or awl to drill through the door card panel from the inside toward the finished side. MAKE SURE NOT TO DRILL THROUGH THE CLOSED POCKET FLAP OR THE POCKET ITSELF!!!! The drill will come through very close to your pocket, so pull it away from the door card panel with your other hand.
• Stoddard Vinyl Dashboard Cover Set https://www.stoddard.com/nla55235541...35541-nla.html - this set contains the Roadster aluminum door accents as well as the dashboard stuff. Those pieces are glued to the top cap sort of hanging off. NO glue applied to door panel for this part - that way everything can come apart easily.

Not installed in photos:

• Original 1961 door opening lever - a bit dinged up, but I like the fact that it's original.
• Original 1961 window crank - a bit dinged up, but I like the fact that it's original.
• Stoddard door lever and window crank escutcheons in black - originals are gone

Click all for larger images:

Here is how I cut the seal. In this photo, it is about 97% complete and I only slightly tweaked it after I took this. The area I wish I left a little longer is directly above my middle finger. That would have given a little more tail to tuck under the top cap. There is an angled slice on the left of the photo to account for the curvature of the door skin profile. You can see it in the second picture. In the photo, the seal is smashed flat / spread out flat against my garage wall so you can get an idea of what I did.




A view from overhead. Shows the reason I made the angle cut above on the left side.



A view from sitting in the car. Perhaps it's not "quite" right for concourse, but I am happy with it. You can see I glued the side piece down, then folded the top part over with glue and pressed it down while also tucking underneath the chrome strip on the outside/top of the door with the window wipe rubber.



Overall view of the door panel. Window crank, door latch release, and two escutcheons not installed yet.

[JTR70]

Nice job on the seal installation.

[Safetypup]

I am not sure if this is required/recommended, but I put plastic sheeting on the door before putting the panel on.

Painter's drop plastic like you find at the home improvement store was cheap, but it was also really really thin.

I used a Glacier Bay shower curtain (don't remember if it's medium or light weight one).... one curtain is enough for two doors and I think it was about 6 bucks haha.

Attached to door with butyl tape (brand: Tacky Tape I think).

[JTR70]

I think the plastic barrier is a great addition. Looks just like what I found under my Honda and Toyota door panels; Keeps the door panels curling up from the moisture. Nice job.