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Level 2 Sales (800) 234-1104 © The Roadster Factory
RUBBER BODY SEALS AND GASKETS
VINYL-COVERED DOOR SEALS (DRAUGHT
EXCLUDERS), TR2, TR3, 1954-57
I have been a TR enthusiast for forty years, and I am only just now getting these
parts sorted out. Most vendors list and most enthusiasts use the fuzzy door seals on
these models, but this is not original. Where the fuzzy seal is a rubber tube covered
with wool moquette material, earlier models actually used rubber tubes covered with
vinyl material to match the vinyl used to trim the car's interior. In front of the door
opening, this seal was cemented onto the curve of the scuttle end panel to seal air
coming into the car through the crack in front of the door. The carpet was then installed
over the raw edge of the seal, and a curved vinyl-covered wooden fillet was installed
over the raw edge of the carpet to provide a finished look. At the rear of the door, a
similar seal was installed on a tacking strip, and the raw edge was hidden by the quarter
trim panel. The rubber tube inside the rear draught excluder was smaller diameter than
the tube inside the front door seal. The original seals I used to match for this project
came from a long door TR2, and I have compared with those on an original 1957 TR3.
We are now making all of these parts at The Magic Carpet Factory, and we will
supply kits which include all four draught excluders with the upper ends finished as
shown in the illustration. They will be a little longer than required, allowing customers
to cut them to length upon installation. We will also include a pair of vinyl-covered
wooden fillets, as installed in front of the doors, trimmed to match the draught
excluders. We can match any of our own interior colours, and we will supply parts for
those who wish to cover them in another material.
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