Door Seals

[Marauder]

Anyone have pictures of the various original door seals in our planes? Mine was removed years ago for a Fields inflatable. Now that it failed, I am flying around with Home Depot’s finest. It sorta works…


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[201Steve]

@GEE-BEE AEROPRODUCTS do you have any pics installed on an AC you could share?

[Mark89114]

Well it sounds like the door seals are a general pain in the ass.....

And I am speaking from experience, my door whistled like a freight train, bought the new door seal from Knots 2 U.  The old seal was completely dry rotted and could be removed about 1/2" at a time, the adhesive was perfectly attached and the problem is there is no way to soak with MEK, acetone, etc.....so I resorted to paint stripper, carefully applied and masked off, that got it done, but still not easy and required lots of elbow grease.  Nothing easy about that project.  

I followed the instructions for installing the new one, correct side out, etc.  Applied the glue to the door frame and then started the process of applying glue to the seal and working it into position.  This is when the disaster started, it just wasn't easy coming around the corners, I should have had clothespins or something to hold in place, but it would slip and move and now I have glue on my applying hands, trying to manipulate the damn thing into position, several inches at a time, per the instructions, eventually got it all installed and just just the damn door to hold into position......luckily the door didn't glue itself shut, but I wasn't happy with the whole process.  The results were also less than stellar, still whistles, maybe not as bad, but I don't see how that door seal would ever seal, I suspect the gap between door and body frame is just too big.  I think what I will do down the road is cut/removed the door sear from whistling areas, and start applying some filler material, temporarily taped in and see if that help fills the gap and then fill it with sealant.  In hindsight the inflatable door seal is looking like a much better option, but no idea what that will fill in to cover the manufacturing gap on the door.  

[Marauder]

Well it sounds like the door seals are a general pain in the ass.....
And I am speaking from experience, my door whistled like a freight train, bought the new door seal from Knots 2 U.  The old seal was completely dry rotted and could be removed about 1/2" at a time, the adhesive was perfectly attached and the problem is there is no way to soak with MEK, acetone, etc.....so I resorted to paint stripper, carefully applied and masked off, that got it done, but still not easy and required lots of elbow grease.  Nothing easy about that project.  
I followed the instructions for installing the new one, correct side out, etc.  Applied the glue to the door frame and then started the process of applying glue to the seal and working it into position.  This is when the disaster started, it just wasn't easy coming around the corners, I should have had clothespins or something to hold in place, but it would slip and move and now I have glue on my applying hands, trying to manipulate the damn thing into position, several inches at a time, per the instructions, eventually got it all installed and just just the damn door to hold into position......luckily the door didn't glue itself shut, but I wasn't happy with the whole process.  The results were also less than stellar, still whistles, maybe not as bad, but I don't see how that door seal would ever seal, I suspect the gap between door and body frame is just too big.  I think what I will do down the road is cut/removed the door sear from whistling areas, and start applying some filler material, temporarily taped in and see if that help fills the gap and then fill it with sealant.  In hindsight the inflatable door seal is looking like a much better option, but no idea what that will fill in to cover the manufacturing gap on the door.  

I think these doors can warp or get bent over time which complicates making a good seal. When I bought my plane in 1991, it has a Field’s inflatable seal on it. A few pumps and all of the wind noise went away. Since it was a manual kit, I would periodically need to pump it once or twice in flight to keep the seal tight.

A couple of years ago after repairing it several times, I removed it. I have tried numerous different “Home Depot” seals with mixed results. BTW - removing the adhesive was a royal PITA on the Field’s seal as well. I used 3M’s general adhesive and silicon removers with a Scotch Brite pad to remove it.

It would be nice if there was a decent kit that was available.


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[jetdriven]

That the T-9088 style.  where does it say it fits J model and newer?