Aircraftdoorseals and Plane Plastics

[mooneyflyfast]

I decided to replace the busted bottom door trim panel on my 81 J model (see photo).. I ordered a replacement panel from Plane Plastics and removed the top and bottom trim from the door. At this point I thought "damn this would be a great time to replace that ratty old door seal" so I ripped it off and ordered a new one from Aircraftdoorseals (which has just been acquired by Knots2u) I decided on the one that fits on the door frame.. It's easier to install (has its own stickum so no glue required). I figured if it gets damaged I will patch it or just replace it--would be very easy and no tedious glue removal would be necessary 

Removal of the old glue was a bitch as others have reported  It looked like several coats of it and it had been there a long time.  About the only thing that would cut it was paint stripper and that required careful masking with aluminum tape  A dremel tool with wire brush was helpful in removing the remaining small bits around rivets  I never want to do this job again.

The door panel fit fairly well but did require cutting, grinding, and use of a heat gun.  This material is very maleable with heat.  Drilling holes in the proper locations was tedious  Using a strap hole duplicator was helpful.  

I am very pleased with the door seal.  The door closes better and it seals very well  I thinks the cosmetics came out pretty nice on the door panels  This is one of those I'm glad I did it but I don't want to do it again" jobs.

 

Hope this will be helpful if someone else is thinking about this type of job.  Sorry if the pictures ar upside down.

 

 

[Zwaustin]

+1 on aircraft door seals. I installed one on my K model and the material is much higher quality than what was on there prior. As said above glue is a pain, I used some serious paint remover but be careful with it. 

[LANCECASPER]

Goof Off, a Heat Gun and a plastic scraper will get the glue off easier than anything else I've found.

[Marauder]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[RLCarter]

On May 31, 2017 at 3:12 PM, mooneyflyfast said:

Removal of the old glue was a bitch as others have reported 

Shouldn't that read "double bitch"?

[MooneyMitch]

Hmmmm..........should I install new seals on door or fuselage? 

[gsxrpilot]

Both?

14 minutes ago, MooneyMitch said:

Hmmmm..........should I install new seals on door or fuselage? 

 

[Marauder]

13 minutes ago, gsxrpilot said:

Both?

 

The rub (pun intended) on the frame mounted is it could get damaged by people entering or exiting the plane. This is cited on their website as well.

[mooneyflyfast]

5 hours ago, Marauder said:

The rub (pun intended) on the frame mounted is it could get damaged by people entering or exiting the plane. This is cited on their website as well.

I figure if that happens I either replace the damaged part (they send about a foot of extra material) or replace the whole thing which I figure I could do in about 15 minutes.. No glue removal involved (has stickum on the back). Just peel off the backing and stick it on.

[MooneyMitch]

42 minutes ago, mooneyflyfast said:

I figure if that happens I either replace the damaged part (they send about a foot of extra material) or replace the whole thing which I figure I could do in about 15 minutes.. No glue removal involved (has stickum on the back). Just peel off the backing and stick it on.

Peel and stick for baggage door too I wonder?  

Whoops, their web site says peel and stick on fuselage for baggage door!  

[LANCECASPER]

This stuff actually works really well: 

 

[peevee]

I'll be curious how you like the frame seal. I don't think too many are using it?

[rbridges]

On 6/2/2017 at 1:13 PM, Marauder said:

The rub (pun intended) on the frame mounted is it could get damaged by people entering or exiting the plane. This is cited on their website as well.

I bought my plane when it had fuselage mounted weatherstripping.  It was constantly getting damaged.  It finally got to the point where I couldn't stand looking at it and replaced it with door mounted stripping.

[chrisk]

 As everyone says, the removing the old glue is 95% of the work.   My wife no longer complains about drafts or her hair getting sucked out.  I briefly considered the inflatable seals but ultimately went with foam seals from Knots 2U.  Several years later I am still happy.  My seal is on the door, just like the original.

[Steve W]

As someone who stupidly decided to do the door seal as his first plane project.... This sucks. I hadn't realized the plastic had to come off first, but that wasn't a big deal until I found the 2 blind rivets, and since the plane is 1+ hours from home, I ended up buying yet another drill to remove them, but hey, now the hanger has a drill. Then the old seal only came off in tiny sections at a time, so that was a while, now I have about 20% of the adhesive removed and I gave up until next weekend. The goof-off is doing a good job just slowly, with a plastic scraper, plastic brush, microfiber rags and occasionally a brass brush. And of course I took the glare shield home to give it some TLC.

Also, anyone know what the replacement rivets are, I brought home one to measure but I figure I'd ask.

Edited June 25, 2017 by Steve W

[RLCarter]

If you talking about the entry door plastic...No rivets in mine

[Steve W]

Just now, RLCarter said:

If you talking about the entry door plastic...No rivets in mine

Interesting, mine(1994 M20J) has(had) 2 blind rivets under the center upholstery panel holding the top and bottom sections together and attached to the door.

[RLCarter]

One piece plastic on my 65' E (plane plastics replacement)

[carusoam]

Steve,

First update your avatar with your plane's details... you be asked them a lot otherwise...

Second take a photo while you are in there... sometimes the person with your best answer gets inspired by the photo details...

Just trying to help...

My C didn't have any rivets on the door's interior panel.

Best regards,

-a-

[AF M20J]

I'm joining the new seal club. Just spent half the day cleaning the old crud off. I can add this product to the list of gunk removal for anyone in Europe (good luck finding US products over here... MEK costs 10x as much b/c it is environmentally unfriendly and so do a bunch of other great chemicals).
https://www.amazon.de/dp/B00J1H6WY6/ref=pe_3044161_189395811_TE_3p_dp_1

I'm pretty much ready to put the new seal on, which is peal-n-stick, but I read somewhere on here (@Piloto?) that I should use 3M adhesive if I don't want to go through the insanity of this kind of cleanup in the future (again). I think in the same forum, someone said not to use MEK as an adhesive (melts plastic) to adhere the strip on, or it would be a repeat PITA next time I try to replace the seal.

Is that correct? Or am I reading things backwards somehow? (MEK is used for cleaning metals, but also as a glue...)

Edited June 27, 2017 by AF M20J

[mulro767]

Looks great!!! But...what do you do with the ashes and cigarette butts now???


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mooneyflyfast]

2 minutes ago, mulro767 said:

Looks great!!! But...what do you do with the ashes and cigarette butts now???


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

storm window

[Steve W]

Sigh, still going, thought it was installed right but there were a couple spots preventing the door from closing, cut one out, moved another and got it all to close. Will leave it till the weekend so it can take shape and re-check it and repair the bit I had to cut out and maybe, finally, I can go fly again.

At least the painted glareshield looks nice.