Door seals again

[Immelman]

My door seals (passenger and baggage) are due up for replacement. I did a search of the older threads on this topic and saw a few positive votes for aircraftdoorseals.com.

Recently I was on the phone with a local MSC, Top Gun in Stockton, and they suggested that after trying many types they had the best results with using the seal provided by Mooney as a Mooney part.

Just curious if there are any pireps on the Mooney door seal these days? It seems that everyone online is saying go with the aircraftdoorseals.com product, but the opinion of Top Gun is pretty strong for me.

To be clear, I do *not* want something that glues to the fuselage... to the door only.

 

[1964-M20E]

http://www.brownaircraft.com/

 

 

Try Brown’s Aircraft supply.  I have not used them yet but my mechanic has and they have a wonderful sample book with all kinds of seals, chafing material etc.  The sample book is <$20 and the material is reasonably priced.

 

I need to redo my door seals and chances are I’ll be from them.

[rbridges]

just wondering the same thing.  my door seal is starting to tear.

[Piloto]

The problem with Mooney doors is that the frame to door gap varies from 1/16" at the hinge to 1/4" at the rear of the door. This variation impose a limitation on how thick the seal can be without straining the hinge. This is why even on new Mooneys there is a hissing leak on the door rear side. Best way to overcome this problem is to have a conformal seal like foam weatherstrip type. For over 20 years I have used the MD 3/8" x 3/4" Marine & Automotive Weatherstrip with excellent results. It last about 5 years before a hissing leak shows. Very easy to install. just peel back the tape to expose the adhesive and apply it on the door frame. You can get it for about $4.00 for a 10' roll at Home Depot or Western Marine Stores.

José

    

[kerry]

Quote: Piloto

The problem with Mooney doors is that the frame to door gap varies from 1/16" at the hinge to 1/4" at the rear of the door. This variation impose a limitation on how thick the seal can be without straining the hinge. This is why even on new Mooneys there is a hissing leak on the door rear side. Best way to overcome this problem is to have a conformal seal like foam weatherstrip type. For over 20 years I have used the MD 3/8" x 3/4" Marine & Automotive Weatherstrip with excellent results. It last about 5 years before a hissing leak shows. Very easy to install. just peel back the tape to expose the adhesive and apply it on the door frame. You can get it for about $4.00 for a 10' roll at Home Depot or Western Marine Stores.

José

    

[Piloto]

Quote: kerry

 Jose,  Are you repacing the door seal with weatherstrip.  I thought of doing this but I thought it wouldn't be legal.  Also, thank you for the info on my exhaust tail pipe adjustment.  It solved the exhaust smell problem.  Kerry

[kerry]

Quote: Piloto

The problem with Mooney doors is that the frame to door gap varies from 1/16" at the hinge to 1/4" at the rear of the door. This variation impose a limitation on how thick the seal can be without straining the hinge. This is why even on new Mooneys there is a hissing leak on the door rear side. Best way to overcome this problem is to have a conformal seal like foam weatherstrip type. For over 20 years I have used the MD 3/8" x 3/4" Marine & Automotive Weatherstrip with excellent results. It last about 5 years before a hissing leak shows. Very easy to install. just peel back the tape to expose the adhesive and apply it on the door frame. You can get it for about $4.00 for a 10' roll at Home Depot or Western Marine Stores.

José

 

[Piloto]

Quote: kerry

[PTK]

Quote: Piloto

[Piloto]

Quote: allsmiles

[kerry]

mine was gunked up with differn't types of adhesives over the years.   I tried acetone which did nothing.  I took a utility knife and modified the blade on my bench grinder to fit the shape of the door and scraped the the stuff off.  I also used a wire brush.  It took a couple of hours to get it all off.

[FoxMike]

allsmiles,

I just removes my old door seal and replaced it with a new one.  I used a product called Goof Off to remove the old stuff.  It did a pretty good job of softening the old rubber and adhesive.  New seal sure looks nice I will soon see how it works. 

[PTK]

Quote: Piloto

The problem with Mooney doors is that the frame to door gap varies from 1/16" at the hinge to 1/4" at the rear of the door. This variation impose a limitation on how thick the seal can be without straining the hinge. This is why even on new Mooneys there is a hissing leak on the door rear side. Best way to overcome this problem is to have a conformal seal like foam weatherstrip type. For over 20 years I have used the MD 3/8" x 3/4" Marine & Automotive Weatherstrip with excellent results. It last about 5 years before a hissing leak shows. Very easy to install. just peel back the tape to expose the adhesive and apply it on the door frame. You can get it for about $4.00 for a 10' roll at Home Depot or Western Marine Stores.

José

 

[jbreda]

I gave aircraft door seals a try (in fact gave them 2 tries) and found that the seals were impossible to use.  The spaces between the door and door frame vary (such as the lower door area is curved to match the outside skin, but the door frame is straight).  The best door seal is the factory seal with the foam inside the seal.  I think the Mooney Service Centers would also agree.

John Breda

[Lood]

Well, I did the exercise today and believe me, it was not fun. The old adhesive is very hard to remove but I got it 100% clean in the end. The worst though was that the door would not even almost close after I stuck the weather strip on. I used 10mm x 20mm strip, which is probably too wide and I had no other option but to cut the weather strip at an angle. This is very difficult with it already glued onto the door frame. In the end it closed and I will go see what it's like in the morning. The end result, however is a mess and I'm removing it as soon as I get a proper seal. I like the inflatable door seal from Chief Aircraft Inc. Anybody have any experience in these?

[PTK]

Now I'mthoroughly confused! I was going to do the weather strip as per Jose and yousay it doesn't work?!

[Lood]

I'll take a few pictures tomorrow morning and add them here for you to get an idea of my situation. I'm sure that a 10mm x 10mm strip would have worked better, but there's no way you can know for sure beforehand. I even had someone help me put as much pressure as we could on the door to avoid overstressing the latch, but there was no way my door would even get close to a point where the latch would catch in any way.

At first, I cut the strip at a 45 deg angle - iaw, I cut the corner that would press against the fuselage opening. That made it a little better but it still wouldn't close. So, I sort of lost my temper a little and really dug the knife in and cut the strip away, almost in half from the inside bottom edge to the outside top edge. Even then, we had to do some serious pressing and eventually, after a couple of blows, it closed enough so that I could latch it. No matter how you cut foam, it seldom looks good.

Another problem was the door stay. I had to cut the strip almost in half at the bottom of the door, from the point where the stay attaches to the door and to the same length that the stay is when closed, to leave adequate space for it to lie in when the door is closed.

As I said, I'm sure a 10mm x 10mm would probaly work better on my Mooney, but I'm not gonna risk a whole day again just to fail in the end. I'm also sure that there's probably foam strips and foam strips. Some might be less dense would thus react better to pressure and deforming. At least, I'm pretty sure that the weather strip will not be nearly as difficult to remove and clean off as was the olriginal adhesive.

Have fun.

[carusoam]

Quote: allsmiles

[Lood]

OK, now it makes perfect sense. I did the installation of the weather strip wrong.

I put it on the wide, flat part of the door frame and not in the corner as shown in the pictures above. Actually straight forward if you look at the original strip that I removed. The strip in the pictures above is less dense than what I used though. So, seeing that today is going to be a rainy one, I'm going to do it all over again! I just hate it when things aren't as they should be.
I'll post the results of my second try tonight and as I mentioned earlier, the foam shouldn't be too hard to remove and it really costs almost nothing. Imagine if I glued on a $400 inflatable seal the wrong way...

[bd32322]

looks like people use 3/8 inch thick and 3/4th inch wide weather strips from MD. I cant find those even on MD's website. The closest they have is 5/16 inch thick and 5/8th inch wide. The thickness is close to 3/8ths - but its not quite as wide. I am wondering if the width makes much of a difference or whether I am okay with 5/8th inch width.

5/16 x 5/8 is 8mm thick and 16 mm wide

- feel silly asking this but just thought I'd ask before I go and spend some time adding this to the Mooney.

[Piloto]

Quote: bd32322

looks like people use 3/8 inch thick and 3/4th inch wide weather strips from MD. I cant find those even on MD's website. The closest they have is 5/16 inch thick and 5/8th inch wide. The thickness is close to 3/8ths - but its not quite as wide. I am wondering if the width makes much of a difference or whether I am okay with 5/8th inch width.

5/16 x 5/8 is 8mm thick and 16 mm wide

- feel silly asking this but just thought I'd ask before I go and spend some time adding this to the Mooney.

[rbridges]

I may try the home depot route.  I was about to order the seal from aircraft spruce, but its $80, and I don't know how well it will last.  I have weatherstripping on my fuselage, but it's worn b/c everyone grabs the side of the plane when they pull themselves out.  I'm going to remove it and try it on the door itself.

[Immelman]

I don't think I ever followed up...

I spent the money and went with the Mooney part, ordered from LASAR. The seal conforms to the door and does its job well. The removal of that old sealant and hands glued together with ply-o-bond... not an experience I want to repeat anytime soon.

[rbridges]

how are you guys removing the old adhesive?  It looks like there is an old build up on the door.  Looks very hard.  I'd like to remove it before placing new seals.

[Immelman]

Quote: rbridges

how are you guys removing the old adhesive?  It looks like there is an old build up on the door.  Looks very hard.  I'd like to remove it before placing new seals.