Window Seals and firewall pad., Originality question. Options

[mountainroads]

1) I'm replacing the door window seals on my 1970 and was sent two sets from Stoddard. One set has a decidedly wider base than the other. Sorry, no pics to provide right now.

I looked in Anderson's "authenticity" guide and the author points out that seals used at the top of the window were redesigned at some point (1973 ??) to add an extra lip, presumably for better sealing, but I could find no reference to any difference in the seals used at the base of the door windows. I also tried searching the "originality" forum threads here and came up empty on this detail. I'm assuming the base width is an earlier vs. later car thing and that the narrower based seals are correct for a 1970, but guidance from someone who knows or pointer to a thread on this subject would be greatly appreciated. Also, I'm guessing likely not, but any possibility there's a -4, -6 difference here?

2) All 914 engine bay shots I've seen don't show a firewall pad. Was this something Porsche elected not to use on the 914 line? And if so, does anybody know why? Mostly curious, because it seems like an odd thing to omit unless there was a good reason. Both from a safety and noise standpoint. Perhaps the fan intake bulge made for a difficult shape?

Thanks in advance.

- MR

[Tom_T]

MR -

I put my answers in blue below your questions....

PS - Jeff Bowlsby's website & p914 are other good originality resources:

http://bowlsby.net/914/Classic/

http://p914.com/

Good Luck! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)
Tom
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1) I'm replacing the door window seals on my 1970 and was sent two sets from Stoddard. One set has a decidedly wider base than the other. Sorry, no pics to provide right now.

I looked in Anderson's "authenticity" guide and the author points out that seals used at the top of the window were redesigned at some point (1973 ??) to add an extra lip, presumably for better sealing, but I could find no reference to any difference in the seals used at the base of the door windows. I also tried searching the "originality" forum threads here and came up empty on this detail.

>> That's the Targa top seal at the window, which was for sure changed by 73 MY, & maybe 72 MY as well, IIRC. Your 70 would be the early or plain one. Yes, they were changed for better sealing - the late ones rarely leaked when the top was in place correctly, & windows were up tight all the way & properly adjusted & without play from age or alignment (my 73 never leaked in 10 years & 132k miles of DD).

I'm assuming the base width is an earlier vs. later car thing and that the narrower based seals are correct for a 1970, but guidance from someone who knows or pointer to a thread on this subject would be greatly appreciated.

>> I thought they were both the same, but if different, just test the proper with to get a good clean "scrape" on interior & exterior surfaces with your window in place & fully up. They don't really "seal" as much as to scrape/squeegee off the water or fog from the glass surfaces & to limit the flow to mostly outside (same on any car really). The key is to make sure that the weep holes in the bottom of the door cavity are kept clean & rust/debris free for drainage, & to also check behind the outer door seals that they're not holding water & rusting the channel. A new paint job with good rust treatment of the sheet metal & well bonded epoxy primer will do a lot on these old "tin worm fodder" cars to prevent that rust issue on the doors.

Also, I'm guessing likely not, but any possibility there's a -4, -6 difference here?

>> No difference on windows & tops seals 4 to 6, as ALL bodies were made by Karmann, & -6's shipped to Stuttgart for driveline, suspension/brakes, instruments, etc.

2) All 914 engine bay shots I've seen don't show a firewall pad. Was this something Porsche elected not to use on the 914 line? And if so, does anybody know why? Mostly curious, because it seems like an odd thing to omit unless there was a good reason. Both from a safety and noise standpoint. Perhaps the fan intake bulge made for a difficult shape?

>> NO - ALL 914s did have a engine wall pad on the engine side, which was a rubberized coated sisal or something like that. Look at the pix in the nailed O&H thread called "The few, the rare..." for your references to what was in them from the factory (& some dealer added options/accsy. There are better aftermarket engine bay pads out there now which won't hold water like the sisal did against the firewall & lip to rust it out - especially on the early raintrays for 70-74 (& on all -6's had no raintray due to air cleaner box clearance issue) which would warp due to engine heat at the front edge L & R then run a waterfall onto the pad in a heavier rain than the 2 funnel tubes could handle (don't ask me how I know (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif) ).

>> FYI - Here in PCA Zone 8 none of us judges will gig you points for non-original parts like the pads, SS HEs, etc. - especially when so much is NLA now &/or improvements over OE design flaws/shortcomings (they too had to design to a price point then) - & I think it's the same in all other zones, since originality is only judged at national Parade CdEs - & it often doesn't come into play there either, except for an occasional challenge. With so many Porsche models out there now, it's impossible for volunteer judges to know all the original specs for every model/sub- of each car anyway.

Thanks in advance.

- MR

[mountainroads]

Thank you *VERY* much, Tom!

Will follow up on references you provided.

Also, it occurred to me after I posted that I might be looking at inside/outside door window seals (if inside seals even existed). I'll need to check on that.

Regards,

- MR