21-06-2024, 05:15 PM
Well, it's in!!! But what a kerfuffle... I learned a couple of things that might help others.
First of all, a brand new bit of top hat seal made a huge difference. Much more supple and more ready to go where it needed to go with a little encouragement. The suppleness also extended to the 'brim' of the top hat that was more ready to be sprung into place with the string.
Second was the order of fitting. I had it in my mind that fit to the inner frame first, then offer up to the opening in the body was the way to go. Much wasted time and expletive laden speech led my assistant and I to try the other way, after all , it couldn't get much worse. This proved to be decisive and the seal sprang into the opening quite readily. The string approach helped. Then, offer up the inner frame. Here, keeping pressure on the whole thing as the seal was eased into place with the string proved impossible, so I had to commit to a screw popped in place to hold the frame tight as we worked further round the seal, adding a screw every now and then.
So now it is done. Well, I say done, there is some finishing work to ensure all the screws have bitten into the frame of the car (some appear not to have done so) but at least the darn thing cant fall out.
Apologies for all my ramblings!
First of all, a brand new bit of top hat seal made a huge difference. Much more supple and more ready to go where it needed to go with a little encouragement. The suppleness also extended to the 'brim' of the top hat that was more ready to be sprung into place with the string.
Second was the order of fitting. I had it in my mind that fit to the inner frame first, then offer up to the opening in the body was the way to go. Much wasted time and expletive laden speech led my assistant and I to try the other way, after all , it couldn't get much worse. This proved to be decisive and the seal sprang into the opening quite readily. The string approach helped. Then, offer up the inner frame. Here, keeping pressure on the whole thing as the seal was eased into place with the string proved impossible, so I had to commit to a screw popped in place to hold the frame tight as we worked further round the seal, adding a screw every now and then.
So now it is done. Well, I say done, there is some finishing work to ensure all the screws have bitten into the frame of the car (some appear not to have done so) but at least the darn thing cant fall out.
Apologies for all my ramblings!