Replacing All Large Opening Seals & Hatch Small Seals

[HusseinHolland]

OK - so the one (of several) annoying things about driving this is that is smells like exhaust in the cabin. When I drove it earlier in the year, I just left the windows wide open to negate it somewhat.

I've already replaced the main door seals & hatch seals, and the driver's window channel seal. I hadn't replaced the passenger door channel seal, so I did that late this afternoon. I'll find out tomorrow if that helps at all. Besides that, the only other thing that I can find info on that can cause it is the tail light gaskets. Apparently fumes will get sucked in past those. I ordered new ones, I need to remove the rear panel & lights anyway to redo the chrome & grey metallic on the panel, so I'll do that when the gaskets arrive .

Took the passenger door apart. Didn't have time to document much on this side, it took me about 2 hours, and the Mrs was getting testy

Have to put the interior panelling back together tomorrow 

also drilled & tapped the window winder M5 x.8 to accept the Volvo 240 crank handle. The Volvo shaft has twice as many splines, but it fits snugly on the shaft, so I'm not going to have to cut & weld as I did with the DS

 

EDIT - I did shove the rear molding in place between the frame & door - but I couldn't tell from the form factor exactly how it was supposed to fit. Any chance someone has a pic with theirs in place?

 

Edited October 18, 2023 by HusseinHolland

[Patcon]

The shape of the Z causes a low pressure are at the rear of the car, especially with the windows down. Any opening at the back of the car will introduce fumes,

Power antenna drain, vent line grommets, taillight harness grommet, tail lights, hatch panel and latch, etc

[HusseinHolland]

6 hours ago, Patcon said:

The shape of the Z causes a low pressure are at the rear of the car, especially with the windows down. Any opening at the back of the car will introduce fumes,

Power antenna drain, vent line grommets, taillight harness grommet, tail lights, hatch panel and latch, etc

Thank you - the antenna drain I plugged sometime ago, the PO put in a manual antenna mast. I'll look at where the EVAP lines come through the floor, and the harness grommet. T/light gaskets are coming...

Today I got the door sealed back up & put the door card back on. I need to find a grommet for the lock button 

Found this in the bottom of the door yesterday - the tab has no tension anymore, so just as well I bought complete new ones

Before I put the door all back together I massaged the two dents as best possible, used a heat gun on the outside & a screwdriver handle to work the metal from the inside. Lower dent was between the visible dot & the belt molding

Fitted the Volvo 240 crank handle, and a replacement armrest - this one I found in black, so I didn't have to paint it/

Edited October 18, 2023 by HusseinHolland

[HusseinHolland]

14 hours ago, Patcon said:

The shape of the Z causes a low pressure are at the rear of the car, especially with the windows down. Any opening at the back of the car will introduce fumes,

Power antenna drain, vent line grommets, taillight harness grommet, tail lights, hatch panel and latch, etc

I did find that the smaller vent hose grommet was torn - so I sealed that for the time being

Also, I had removed the bumper shock & bracket on the DS, that left 3 holes that fed directly into the muffler cavity. Filled them with sealed plugs

 

[HusseinHolland]

On 6/28/2023 at 10:05 AM, Captain Obvious said:

Starting in 77 they included a groove along the top of the stainless window trim to accept a piece of rubber stripping. I don't have any pics handy, but can snap one if you want to see it.

Just another reason that the 77s are better.    

Question - will the later frames fit the 75 door? Same attachment bracketry built in the the frame? (4 mount points at the front, 3 at the back vertical, 1 facing inward top rear of door skin) I'd just as soon update mine to the later version, especially since the coating on mine is compromised & has surface rust. If the frame with physically fit the door, and it's just the brackets that are different, I could always cut them off the old frames. 

Also, if you have a pic that shows the channel w/seal - can't tell from the part manual exactly where it goes. The seals I bought don't appear to be long enough to go the full length 

Edited October 19, 2023 by HusseinHolland

[HusseinHolland]

Got the last window seal done today - passenger 1/4 glass & frame seals. Cleaned up & painted the bracket weld areas on the frame as with the DS

 

Edited October 19, 2023 by HusseinHolland

[Captain Obvious]

On 10/18/2023 at 8:49 PM, HusseinHolland said:

Question - will the later frames fit the 75 door? Same attachment bracketry built in the the frame? (4 mount points at the front, 3 at the back vertical, 1 facing inward top rear of door skin) I'd just as soon update mine to the later version, especially since the coating on mine is compromised & has surface rust. If the frame with physically fit the door, and it's just the brackets that are different, I could always cut them off the old frames. 

Also, if you have a pic that shows the channel w/seal - can't tell from the part manual exactly where it goes.

I will take a look at the trim mounting scheme and take a couple pics of the later design. I don't know if the 77-78 design will fit other years, but maybe we can figure it out.

I do know that the 77-78 doors are very different in a lot of ways, but I'm not sure if the window trim is one of them.

[Jeff G 78]

I've had so many Z's, they all start to blend together, but I believe they added the rubber door seal in 1976, not '77.  Way back in 1982, I bought my first two Z's, a '72 240 and a '76 280 out of a field.  I recall at the time, the '76 had the seal and the '72 did not.

Edited October 20, 2023 by Jeff G 78

[HusseinHolland]

10 hours ago, Captain Obvious said:

I will take a look at the trim mounting scheme and take a couple pics of the later design. I don't know if the 77-78 design will fit other years, but maybe we can figure it out.

I do know that the 77-78 doors are very different in a lot of ways, but I'm not sure if the window trim is one of them.

Thank you. Unless the door inner skin/structure was also substantially altered and/or the glass shape also changed, I can't see how it couldn't be made to work. I just can't find any detail pics, besides the threads where the discussion revolves around fitting later doors to to a 240Z

9 hours ago, Jeff G 78 said:

I've had so many Z's, they all start to blend together, but I believe they added the rubber door seal in 1976, not '77.  Way back in 1982, I bought my first two Z's, a '72 240 and a '76 280 out of a field.  I recall at the time, the '76 had the seal and the '72 did not.

Not sure that matters, unless you mean perhaps the 76 version would be more likely to fit a 75 door? I'll have to look again in the parts catalog, I would expect there is a chassis break listed for the frame change

[Patcon]

The later doors have a number of differences. The latching and strike mechanism is totally different. I think the crash bars are heavier as well as things like the rubber across the top of the door frame. I guess the biggest thing would be if the mounting points are all the same.  I would expect so but I'm not certain

[Jeff G 78]

2 hours ago, HusseinHolland said:

Not sure that matters, unless you mean perhaps the 76 version would be more likely to fit a 75 door? I'll have to look again in the parts catalog, I would expect there is a chassis break listed for the frame change

The 76 frame should fit in a door for sure.  The rubber seal is the only difference as far as I can tell.  I have a feeling, the later frames will also fit even though there are many other door differences, but I have never tried that combination of parts.  The parts catalog would tell you if a '76 and '77 frame is the same.  If it is, then the '77 - '78 frame will fit in any Z door.

[HusseinHolland]

OK - looking at pics of a 77-78 frame and the earlier frame - the later frame has a separate lower section #47 & #48 in the catalog

Only one bolt at the front inner instead of two on the earlier style. Rear ends a few inches below the 2 vertical mounts that likely align with the 2 on mine, and has two additional horizontal bolt points. If I can get the later lower guide channels maybe I can make it work