411 Wagon Hatch Seal Options?

[jfbrink]

 

Has anyone found a good solution for replacing the weatherstrip around the hatch in their wagon? An amazing amount of exhaust gets sucked into mine, and driving around like this really limits utility: 

[Crashtd420]

I have no idea what people have done for these cars, I'm sure parts are hard to find... if you dont care about oem, and you just want a seal you can look up door seal through 

 

https://www.mcmaster.com/

 

You could probably find something to fit...

Do you have any of the seal to measure and compare? 

[KELMO]

I haven't checked but have you looked at Datsport in Aus?

I recently got some rubbers for my 510 wagon but don't recall if they listed anything for 410/411.

 

[Duncan]

If there's the usual pinch weld seam around the door opening, I second Crash on checking out McMaster Carr.  I had a similar problem with my 510 wagon, and replaced the rear half of the exhaust which helped a lot.  It had small holes that leaked, but it wasn't noisey, so it was hard to detect.. 

 

I used the Datsport outer seal, but got some windlace stuff for the inner seal. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2020 by Duncan

[jfbrink]

 

Yeah, my hope was that someone had figured this out already, and I wouldn't have to be the one buying various profiles of extruded dense foam until I found one that fit.

 

The 411 has an inner seal, set in a channel in the body, that appears to be a fairly simple rectangular profile. I think this is the one that keeps exhaust out. Then there is a more complex outer seal, attached to the hatch, which I guess is for keeping out rain. The outer seal in 67 wagons is rather complex, with semi-rectangular sides and a wing-shaped upper edge.

 

@Duncan - Makes a point that has me hopeful. I'm just about to get a new exhaust for the car now that I've finished my engine swap. The old exhaust could easily have been leaking surreptitiously as I'm fairly certain it was original to the car and had definitely seen better days.

 

I'm surprised there are no 411 wagon folks have who haven't already run around this mulberry bush?

 

Jesse.

[Greaser2]

I’m in-process of preparing for paint, looks like factory was a seal on the outer edge of the hatch not sure about the body side. A PO added a new seal around the opening on the car side instead of the hatch.  It looks like it would work, I can get a pic later if it helps. I haven’t looked for a replacement seal on the hatch side yet. 

Edited November 16, 2020 by Greaser2
TGM

[MikeRL411]

WWW.SteelRubber,com has a catalog of rubber seals with dimensioned drawings.  I'm sure you could find suitable seals for your need.  Get their catalog and happy hunting.

 

P,S. They also sell windshield gasketing [and with chrome trim inserts for the restorers among us.]

[jfbrink]

 

Well, I bit the bullet and bought a universal extrusion from Steele. The stock seal is very nearly rectangular and measures roughly 5/8" x 3/4". Steele and other suppliers had lots of options that were 1/16" under on both dimensions, which seemed the wrong direction to me. So, I went with Steele's 5/8" x 1". If it doesn't squish sufficiently, I'll make a little tool to slice it down. 

 

I'll report back once I've tested it. I sure hope it solves my problem. I just replaced the entire exhaust system, and if that had any effect, it made things worse. We'll see. 

 

Jesse. 

[Angela]

On 11/14/2020 at 8:42 AM, jfbrink said:

 

Has anyone found a good solution for replacing the weatherstrip around the hatch in their wagon? An amazing amount of exhaust gets sucked into mine, and driving around like this really limits utility: 

 

Love your wagon.

 

I have a 510 wagon that nearly asphyxiated me until I had the rear exhaust pipe bent so that it emitted the exhaust fumes to the side of the car instead. This little mod made a huge difference. Later on I replaced the inner/outer rubber seals with a kit I bought from the Eagle Rock meet several years ago & haven't had an issue since.

 

Best of luck!

[]2eDeYe]

I would like to see how this turns out

[jfbrink]

 

Here's an update on the 411 wagon inner hatch seal experiment.

 

First, I bought Steele Rubber's 70-0129-99, which is a rectangular profile soft foam measuring 5/8" x 1". I have a special case issue, which is that one corner of my wagon was poorly repaired decades ago, so that it has a much greater gap to the hatch than the other. So, I needed that 1" thickness there, even though the gap is much less elsewhere. Once trimmed, I faced two issues. The sharp rectangular profile did not look automotive/OEM at all. It looked like a storm door. And, even trimmed down, and being a soft foam, it offered a LOT of resistance to closing the hatch.

 

So, I next bought Steele Rubber's 40-0480-73. This is a 5/8" x 7/16" soft foam with a "check mark" shaped section. I used a trimmed length of the 70-0129-99 to fill the excess gap in the one corner. Then, I was able to run the 40-0480-73 around the entire channel without modification. I have not yet glued the weatherstrip into place. It is just held in with masking tape. The hatch opens and closes nicely, because the seal is created by bending the leg of the check mark.

 

Before I installed the weatherstrip, CO levels inside the car were between 20 and 40 PPM, depending on driving conditions. With the weatherstrip installed, they are 0 to 10 PPM, depending on driving conditions. Cruising on open road best; accelerating from stop sign/light to stop sign/light is the worst. Window open / closed / cracked doesn't affect it much with seal. Window cracked / open is actually worse for CO without seal; I assume it's sucking the CO forward in the cabin.

 

That's my report for now....

 

Jesse.