Spitfire door window seals

[Grahamgl]

Good morning,

A friend, who like me has a TR, has just bought an early Spitfire which needs to have new door window seals fitted (both seals, both sides). Whilst it is "fiddly" to do on a TR he cannot see how to fit new seals to the Spitfire. On a TR you just have to lower the window then fitting the new seal is possible, although not simple.

How does one fit the window seals on a Spitfire please?

Thanks

Graham

[sparky_spit]

Hi Graham, I understand that it is just the same as on the TR, you fit the seals once the glass is in, with the window wound down as far as it goes. It has to be done like that as you cannot get the glass and its U channel in with the seals already in place. I've not done it myself (although I will be in the near future) but I'm reliably informed that this is the case.

[Dannyb]

You will need a tool to hold the clips which you can then pull upwards to clip the seal to the inside edge of the door. You can buy them on Ebay, though I made mine.

[Dannyb]

I should have said  "after you have fitted the glass"

[RobPearce]

There is one more point to note. The drop glass end stop should be unbolted (two cross-head setscrews) and dropped to allow the glass to fully clear the top of the door. Re-fit it once the seals are in place, with the glass up.

[RobPearce]

Hi Iain,

Sorry, mis-remembered. They're hex head, located low on the door frame, below and slightly to the rear of the door release handle on the round-tails.

[Dannyb]

PS. box banding metal is supposed to make a good tool, so i'm told.

That's a good idea

[RobPearce]

Quoted from Spitfire6-

Mines a 1500 door, so I need to read better first.

I think the stop bracket is still in the same place, it's just not close to any obvious fittings. It's iten 613378 below but the drawing of the door carcass doesn't show its location. The hole with three slots around it, just below the front of the glass, is where the roundtail door release handle would fit (the factory designed the Mk4/1500 door carcass to be usable for replacement Mk3 doors, too).