Mk3 hood frame header seal

[JohnB67Spit]

Need to fit a new seal retainer to header rail. James Paddock only list the retainer in three parts for a Mk1V, and Rimmers list a Mk3 as the same part numbers as Paddocks do for the Mk1V.
Graham at Paddocks say they are different, and this would seem to be correct, as the seals are different.
Can anyone tell me if the retainers are the same on Mk3 and Mk1V, or if the Mk1V retainer can be adapted to fit, or where I can get the correct Mk3 retainer from.

Thanks in advance for your help

John

[JensH]

From my parts-manual covering up to 1970-spit mk 3, I have:

Fitted from comm.no: FD/FDU29587 approx.

713036 Retainer, centre, header rail sealing strip
713038 Retainer, outer, header rail sealing strip - R.H
713037 Retainer, outer, header rail sealing strip - L.H

Lower commission numbers seems to have been without retainer as only rubber is listed? Or might have been different due to the earlier type of hood leavers?

I bought a 713038 (or might have been a LH-one!) from Paddock a few years ago

Rimmer use the same partno for mk 3 and mk 4/1500. I believe they are identical.

[JohnB67Spit]

Thanks for your reply, I should have said that this is a 1968 Mk3 Comm no FD14750 . The car had a hardtop fitted from new, and never had a soft top. The screen frame has the fixings for the later type hood latches, so I brought a secondhand frame with similar latches. I don't know whar year Mk3 it came from, but it had the seal retainers fitted, or what remained of them.

[heraldcoupe]

The numbers JensH quotes are shared between late Mk3 Spitfire and the MkIV/1500.

I had always assumed the change in header rail seals occurred at the same time as the change of hood latches, however the parts list quote their change at "approximately FD13980 R.H.S."
That would put yours into the late catches/early seals camp. There was a change in part number of the screen frame at this point, so you'd need to establish what differences exist before mixing & matching. I can see no reference to a further change in screen frame around FD/FDU29587, which woudl seem to be good news.

Cheers,
Bill.

[Ludwig]

I have an early Spit [fd7****] with the single retainer and the newer seal fitted, seems to work just fine. So much so I was unaware there was a change.

I also have the two side pieces of the retainer [as jens mentions above] from the later Mk3/MkIV [bought in error years ago as i thought i was missing something]. They seem to be the same profile as my single-piece retainer, but no way do they constitute the whole of the single retainer, they just seem to take account of the bend around the edge?


Alex

[JohnB67Spit]

Thanks very much for your replies. Just one thing, if I buy the Mk1V retainers, and they fit ok !!  Do I need to use the Mk3 or the Mk1V seal.

[heraldcoupe]

2904 wrote:

Thanks very much for your replies. Just one thing, if I buy the Mk1V retainers, and they fit ok !!  Do I need to use the Mk3 or the Mk1V seal.

The parts list shows the same actual seal being used throughout on the Mk3, irrespective of which retainers are used. The MkIV seal uses a different part number, so stick to the Mk3 profile,

Cheers,
Bill.

[JohnB67Spit]

Thanks very much for all your help .