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Rear Roof Seal


Guest stu's cab
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Guest stu's cab

Hi Guys. Im new to posting on here. I've just acquired a 1993 MK5 Escort cabbie. I've fitted a new roof skin and its a good tight fit. However on refitting it all back together the lip seal on the back lifts out when I close the roof. The roof is a manual roof not electric. Its pushed up by the plastic trim around the base of the vinyl roof where it seats into the frame.

 

Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

Many Thanks in advance

Stuart

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Ours does that trick too. I found the cause on our car is the seam/lip where the seal clips onto has swollen slightly due to corrosion, as well as the old seal being a bit hard and not clipping on properly in the original way (there's a lip on the underside that kind of clips it onto said seam when in good shape ).

 

All I've done for the moment in the absence of a new seal is to cut back the parts that were lifting (mainly the ends/corners) just leaving the straighter bit along the back. It doesn't really seal that much from what I've seen anyway & the water should drain out of the area under the back of the roof.

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Cheers for the reply. Worked out that its not lipping over the edge of the panel. Considered bonding in place with sikkaflex or something. Will investigate further. I know there is some rust on the panel too. The seal looks extortionately expensive from what I can see.

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Can I check I've got this right. When I fitted the frame back onto the car, I started by putting the back into the section behind the seats, so that when the roof is lowered the back drops into the space there and the remainder drops on top. Only the pictures I can see online the rear appears to be fixed. Although this is on older vehicles

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One other thing I'de like an answer to.

 

The side supports of the roof don't seem to go straight when up. This causes the drop glass to close against the frame rather than into the recess. Is this because the roof is tight and will it get easier as the roof stretches ?

 

At the moment the roof is closed but bloody tight !!!!

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Yes the back section (with the rail that the roof skin clips into) drops inside the cavity when the roof opens. I must admit I did notice the side rails don't go fully straight on ours, even now a good few months after the roof was fitted but I think the drop glass thing is just how they are.

 

I've been told the way to shut cabby doors is counter-intuitive (and not guaranteed to be correct either) in that one would usually push on the door itself to avoid straining the window mechanism. On ours though the advice to shut the doors by pushing on the drop glass has worked and the glass slots in nicely under the side rail that way. (that has actually eased a bit with time, and I fancy that when the weather warms up some more the roof will relax a little more and maybe they'll shut "normally" again).

 

Not the best time of year for fitting a new roof skin, the cold weather makes it less forgiving. I bet you sweated a bit getting it shut the first time, manual roof as well!

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Certainly did sweat a bit. Mainly trying to get it to close closer to the windscreen frame. Took a bit of closing then freed off , presumably stretched, and adjusted some more.

 

I must admit, it wasn't as bad to fit as I was expecting.

 

Just the rear screen to cut out now. Waiting til its stretched a bit first.

 

If necessary, when ready to be used, the best thing would be to drop the windows slightly before shutting the doors.

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