Cab to roof rubber seal (Van)

[yellowpinky]

Hello
I was wondering if anyone has ever had a go at replacing the rubber seal that fits between the cab and the roof of a moggie van?
Mine is leaking slightly and I wondered if i undo the bolts that hold the back of the van to the cab perhaps i can just slide a new one in place. Sounds too easy though...any thoughts??

[les]

The rubber seal has holes punched in it to allow the bolts to pass through, so although in theory you could modift the new rubber to pass by the bolts you will need to remove them to get the old rubber out! If you do this job it might be an idea to clean up the mating faces while you can as if you're leaking water there may be some rust about, but this is not an easy task with the cab and back so close together, but worth doing and then painting. Of course you could always remove the back completely. How long have you got!!!!

[bigginger]

beware the instructions on how to do it if you're following the Haynes "Purchase and Restoration" manual. They're (to put not too fine a point on it) virtually useless, but do point out that the LCVs are "even easier than passenger vehicles" to restore. Yeah, right...

[yellowpinky]

Thankyou for your replies.

I have a reasonable amount of time to do this, however my van lives on the street, so I kind of need to wrap things up at the end of the day. My main concern is at the bottom of each side where I'm not sure if it will be harder to prize appart. How easy is it to remove the entire back?

[bigginger]

It's relatively easy (only ever done one van, but lots of pick ups), but I reckon you'll need more than a short winter's day to be sure of getting the vehicle secure by the time it gets dark.

[les]

I think there is a couple of spot welds at the bottom so prizing apart may be awkward, I think my pick-up had them.

[bigginger]

I don't think there should have been, though I've seen welds where the cab back meets the panel beneath it. Is that where you meant? The ones I've seen were very obviously not factory welds.

[les]

No these were where the sides curve round at the front, the spots were at the bottom securing them to the cross panel that the handbreak cables pass through. There are 2 bolts in this area so when rebuilding I considered them adequate without the spots. Maybe welding was a simpler way of initially holding things together at the factory.

[bigginger]

That's the panel I was talking about too. I don't think there are meant to be any welds there - could easily be that someone did them with a hand held spot welder - or, as usual, I might just be wrong. I've never seen them though, and I have taken 5 apart.

[les]

They looked factory original paint and all that, but you haven't got the monopoly on being wrong!

[bigginger]

Hmm - annoying mystery it is, then...