Boot seal on 1966 saloon

[biomed32uk]

Well i am finding my way round 'Maisie' my newly acquired 1966 saloon and first Minor, one of the jobs is to sort the boot out, it does not fit the body well and is almost impossible to lock.

Looking down the side the is a large seal that when closing the lid seems to sitting on the lip of the body. The seal seems to have no give and looks to be fouling things up.

The seal is rectangular in section and is stuck to the lid on the longer side, should it be the other way round so it closes into the recess on the body? and not against the lip.

I have seen reference to a seal on earlier models being attached the lip on the body, this would almost make more sense, why was it changed ?, must have been a good reason.

Any advice gratefully received for a minor newbie, regards, Geoff

[chesney]

The later models have an retractable arm and the early seal fouls it, just where the catch is, as I fitted one to my '68 saloon and decided I could live with it.
The usual stockists sell both the early and late types, in the past I've used a modified door seal which worked quite well.

[aupickup]

bull motif do a stick on seal

[biomed32uk]

Chesney, retractable arm near the catch, not quite sure what you mean there, the only arm is the support on the rh side or am I being stupid and missing something in my newness ?

Is there anyone able to take a picture of their boot setup / seal please, interested to see what it looks like, and also the size of. The one I have seems massive for what its doing.

Shall have a look at Bull Motif and see what clues that has.

I cant live with it like it is, its hardly catching on the lock to keep it even shut.

[Trickydicky]

Have you tried adjusting the catch plate?

[charlie_morris_minor]

Chesney, retractable arm near the catch, not quite sure what you mean there, the only arm is the support on the rh side or am I being stupid and missing something in my newness ?

no you are not being stupid..

there are two basic types of boot supports (going to be corrected now) on the early cars you have a long piece of metal that you have to unclip and put the pointed part in a hole to keep the boot open ..


[frame][/frame]

the later ones have a sliding mechanism that locks itself open after it passes a certain point[frame][/frame]

[biomed32uk]

I have the later style as on your red car, its a 1966 model.

I have ordered the earlier type seal and am going to have a go with that, its just looks better then the block of rectangular rubber i have there at the moment. Self adhesive foam strip in varying thickness is available that I can put on the rear of the lid for it to mate to if need be.

Boot lid needs some tidying up anyway, that's the most untidy part of the car when you look close, there's some rust stains round the seam inside and a small surface scab on the bottom lip that needs stopping and treating now.

Some dinitrol up the inside of the frame should help, and treat what I can see outside.

I plan to spray it with stone chip round the inside edge and over coat back with almond green, that should tidy it up.

[biomed32uk]

Well I had some tome yesterday and did battle with the boot. Pulled the seal off the lid and fitted the one that fits to the car, which on pure aesthetics I think looks better anyway.

Some adjustments with the lid and it now locks securely, also gave me chance to fit a gasket behind the handle that was missing and it was only held in with one fixing, a couple of new 2BA screws, cut the heads off, new nuts and washers job sorted.

Not the best fitting lid in the world with the line of the car, looks like many others I have seen but she is 48yrs old, and the main brief was to be able to lock it, and use it.

[aupickup]

well done

[biomed32uk]

Thanks for that, now just to sort out the small surface scabs on the lower lip, and around the inner edge, it will be all good then. If I stop it now the boot lid will be fine, going to be blowing the whole car full of Dinitrol anyway in any orifice or cavity I can find.

Done lots with the engine as well but that's going off topic...