Re: [DML] Roof Door seal replacement.How?

[Todd Masinelli <tmasin@xxxx>]

Here's how I did it:

First, protect your torsion bars! Marty Maier improvised a clever solution
when we were working on this in my garage. He took a plastic tube of a
similar diameter to the torsion bar's, cut a slit along its length, and
wrapped it around the bar for protection from the drill bit. Worked like a
charm.

Next, drill the heads off the pop rivets. Don't press too hard, otherwise
you'll dent the top of your door.

Now that the heads are off the pop rivets, you've still got the rest of them
inside your door. You can't pull them out, of course, but they're too big
to push in (or, again, you'll dent the top of your door). Pull them towards
you as much as possible with a pair of needle-nose pliers. Once you have
exposed as much as you can, use a cutting disk on a rotary tool to cut the
shaft flush with your door panel.

At this point, the remaining bits of the pop rivets are small enough to tap
back inside your door. Don't worry, your doors won't turn into giant
maracas...the bits of metal will either settle in somewhere snugly or fall
out through the drain holes at the bottom of the doors when you open and
close them a few times.

Pop rivet the new seals in place, paying close attention to their
orientation (the ones I bought from PJ Grady were conveniently labeled). I
opted not to use the stainless steel pop rivets that Grady provided, because
if I ever need to do this process over again I didn't want to mess with
drilling and cutting stainless.

Sure it's a hassle, but the new ones sure do look better than the old, split
ones!

Good luck,

_______________
Todd Masinelli
VIN 6681