Austarion

I may have a solution to a question you didn't know you asked about.

The gasket that goes around the B pillar vent is almost impossible to find....I've tried Rare Spares and a couple of restoration rubber places with no luck.

Until......I found a rubber section that fits on the back of the vent. I will go back and get a full length and try it out on the car hopefully some time next week.




It is slightly bigger than the original plastic but I am hoping that when it is put in place and done up it will compress and fill the space between vent and body completely.

Thoughts?

My thoughts are that you're onto a winner! I also need to do soemthing about this for swapping to the later model vents. Keen to her how you get on. Will have to have a scrounge around Para Rubber next week.

Mine were coming off when I swapped to the late model ones so I left them off lol
Do they matter?

I think they are there to stop the vent vibrating and rubbing against the body and taking off the paint. They may also stop whistling that may come from air rushing over the gap between the vent and body (I'm just theorising here, I have no actual proof) but it makes sense in my head.

Alspos you been down to Clark Rubber ?

4gpwr wrote:Alspos you been down to Clark Rubber ?

Nope....just a few obscure places.....why go to one that's well known "doh"

I could check there as well now you mention it. I was originally just looking for replacement plastic moulding.

Legend! This is a common problem being solved. If it works properly Al you can request that the mods make the post a sticky! :P

isn't Al a mod...?

thrash wrote:isn't Al a mod...?

LOL

redzone wrote:

thrash wrote:isn't Al a mod...?

LOL

LOL
Looks like I am too...for now anyway!

Went to try out the rubber gasket on the car while it's under the knife.

Looks like it fits reasonably well. The vent sits a fraction higher than with the plastic section but I think that may just be because it needs a bit of manouvering to get it in properly....maybe soapy water so it all slides together better. I didn't do up the nut on the back to pull it down properly so that will help. And I think over time the rubber will compress better to give a nice fit....but time will tell. Without anything there, the vent will wobble around and would no doubt rattle and drive you mad. I noticed that later model vents I have have 4 small rubber blocks on them...obviously to support the vent better and stop this problem happening.



This is exactly 1 metre of the gasket fitted to the vent itself. It just slides on and goes around the corners pretty easily. And I was careful not to stretch it as I put it on.





Same as per factory, drain gap for leaves, water and stuff to drain from.



Now the part you're all interested in to do it yourself. Simply send a stamped self addressed envelope and a blank cheque to me at .......

or

Contact this place Bill Thompson Auto Rubbers
The channel is here
The code is VV263B....the one shown on the web page (without the B) is bigger and won't fit.

I have ordered a few metres of this stuff and hopefully will be installing it over the weekend. Thanks for finding such a perfect fix.

Al, this info is gold. Can we put this thread somewhere like the Technical file or a sticky ?

Someone's car looks like it's painted!

enthuzed wrote:Someone's car looks like it's painted!

Do you know something I don't?

Panda - I will probably do a full write up and sticky it when/if I ever get the car back from paint and I put the vents back in.