Draught Excluder/Seal for Javelin Doors

[Jack]

I thought it worth sharing this, as my local supplier of seals and auto trim materials has advised that he has had a lot of difficulty sourcing a seal that matches the original Javelin door seals, the ones which fit around the inside of the body around the doors. As a result it may be worth getting the stock if you are in need of something like it in the next few years - the number of factories producing the right type of material in the right colour are fairly small, and they may not do another run of the colour/type you need for some time.

On the original the material seems to be a canvas type material wrapped around a plastic/rubbery material. On most Javelins I would imagine this material has aged a fair bit. This is what we are aiming for:



Obviously not in black/brown/grey pattern, though this supplier does have the material available in plain black and red http://www.automobiletrim.com/door-seal-fabric.html (No 10 is what you need)

Peter had a similar issue with aged rubber, and I volunteered to have a poke around the usual suppliers to find a suitable replacement in an appropriate colour. A piece of the original seal was sent over, and the digging began to try and find something appropriate in a light brown/beige colour.

There appear to be two options. The most original that I could find in the right colour was sourced from Woolies Trim, this material:



http://www.woolies-trim.co.uk/p-1460-coach-lacing.aspx - note the thick centre section which wraps around the piping, and the thinner outside sections which can be stitched and will fit into the gaps required.

You also need a piping to go down the centre and get it to take the correct form. I chose a neoprene extrusion as it will be compressible, but also will form tight radiuses (radii?) without distorting in the way that a hollow rubber pipe might. It will also take up a bit of squash when the door is closed, improving the seal and avoiding draughts. Because it is contained within the coach lacing material nobody will ever see what is inside, so hopefully no points lost at concours there

The other option we found, as fitted to Keith's Javelin on investigation, was this material: http://www.woolies-trim.co.uk/p-1273-fu ... luder.aspx which looks like it would work, though whether it would be concours original is hard to say. It is also bonded around a rubber tube, so may distort around some of the tighter corners required to fit the door gap. It certainly seems to do the job, and is available in a much wider range of colours to suit interior.

Worth documenting, as this was quite a challenge, and I think we have found the solution. I will have the material in my hands from Woolies within the next couple of days and will update on how it feels in the flesh.

Jack.

[Forumadmin]

Seems like you have got a job as a Jowett Car Spares purchaser!
Well done.
The team have also sourced sealing strips for the hood front , horizontal and vertical battons for Jupiters.
Hopefully we will not have to test them out at JAW.....

[Jack]

Seems like you have got a job as a Jowett Car Spares purchaser!
Well done.
The team have also sourced sealing strips for the hood front , horizontal and vertical battons for Jupiters.
Hopefully we will not have to test them out at JAW.....

I can confirm that the Javelin material has arrived, and is good quality stuff. It's not the cheapest product on earth, but then it is not easy stuff to find.

Still searching for the elusive 10mm x 6mm angled seal for one of the Jupiter seals, currently all seem to be 13mm wide. I will find something, somewhere. If anyone knows anywhere I can buy a seal that looks like this, and is 10mm wide by 6mm high, that would be rather wonderful.



And before anyone suggests it, no, you can't just get a 13mm seal and cut it down a bit. It comes out looking awful trying to cut it precisely, no matter what we've tried.

Jack.

[p.p.]

jack done a wonderfull job
jowetter family hold together and help each other as best there can , THANK'S
peter

[Alf Heseltine]

Hello Jack, just to add to your last post, the Woolies product 'furflex' is a good replacement, as you say a bit pricey but close to
the original. Getting round the corners when fitting, just cut the flange in several places to allow fitting, be carefull as you have to cut
close to the piping. The rubber/sponge door seal, I got mine from JCS.
I have a substitute seal for the front windscreen internal surround trim, let me know if you need some & good luck with rebuild.


Regards Alf.

[Jack]

I had a chat with Alf about this over the weekend, while his car was busy winning the concours!

He along with many others have used the furflex material, available from Woolies and many other suppliers. My concerns about the tube section collapsing don't seem to be an issue even on tight corners, evidently it is flexible enough to make the turns if cut correctly when fitted.

Interesting that Peter's draught excluder was more of a canvas material, which we have matched above. Appearance will be very similar, so no big difference, but if aiming for concours originality owners might want to do some research on this.

Alf also showed me the door seal available from JCS, which looks to be ideal for the external seal (though it sits inside the outer side door, if you see what I mean)

Jack.

[Jack]

Peter and Ruth were in town last night, so we had a chance for a catch up on all things Jowett, including a very interesting story about why he chose a Jowett over the other marques out there, the difficult choice between fondue and reversing lights, and also a brief discussion about draught excluders.

We have concluded that the aging of his original draught excluders means that they must be original or very close - the rubber/plastic has hardened in such a way that it must be several decades old. The fading of the canvas and wear backs this up. The condition of the rest of the car supports this - it has been well cared for, so there is unlikely to be any premature aging of a replacement seal.

So, how is this possible? The concours winning cars and experts within the club say furflex. The original trim on the car appears for all the world to be a thick weave canvas.

This, it seems, may be a difference between a Standard and a Deluxe. We had not considered that Peter's car was a Standard when talking to club members, and all the cars I had looked at to check had been Deluxe. Does anyone know a Standard spec well enough to comment? It goes a long way to explain the discrepancy.

If this is the case (and I hope it is!), please take my advice as pertinent and helpful for the Standard Javelin, however Deluxe owners should be using furflex I think, found from Woolies and several other suppliers http://www.woolies-trim.co.uk/p-1273-fu ... luder.aspx

Can anyone confirm? Do we have a photo or catalogue to back this up and confirm the original material?

Hope this helps.

Jack.

[Alf Heseltine]

Hello Jack, on the subject of draft excluder on the standard Javelin, I have seen 3 cars this week, all Standard, all with 'furflex' type
material, two looked origional material. Maybe the woven type is a one off. On my restoration I replaced like for like & it was furflex as
factory fitted to the Standard Javelin.

Hope you got my reply to your PM.

Regards, Alf.

[Jack]

Hello Jack, on the subject of draft excluder on the standard Javelin, I have seen 3 cars this week, all Standard, all with 'furflex' type
material, two looked origional material. Maybe the woven type is a one off. On my restoration I replaced like for like & it was furflex as
factory fitted to the Standard Javelin.

Hope you got my reply to your PM.

Regards, Alf.

Hi Alf,

Yes, got your PM yesterday. Thanks for getting back to me.

On the draught excluder, how curious. This has got me wondering now, perhaps for some reason someone replaced the furflex a very long time ago for some reason. It must have been many years, going on the fading of the fabric and the hardening of the plastic (it is now very very rigid, and snaps instead of bending as it should) - this must have been fairly soft when new or it would not have been an effective draught excluder.

A one-off seems unlikely, more likely is that someone has changed it a long time ago, but why? Surely there is nobody in the world that objects to furflex! It would, however, be a much more difficult material to manufacture than the woven fabric piping, so perhaps it was done because the furflex wasn't available somewhere in the world. We can only guess at this point, the age of the material suggests it will be several owners ago, and at least 20 years or more since it was done.

Alf, just to check - is your car a Standard or Deluxe?

Jack.

[p.p.]

on fryday will bring my javelin standard "Rhowina"to the car carpenter, specialist for oldtimer, to fix the inner roof lining and the draught excluder/seal and new carpet, he will tell me if the remaining pipping is original or replaced some time ego... he said he will see it when he will replace it. ask him to give it by letter to me with his signatur for documenting reason !
maybe it will help to sort this matter out!
she was driven till 1995, odometer reading 98595 by the WOW inspection (1995)/ today reading: 98790. just a mere 195 mi made since!
50-51 one owner(garage), 51-54 one owner, 54-85 one owner, 85-92 one owner, 92-09 one owner, no restauration made just normal maintenance.
maybe the information helps...

peter

[Forumadmin]

Pictures of carpet TOPIC here. Album made public so trimmer can view (if he has the technology).

[Alf Heseltine]

Hi Jack, the furflex on the cars I've seen, has been of the same colour & texture & looks to be origional & ready for replacement after approx.

60yrs. My car a Standard Javelin had this furflex material fitted, it was faded & rotted in places, removal showed it to be the origional and

factory fitted, removing all those tacks, a nice job for someone!

Will the Jav. be ready for Wales.

Regards Alf.

[Jack]

Hi Jack, the furflex on the cars I've seen, has been of the same colour & texture & looks to be origional & ready for replacement after approx.

60yrs. My car a Standard Javelin had this furflex material fitted, it was faded & rotted in places, removal showed it to be the origional and

factory fitted, removing all those tacks, a nice job for someone!

Will the Jav. be ready for Wales.

Regards Alf.

Thanks Alf.

Assume you mean Peter's Javelin - I hope so, it has got a minor job being done at the moment on a seal on the diff, and is then on the road. Whether Peter is going to bring the Javelin to Wales I don't know yet.

If you mean Project B, currently I have considered how nice it would be to have a 1953 car back on the road in 2013 after a long time off the road. That seems a realistic deadline, but we have made a decision not to commit to any deadlines yet, and enjoy the project at our own pace, avoiding bonkers hours in the garage to hit a deadline we have imposed on ourselves

Jack.

[chapman]

As well as trying Woolies for trim you can try Edgware Rubber and trim as they have many of these solid shaped seals and they also sell the bonnet rubbing strip made of cotton and a section for the boot seal but I think JCC have now reintroduced this. Edgware also sell fluted rubber matting on rolls for the boot floor and carpet on the roll(I think they have a website)
Another very important restoration bit is the metal strip with black fur type brush which seals the glass to metal joint in the windows. This is available from vintage supplies but you will need some "No more nails" glue to stick it on with as the original Jowett stuff looks to be riveted on to the inside of the window frame
When I judge Javelins I deduct points if this is missing (miserable sod)

[Forumadmin]

The internal window seal is fixed with small 3mm self tap flat head screws. I obtained my strip from Edgware. They are on 10mins drive from me; but it is all in his garage and is not a shop.