Sealing up the opening where the trunk ghinge is (VS)

Midway through installing Dynamat in my Speedster I see how really large that space is where the trunk hinge moves into the car when closing the trunk. I have the CMC build manual and it shows one way to limit the incoming breeze but I wonder if someone has come up with a better way to close that opening. Thanks for any ideas!

The CMC has a piece under the dash that covers the hinge and bracket completely sealing the opening. It is like a box with the top and forward side open and gets fiberglassed in place.

See page 35 of the 1984 CMC manual in the library.

Uncle Jack: If you have the VS trunk carpet set, the slit in the 5" carpet pieces that go around the truck hinges should keep most of the air out....I also add a piece of rubber sheet around the hinges on the inside of the cowl where they come through to further cut down the breeze.

Jack, I had the same concern. I used two rubber bumper bracket to body seals from a VW bug. Here's what I did: undo the hinge from the trunk lid and put the seal on the hinge with the larger side of the seal towards the dash. Re-attach the trunk lid and move the seal down the hinge towards the dash so that when you close the trunk, the seal will slide along the hinge until it stops when the trunk is fully closed. Once you know that spot, lift the trunk and move the seal 1/4" closer to the dash ( keep it at the same angle as when it stopped when you closed the trunk), and then use some black silcone sealant to "glue" it in place and fill the remainder of the opening in the bumper bracket seal that the hinge goes through and let it drum before closing the trunk ( overnight dry? ). Worked great for me. You can get those bumper bracket seals from CIP for cheap $.
Doug

Remember - there are no dumb questions, only dumb answers:

So is a trunk of a CMC realy that much different from a JPS? My JPS trunk is literally airtight. Fairly large hinge slots through the firewall. No breeze, no ventilation. Maybe gas fumes - if something goes terribly wrong - but that might be a good warning?

Maybe I don't understand the issue?

Jack,
I will send you a photo of what the Dr. is talking about. This was a very effective method of "breeze reduction" on my black Speedie. See ya soon at Carlisle. Looking forward to test piloting your hot rod Speedster.

The hinge pockets that FF/CMC provide completely seal off the hinges (which mount to the steel cross member under the dash) making carpet or a ruber gasket pretty much just cosmetic. Adding the fiberglass boxes would be simple task.

Some good ideas--thanks! I do get a pretty good breeze through that opening and look forward to sealing it up some.

David and Jack:

I chose a partial route that seems to work well:

CMC (and VS, too) use the aforementioned "box" on the inside of the bulkhead and surrounding the hinge pieces. It's made of something molded, but not fiberglass - Now that I see the CMC ones from my current kit, it looks like some sort of hardened foam made on a form and shaped into a longish 3-sided box. It's mounted to the passenger side of the bulkhead and the underside of the top of the dash. I had to noodle on it to figure out how it was done (I think Rocky Cimbrec helped, too) and did mine out of fiberglass - they weren't perfectly flat along the mounting surfaces so I buttered the mounting edges up like setting a brick and used Bondo as the adhesive - probably more than I needed, but it completely sealed the trunk off from the passenger compartment. The upside is they don't leak air into the cockpit and the downside is they'll NEVER come out of there. The hinge openings in my trunk are open with nothing over them, but the cavities are painted so they look OK. If I ever get around to putting a trunk liner in there I'll probably dress them off.

On the current build I received the CMC versions of those boxes and they're a bit flatter along the mating edges so I'll just butter them up with silicon caulk and duct tape them in place till cured. Remember that where it mounts to the underside of the top of the dash it's not quite flat, anyway, so you'll need additional sealer.

If you have those boxes and can get under the dash, you could easily seal the edges better with more silicon caulk.

gn

Thanks, Gordon---can you tell me where I can buy those 'boxes" that coner that opening?

--Sorry you won't be at Carlisle this year. Think about "tail of The Dragon" later this year---a great time too.

Jack:

VS might be able to help - don't know for sure. I had to make mine from scratch.

gn

Jack -

Perhaps a simpler (and relatively inexpensive) solution would be to replace the skimpy weather seal currently on your VS trunk with a better sealing and more pliant weatherstrip (door seal).

I replaced mine with a strip of automotive rubber weatherstrip (door seal) I found at a local swap (auto) meet. Cost me about $15. Once installed, I checked for areas of possible leakage by placing a bright shop light in the closed trunk (in a darkened garage) and looked for any light shining through.

No more problems with cold air or water finding its way into the passenger area via the opening for the trunk hinges.

Hope this helps!

I am thinking of making a weatherstrip buy from JC Whitney today.

Today you can get 20% off with AEDBBXT code.

Thanks, Jim--I have a complete set of the wx strip used in the JPS cars coming. It is pretty thick when you click on "gallery" on the JPS site. You are right though about getting the trunk sealed up ---on my way back from Jake Raby's in 20 degree weather the cold air poured through those slots. Froze my butt off. I have all the carpet out now and can get into there to get this handled. Thanks!

If you want to make the CMC style boxes - I can get measurements tonight for you. I've made such pieces by taking cardboard (like from a cereal package - close to right width) and covering it with fiberglass resin and then a few coats of fiberglass cloth (HD has). You could peel out cardboard when dry but I'd just epoxy or fiberglass as is up under the dash.

Not waterproof - but you could take the cereal box idea and cover it with the dynamat and stick it up under dash - would cut air infiltration.

Wolfgang---yes--I would appreciate having thiose dimensions. I bet I can find some sort of box at wallyworld. Thanks!

Jack-

Email me. Make sure you use the address.

https://www.speedsterowners.com/files/download.asp?subfolder=/tmpusfugit/P3010001.JPG

https://www.speedsterowners.com/files/download.asp?subfolder=/tmpusfugit/P3010006.JPG

In case you do not recognize these photos, they are of the inside of the front fender wells looking back at the top where they intersect the uprights for the doors and cowl and the like. You will notice in both sides of the car there is a LARGE unsealed area venting directly into the passenger area behind the upper dash. Now my car is by an here to uknown maker, it has an aluminum frame...but appears to be pretty conventional other than that, and it was never completed, like some fair numbers of "kits".

Just figured it worth you all checking your cars for sealing since we are discussing sealing the trunk hinges....

Nice shots, Jim. I'll hafta look into this.

~WB

SOFTSEAL makes a L shaped foam rubber seal.5/8 by 5/8 that does a real good job on the trunk It plus the 2 steel curve peaces that go at the back corners under the lid help the seal to preform well.

I'd say mine is watertight. and it looks as good as Jim Ignacio's

I sent Jack photos of the beige hard plastic foam CMC sealing boxs with dimensions marked on them. Camera distorts them as they are square 90 degree sides.