Air leak past door hinges

[Grubby]

Bob,

I have air coming past the door hinges at highway speeds. I didn't notice this on my last ERA.

838 has the bonded body option and I can see the foam seals between the body and foot boxes. There are no obvious gaps in the areas I can see with my mechanic's mirror.

Do you have any suggestions for a way to improve this? What about poking a hole in one of the foam seals and shooting expanding foam in the gap between the two seals? Or maybe, this is normal?

John

[twobjshelbys]

My doors had a foam seal. Rain still got in but I didn't have any wind, but perhaps that is because at decent speeds it's so windy I couldn't hear small leaks around the door. Do you have a topper?

[Grubby]

Not around the door seals….around the hinges.

I can feel the air on my knee.

I do have a top and side curtains for cold rainy days.

John

[mrmustang]

Originally Posted by Grubby

Not around the door seals….around the hinges.

I can feel the air on my knee.

I do have a top and side curtains for cold rainy days.

John

Take a large plastic ziplock style bag and place it behind the hinges, between the body, then spray slow expansion foam into the bag, a little at a time, until the hot air issue is solved.


Bill S.

[xb-60]

Originally Posted by Grubby

….I have air coming past the door hinges at highway speeds….

John, humour me - this is an open top car, how on earth can you tell where the air is coming from?

Cheers,
Glen

[DanEC]

I’ve heard of taking sections of pool noodles and working them between the fenders and the cowl structure/ foot box. It seems I cut some strips of thick upholstery foam and put in mine but it’s been too long to remember the details.

[fintubi]

When I called ERA about this issue, Doug recommended the same expanding-foam solution as Bill S. He didn't mention the bag idea, which may make it more effective. He did emphasize the importance of using the minimal-expansion variety (blue can) to avoid putting pressure on the body.

[Grubby]

The air leak is obvious on my knee and when I probe it is certainly around the hinges.

Minimal expansion foam sounds like a good solution.

The body was sealed by ERA, but they must have missed something.

I do drive long road trips and sometimes with a top. The heater will work better with the body sealed.

John

[fintubi]

One other refinement is to get some 1/4" vinyl tubing at the hardware store and slip a 6-12" length over the rigid tube that comes with the can of foam. This will allow you to get farther into the area between the footbox and the body.

After blasting in some foam, I used a piece of 12 awg solid copper wire to probe for open paths from both the cockpit and engine bay directions. It took a few iterations until I encountered foam regardless of where I probed.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by Grubby

The air leak is obvious on my knee and when I probe it is certainly around the hinges.

Wouldn't long pants be the easiest fix?

[SAcobra427]

I had the exact same problem with #833. It had the bonded body option also.
The heat would come from behind the door hinge area and after driving for 20 or 30 min. your knee would feel like it was getting a bad sunburn. It was the same on the passengers side also. Fixed it with the expandable foam.

[Grubby]

SACobra

Where did you shoot the foam? Did you use minimal expanding foam?

I haven’t got to this issue yet. It looks like I could poke a hole in the foam from the door hinge and fill the void between the front and rear foam seals.

John

[SAcobra427]

I injected the foam from both the hinge area along with from under the car.

[eschaider]

John,

As I read the posts, it was not clear to me if the air was hot air coming from the engine compartment or ambient air finding ways through openings in the fit of the door to the body. Could you clarify?

[Grubby]

It’s an ERA specific issue. There are two foam strips used to seal air from the engine compartment into the cabin.


ERA installs them with a bonded body option - like mine.
John

[Grubby]

I just used my shop vac to blow air from the door hinge forward. The air leak is around the 1/2 x 2 frame bracket near the top. Both sides were the same.

I shot some minimal expanding foam in that area from the engine bay.

The air leak seems fixed. I will go for a drive tomorrow to confirm.

John

[eschaider]

Originally Posted by Grubby

It’s an ERA specific issue. There are two foam strips used to seal air from the engine compartment into the cabin.


ERA installs them with a bonded body option - like mine.
John

Thanks, John, got it! Lack of familiarity with ERAs and the old-fashioned slow on the draw problem.

[mrmustang]

Originally Posted by Grubby

It’s an ERA specific issue.

Actually, it's not, every Cobra replica, no matter what brand, has the same basic issue. Some more noticeable than others, all require some type of tweaking to the insulation between the passenger compartment and the engine compartment.


Just saying


Bill S.