Baffling problem with door top front seal

[jedwards]

Greetings to all Land Rover S1 enthusiasts.

I have an issue with my door tops being too far back from the windscreen frame to seal using the seal listed in the parts and workshop manuals.

A bit of Background.
When I bought my 1953 S1 80” in February of 2017, the door tops were loose in the back of the vehicle . The perspex was cloudy, cracked,and badly scratched, and the felts runners were threadbare. They needed a full rebuild, which they got a few years ago, but have never been fitted to the vehicle during my ownership.

I decided that they needed to be fitted recently, but to my surprise, when I test fitted the door tops there was a
significant gap between the door top frame and the windscreen frame, which P-section rubber seal 301157 is supposed to fill and make it water-proof.

With the capping lined up with the rivet holes in the door, and the door top mounted with the threaded rods in the holes in the capping, which align and correctly aligned with the cut-outs in the door top edge, the door top is a little back for he door’s leading edge, resulting in a 23mm gap between the door top and the windscreen frame. Seal 301157 has a bulb diameter of 19mm, so that is too small for the gap I have. I cannot move the door top forward, because its location is set by the way the door top attaches to the door.
I retained the original door top seals that were fitted to the door top when I bought the vehicle and the bulb on those are 16.5 mm , well short of the 23mm I need, which probably explains why they were not fitted to the vehicle, when I bought it.

I have tried every possibly way I can think of to move the door or the door top forward, by adjusting the door hinges, I have tried to move the windscreen back a bit, but that seems impossible, and I cannot locate a P-section seal of the size I need to fill this gap.
The doors, tops and capping are all handed, so its not possible to assembly it incorrectly, but I still cannot work out what I have done wrong.

Any suggestions and ideas, greatly appreciated.

Regards
Jeff

[V8Ian]

Is it possible that the doors and tops were not originally married to each other, or the tops are from a later Series?

[B.S.F.]

On a topless 80", driver and passenger usually grab the top of the windscreen to haul themselves up into their seats, which can result in a broken frame.
The picture shows a badly done repair. Could a similar thing have happened to your frame ? 48-51and 52/53 models don't have the same hinges on the fire wall.
I do not have a 52/53 fire wall.
.W.

[jedwards]

Is it possible that the doors and tops were not originally married to each other, or the tops are from a later Series?

Yes, anything is possible, especially after 70 years. However, the location of the door top is set by the position of the capping, and every single rivet hole in the capping lines up perfectly with the dozens of rivet holes in the both doors.

What would be super helpful would be if someone could share a photo of the 301157 door top front seal in its place. The drawings in the Land-rover Series 1 Park and Workshop Manuals are so poor detailed that its guess work to know how they are fitted.

Many thanks
Jeff

[jedwards]

The windscreen frame is perfectly straight and appears to have never been repaired. The large rubber seal between Bulkhead top and the windscreen frame, that sets the angle of the screen is new, and correctly fitted (I believe).

regards
Jeff

[B.S.F.]

This is what Lindsay Porter in his book "Guide to purchase and DIY restoration Land Rover SI, II & III" has to say.
.W,