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 Need Hints/Help installing a rad support to hood gasket/sealJump to page : 1 Now viewing page 1 [50 messages per page] | View previous thread :: View next thread |
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56D500boy |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9900     Location: Lower Mainland BC | . My original rad support to hood gasket was held on by some very obtrusive metal screws when I got my car in 2016. The screw heads were causing damage to the hood so I removed them and the gasket/seal. I ordered a new one from Steele back then but never put it on. This summer I saw Del S's 56 and his new rad support to hood gasket/seal that he had installed using roofing staples. I liked it.  Del was nice enough to give me a pack of about 26 staples (more than enough to do the job). To do the installation this way, you need to open up the original factory staple holes so they are large enough to pass the roofing staples through the top of the rad support. I tried just a 1/16" (0.0625") drill bit but it wasn't really enough. So I tried a slightly larger bit (by a few 64ths). That worked. So the game was to get the roofing staple pushing up from the bottom of the upper rad support lip, through the newly enlarged holes, then press the new rubber seal onto the points of the protruding staple tips, pressing hard enough to mark the underside of the seal. Then I drilled the same size holes through the seal, from the bottom side. Once that was done, I pushed the staple down from the top of the seal and into the enlarged holes in the upper lip of the rad support. Once the first one was done, I worked my way out from about the middle towards the outside end, one staple at a time. Just as I had to stop to fire up the BBQ to cook some dinner lamb chops, I realized that I didn't know if I had the seal oriented correctly. Oh Oh. Hmmm....  The way I have it is what I would call the "streamlined" way where the leading edge of the seal is lower than the trailing edge. I realize that it could have been the other way, with the leading edge of the seal sitting tall and the trailing edge lower. So I stopped what I was doing (about 40% of the way through the process, i.e about 50% of the staples in position but none of them cut at crimped. A neighbour asked why I wasn't using a 3M brand double-sided tape to install the seal. I didn't have really good answer. I only have one fairly bad photo of an OE rad support seal (courtesy of George B. (thanks George)) but as you can see below, I can't really tell which way the seal is oriented. Here is a photo of George's seal and the work that I have done so far (and because I have not crimped any of the staples yet, I can fix what I have done, as needs be). Looking at my photos with George's, I think that I have the seal going the wrong way. DOH!! Edited by 56D500boy 2022-08-16 2:41 AM (GeorgeBs56DodgeEngineBayShowingRadSupportAndGasket.jpg) (FirstAttemptAtAttachingRadSupportToHoodGasket_1.jpg) (FirstAttemptAtAttachingRadSupportToHoodGasket_2.jpg) (FirstAttemptAtAttachingRadSupportToHoodGasket_3.jpg) Attachments ----------------  GeorgeBs56DodgeEngineBayShowingRadSupportAndGasket.jpg (98KB - 63 downloads) FirstAttemptAtAttachingRadSupportToHoodGasket_1.jpg (143KB - 62 downloads) FirstAttemptAtAttachingRadSupportToHoodGasket_2.jpg (98KB - 66 downloads) FirstAttemptAtAttachingRadSupportToHoodGasket_3.jpg (99KB - 63 downloads) | ||
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| 56D500boy |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9900 Location: Lower Mainland BC | . I am still hoping that some one can confirm that the orientation of the seal that I tried first is wrong wrong wrong and that I need to have the seal so the higher bit faces forward, not rearward. I found a video of a guy installing a seal on a 65(ish) Mustang, using the staple up through the bottom trick, but most importantly the high bit of the seal faces forward. This at 22:45: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGgwF65RVBA But confirmation of seal orientation is still requested (if possible) | ||
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| GaryS |
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Expert Posts: 1207  Location: Ponder, TX | |||
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| 56D500boy |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9900 Location: Lower Mainland BC | GaryS - 2022-08-16 1:57 PM The seal on my '56 Plymouth had the high part facing forward when I got it, so that's the way i reinstalled it. However, I don't know if it had been that way from the factory. Thanks for that Gary. I finished drilling out the rest of the staple holes that I will need and then painted the top of the rad support with TremClad fast drying "Professional" semi-gloss black. While the paint was drying, I started searching the internet for 56 Dodge rad support seal examples. One of the better ones (I hope ) came from Volocars for a restored 56 Dodge. Hoping that the restoration put the new rad support seal on as per the factory, I will follow what you said and the photo shows: High part facing forward. https://www.volocars.com/auto-sales/vehicles/11671/1956-dodge-custom... (1956-dodge-custom-royal_RestoredWithRadSupportSealHighForward.jpg) Attachments ---------------- 1956-dodge-custom-royal_RestoredWithRadSupportSealHighForward.jpg (102KB - 60 downloads) | ||
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| 56D500boy |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9900 Location: Lower Mainland BC | . So after I figured out that the "high" part of the gasket/seal needed to face forward (perhaps to catch the air and balloon up to the underside of the hood ??)), I carried on yesterday and got the gasket on, well at least "staked" on. So my steps were: 1. Drill out the staple holes that I planned to use (which was most but not all of the factory staple holes), using a bit that was slightly larger than 1/16" (just enough that I could get the staple through the holes (from the top). 2. Paint the top of the rad support (again) so the newly drilled holes would be less likely to rust. Let the paint dry enough that it is no longer tacky. 3. Mark the left/right center of the rubber gasket and the rad support. 4. Poke a staple up through a pair of holes, starting as close to the center of the rad support as practical. 5. Align the seal and rad support center marks and push the seal into place (with the high side facing forward) and then push the staple up from the bottom into the rubber. I didn't try to pierce the rubber with the staple, just get the staple to mark the underside of the rubber. 6. Use the same drill and drill bit to drill through the rubber at the staple marks. 7. Remove the staple from the rad support and press into the newly drill holes in the rubber, from the top. 8. Guide the staple through the pair of holes in the rad support that you just used and push the rubber seal down onto the rad support. 9. Working outwards from the approximate middle to the outside, one side at a time, find the next pair of drilled holes in the rad support and press the staple up from the bottom, through that pair of holes enough to mark the rubber. 10. Get the rubber in proper position and push the staple up into the rubber seal. 11. Repeat steps 6 through 10 until all the chose staple paired holes are filled and the seal/gasket is laying in position. (That's what I did yesterday). (This is what I will be doing today) 12. Starting from the middle, remove a staple, cut the legs down to about 3/8" long and replace the shortened staple into its original position. 13. Using whatever combination of needle nose and linesman pliers that works for you, press the seal into final position and crimp over the shortened legs of the staples until the staple it firmly attached to the rad support, holding the seal into place. 14. Repeat from Step 12 until all the staples have been shorted and crimped and the seal is firmly in place. There is a couple of spots where the rad support drops down, near the outer ends, where I might try using strips of thin double sided carpet tape to augment the staples. Here are the photos from the second attempt, yesterday: (SecondAttemptAtAttachingRadSupportToHoodGasket_1.jpg) (SecondAttemptAtAttachingRadSupportToHoodGasket_3.jpg) (SecondAttemptAtAttachingRadSupportToHoodGasket_2.jpg) Attachments ---------------- SecondAttemptAtAttachingRadSupportToHoodGasket_1.jpg (130KB - 62 downloads) SecondAttemptAtAttachingRadSupportToHoodGasket_3.jpg (132KB - 66 downloads) SecondAttemptAtAttachingRadSupportToHoodGasket_2.jpg (138KB - 62 downloads) | ||
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| 56D500boy |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9900 Location: Lower Mainland BC | 56D500boy - 2022-08-17 1:44 PM This is what I will be doing today. 12. Starting from the middle, remove a staple, cut the legs down to about 3/8" long and replace the shortened staple into its original position. 13. Using whatever combination of needle nose and linesman pliers that works for you, press the seal into final position and crimp over the shortened legs of the staples until the staple it firmly attached to the rad support, holding the seal into place. 14. Repeat from Step 12 until all the staples have been shorted and crimped and the seal is firmly in place. There is a couple of spots where the rad support drops down, near the outer ends, where I might try using strips of thin double sided carpet tape to augment the staples. Mostly followed that plan except: a) 3/8" legs are too short. 1/2" works better. b) if your neighbour is yapping about something in one ear while you are crimping, it *IS* possible to over crimp and have the staple cut right through the rubber. Don't ask me how I know this. c) leaving the legs long and using their length to bend the staple into position and *THEN* trimming the leg to 3/8" and THEN crimping them is not a bad technique. I did a couple that way and it worked quite well. I will finish that way tomorrow. Had to break off before I was finished and go to a pop-up car show (about 130 cars, mine was the only Forward Look and one of only a handful of Mopars). Edited by 56D500boy 2022-08-18 2:23 AM | ||
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| dels56 |
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Extreme Veteran Posts: 350  | |||
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| 56D500boy |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9900 Location: Lower Mainland BC | . Thanks for the comments Del. I should have talked to you more before I followed your lead and used the staples that you gave me. I didn't think that I was going to be that strong and crimp the shortened staples so much that the cross bar (head?) of the staple would cut through the rubber. But I was, at least on that one. Live and learn.  I will try to go gently today when I finish this off. At least I finally figured out the correct orientation of the gasket/seal so it catches the air coming through the grill and balloons up to the underside of the hood. Edited by 56D500boy 2022-08-18 12:57 PM | ||
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| 56D500boy |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9900 Location: Lower Mainland BC | . Third attempt: At the end of the second attempt, after I had overcrimped one of the staples, I was discouraged and quit, but not before I twisted most of the remaining staples so they stayed in place. Yesterday, I used my side cutters to cut the bent legs of the staples down to about 1/2" each leg. Then I used my long needle nose pliers to crimp both legs of the staple at the same time (by positioning the pliers in the middle of the staple crown). I tried to be careful and not over crimp but I might have come close on one or two. I still have four staples near the ends of the seal to do but I want to use some double-sided tape in those areas, where the rad support drops down and moves towards the rear of the car. This is where I am at now: (ThirdAttemptAtAttachingRadSupportToHoodGasket_1.jpg) (ThirdAttemptAtAttachingRadSupportToHoodGasket_2.jpg) (ThirdAttemptAtAttachingRadSupportToHoodGasket_3.jpg) (ThirdAttemptAtAttachingRadSupportToHoodGasket_4.jpg) (ThirdAttemptAtAttachingRadSupportToHoodGasket_5.jpg) Attachments ---------------- ThirdAttemptAtAttachingRadSupportToHoodGasket_1.jpg (68KB - 60 downloads) ThirdAttemptAtAttachingRadSupportToHoodGasket_2.jpg (172KB - 61 downloads) ThirdAttemptAtAttachingRadSupportToHoodGasket_3.jpg (221KB - 62 downloads) ThirdAttemptAtAttachingRadSupportToHoodGasket_4.jpg (151KB - 60 downloads) ThirdAttemptAtAttachingRadSupportToHoodGasket_5.jpg (152KB - 67 downloads) | ||
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