cable shifter

[chuck smith]

has anyone had Olthoff do his mod for your cable shifter? Is it significantly better? I find the cable shifter a little vague. Also , have any of you become serious about sound deadening and heat transfer to the cabin? I spent quite a bit of time on the CAV adding Dynamat and neoprene sound deadener, with excellent results. I am not expecting a Mercedes quiet ride, but longer trips are more pleasant with a little less noise. I also think we need to come up with a method to better close the gap in the door cutout area for water and wind intrusion. The eyebrows scuff the paint and still do a poor job of closing the gap. Ideas?

[Ron Earp]

Originally Posted by chuck 1

The eyebrows scuff the paint and still do a poor job of closing the gap. Ideas?

There is an idea that many have done on their 40s that you might find interesting. Some have basically put two button headed screws on the top of the door. These can be painted to match the car if you like. These screws then push downward on the door when the door goes under the eyebrows. Since the screws are situated so that they stick up or even with the eyebrows they then force the door downward a bit onto the weather stripping thus giving you a good seal up there. I imagine there are some photos on this on the site somewhere....

[chuck smith]

I was thinking about something similiar to that Ron. I was thinking attaching two small plastic wedges on the doors to accomplish the same thing.

[Dimi]

Hi Guys
The button idea for the top of the doors where they go under the eyebrows is ok for a short time but I didn't think they would be a long term solution as they put too much pressure on a small area on the eyebrows and cause wear grooves in a relatively short period of time.

I opted to make a stainless moulding as per the photo which spreads the wear over the whole eyebrow and also due to the thickness of the stainless and the method of fixing (Sikaflex) it gives thickness which pushes the doortop down onto the rubber seal.

When the door is closed nothing can be seen and when the door is open it looks much more professional and finished.

Dimi

[Steve C]

Dimi,

Is your moulding flat or does it have an L shaped edge; does it need to return over the edge of the door to prevent the eyebrow from catching on the foreword edge of the moulding?

Nice idea by the way.

Steve

Steve

[Dimi]

Hi Steve

Yes it does fold over the edge.
I made a wooden former and hand moulded the stainless over that so that it would be held on and finish the edge and to prevent it being caught by the eyebrow and to avoid the sharp edge.

Dimi

[Jack]

As far as the sound and heat transfer, I thought of using that high temp turbo blanket, it would work and you can bond it to the metal panels, the only part I don't like is it would look like tin foil on the back of your firewall. Mike Trusty and I have discussed making a thermo pane type window for the cab. Is there some new high tech paint you can just brush on? Would be a good idea to put it on the belly pan for ground heat transfer. Summer will be here before you know it! Sure would like to hear more about the new shifter too.

[Martin]

Chuck,
I've not fitted it yet, but my idea was to use the old style GTD door tongues which fit under the doors to achieve the mechanical pull down of the door and then fit the eyebrows for purely cosmetic purposes.
Just an idea..
Cheers,
Martin

[MartinGough]

Re Dennis Olthof's cable change. I have driven Dennis's car for a few hours and to be honest could not feel a difference between his cable change and rod change. The change is extremely positive with absolutely no slop. Fit and forget I recon.

[Steve C]

Chuck/Jack,

Olthoff replaced the rear bulkhead plexi with "thermopane" (insulated) glass on 2125 (I did it for ease of cleaning/ no scratches/ no clouding and heat transfer as well.

Re door scratches at eyebrow:...As part of 3M application on 2125 a piece was installed at top edge of ea door where the door runs under the eyebrow when closed (also a small tab of 3M on front clip where gas cap covers hit body when open and other small tabs on sills where the Hartwell clips rest when undone (the 3M applicator did a good job!)...2125 also has metal painted eyebrows that I believe are a little higher than the plastic supplied with the car.

Re the door gaps: Frank Catt had same problem with the first two sent to the UK and found that use of the "original rubber" that is still available over there provided a better seal. He has ID'd and said that he would set up sourcing in the US. Some of the SPF cars seal OK some don't seal as well...seems to be related to shrinkage inconsistencies in the glass cure and I'm told all mfgs have the same issue....Frank's fix does close the gaps better but, as the rubbers cross section is different/ larger dia it does make the doors harder to close..Was originally some interest in him setting this up over here through I believe a Jaguar dealer but, interest seemed to dry up.

Steve

[chuck smith]

Martin, my CAV has that mechanism and it works very well. I like Dimi's idea also . Steve, I would be interested in the weatherstripping, the CAV has a thicker weatherstrip also making it seal better. I started last night applying Dynamat to the interior tub and will work on closing off openings in the tub as I go along.

[Steve C]

Chuck,

Re Martin's comment on Dennis' cable shift....Dennis revised the original cable shift design to a better performing shifter...I believe it was Dennis' car with the revised cable shift mech that Martin is referring to when he says that it was as good as a rod change ( so if you have the original and are not happy there may be improvement possible).On my car Dennis designed a LH center ROD shift that is great...Not easy install but possible...Pics in the SPF Forum under post "2125 home" or something like that.

Re Dimi's leading edge door cap...I too might fab something like that... I have asked Dimi to post more to add to the "How To" forum...Hopefully he will.

Re Door weatherstripping I ref'd ...You should post to Frank Catt and see if he can either supply or ref you to someone in your area that will handle...Frank is owner and fabricator renown of Wealden Engineering in the UK

Re your Dynamat application and "closing off openings"...Are you going to post pics and a short write up that can be posted in the "How TO" ? Your post should prove valuable to others.

Regards, Steve

[Cliff Beer]

If you don't want to add eye brows (or avoid scuffing of the paint if you have eye brows) the tongues under the top of the door work very well. The tongues on my CAV were pretty light guage and didn't locate and pull the door top into position too definitively so I fabricated some stronger ones and they worked great. Speed tested to 155mpg - of course, I didn't stick my head out the window to see if the door tops were lifting at speed but they appeared to work from the inside of the car!

[Steve C]

Cliff,

I'm not familiar with the CAV door to roof design...I understand the concept but, do you have any pics to share that show how CAV implimented the approach and MORE importantly what you did to IMPROVE.

Tx, Steve

[chuck smith]

Steve , I will post a "how I did it" thread on the dynamat, neoprene instal. The CAV design may be the answer to the problem of the door closure , no doubt.

[Steve C]

OK

Someone show me how CAV "solved" the door to roof spyder issue. And very interested in seeing how Cliff improved on it.

Steve

[chuck smith]

I will post pictures of the CAV set up tonight.

[chuck smith]

[chuck smith]

[chuck smith]

as you can see, the door piece slides under the roof piece and in the process pulls the door down flush with the door seal, pretty slick actually