Trunk Lid Weatherstripping--What's problem?

[dadavanti]

Ok, so I am in the process of rebuilding a 1964 R-1 Avanti (#5292 I think). I put a new cowl seal on with the 3M adhesive. No problem. I also installed the trunk seal. It looks great, but now the trunk will no close. Did I do it wrong? I followed the instructions and glued the right surface witht the "C" facing out.

Anyone have any idea?

[Gunslinger]

I'm just taking a guess here, but it sounds similar to the reproduction rubber seals made for others. I have a Corvette I installed new weatherstripping on and had problems getting the windows to close properly. From what I've been told, the reproduction weatherstripping is solid, where original manufacture rubber is hollow through the center. The repro stuff is simply not pliable enough to work easily at the beginning. The Avanti rubber you have may be similar to this.

About all you can do is wait for a very hot day (or maybe use a heat lamp on the rubber), park the car in the sun and close the trunk lid tightly. The rubber will soften up and settle in to where the trunk lid can operate normally....more or less.

I've done this with the rubber on my Corvette, but the windows, while they close better, still haven't gotten to the point where they worked like they did with the nearly 30 year old seals.

Good luck.