<VV> Engine compartment seal for LM's with AC

[N. Joseph Potts]

Hank -
     It sounds like you're talking about the engine-compartment LID seal,
and NOT the seal around the periphery of the sheet metal. Right?
     Would you directly send me photos of the products you mention? If you
care to put me in touch with the "member" you mention directly, I'll promise
not to identify him/her on VV or elsewhere in public (unless it's Valerie
Plame).

Joe Potts
Editor, Cool Air, Newsletter of Air 'Vair Chapter of CORSA
1966 Corsa coupe 140hp 4-speed with A/C

-----Original Message-----
From: virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org
[mailto:virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org]On Behalf Of
kaczmarek at charter.net
Sent: Thursday, August 11, 2005 12:59 PM
To: virtualvairs at corvair.org
Subject: <VV> Engine compartment seal for LM's with AC


Greetings all;

DISCLAIMER---VENDORS PLEASE NOTE!!!!

This post is in no way intended to denigrate the seals that you sell, or the
manufacturers you buy them from.
Nor is it my intention
This is merely a contrast/comparison done at the request of a CORSA member,
With whom the 2 major vendors has likely discussed this matter with at some
length previously.

If you do not own a LM Corvair with AC, your Engine Compartment seals as
purchased from the major vendors work fine in all respects. Continue reading
only if you are interested in a very fine point of contention regarding LM's
with the original Factory Condensors located in their original places.

 I had a talk with a member recently who was concerned about the seal on the
engine compartment lid on LM vairs with A/C. Apparently, the concern was
that the reproduction
Engine compartment seals offered by the 2 major vendors did not conform well
to the GM Factory original.

 The contention was that the shape (cross-section) of the repro seal
differed from original, as well as the overall
height of the seal.

Apparently for owners of LM cars with A/C, the factory original seal also
did not allow for a proper seal of the lid against the body, causing air
leaks that disrupts the proper flow of air through the upper air plenum
below the backlite and over the condensor, whether it is the 65 (mounted
over the engine) or the 66 and later
(curved to fit in front of the plenum).

Yesterday I recieved a box with sample cross-sections of a GM Factory
original LM Engine Compartment seal, A Corvair Underground U-3110, and a
Clark's Corvair C805RR.

If the three cross sections are set side by side (this is IMO the only
timewhen VV is a pain, you can't post pics with your post.), there are some
differences, and I will briefly describe them

1. The Walls and GM seals have a bit of a "dip" in the part that goes into
the channel, where the Clark's piece is straight across.

2. height: the Clark's piece is the shortest height of the three,with Wall's
next, and the GM being the tallest of the 3.
This I believe, was the reason for the controversy in the first place.

There are subtle differences in the overall shape of the rest of the cross
sections of the Clark's and Wall's reproductions, but they are benign to the
issue at hand IMO.