Hood weather gasket seal

[TomandAlex]

The rubber weather gasket under the hood is coming loose. I've tried a couple different products over the last month to attach the rubber strip to the metal but neither product resolved the issue. Anyone have a recommendation on what to use to keep the rubber attached?

[seabeelt]

Are you talking about the ones on the side front or rear piece attached to the cowl

[TomandAlex]

Hmmm... she only has the ones on the sides.

[aj81spider]

I replaced mine when I painted the car (all of them). As I recall they were just pressure fit. I didn't glue them with anything.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

I'm not sure about a 1980, but on the earlier spiders, there are 4 rubber weatherstripping seals for the hood. The front and two sides are just attached with the metal clips built into the seals, and the rear seal is attached with a special hard plastic sleeve and 4 small screws that hold it to the front of the cowl (under the hood). Or maybe that hard plastic was built into the original seal.

The rear seal is available, but the plastic sleeve is nowhere to be found these days, so I just ended up going to Home Depot or the like and buying some black cabinet trim pieces (like edge protectors) that could be cut for the purpose. I suppose you could just skip the plastic sleeve, but the rubber seal tends to get wavy if you don't have something to keep it straight and flat against the cowl sheetmetal.

-Bryan

[TomandAlex]

I replaced mine when I painted the car (all of them). As I recall they were just pressure fit. I didn't glue them with anything.

Hmmm... I like that idea. The seal is getting really annoying being in the way when working on the carb. Maybe I'll look for some new. Also the hood has been vibrating when driving. Wonder if the cowl strip will help with that.

I'm not sure about a 1980, but on the earlier spiders, there are 4 rubber weatherstripping seals for the hood. The front and two sides are just attached with the metal clips built into the seals, and the rear seal is attached with a special hard plastic sleeve and 4 small screws that hold it to the front of the cowl (under the hood). Or maybe that hard plastic was built into the original seal.

The rear seal is available, but the plastic sleeve is nowhere to be found these days, so I just ended up going to Home Depot or the like and buying some black cabinet trim pieces (like edge protectors) that could be cut for the purpose. I suppose you could just skip the plastic sleeve, but the rubber seal tends to get wavy if you don't have something to keep it straight and flat against the cowl sheetmetal.

Will have to go look at the passenger side to see if I can feel the clips and look to see if the 1980 had the cowl strip.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Also the hood has been vibrating when driving. Wonder if the cowl strip will help with that.

Maybe, but probably not as much as you'd like. Check to see if you have the two hood pads, located near the tips. They look like:
https://autoricambi.us/hood-end-pad/
and rest against the cowl under the hood to keep the hood from vibrating.

Another source of hood vibration is the lack of the engine pan around the front of the engine. These are almost always removed as they are a royal pain when trying to work on the engine, but they do reduce hood flapping.

-Byran

[TomandAlex]

Also the hood has been vibrating when driving. Wonder if the cowl strip will help with that.

Maybe, but probably not as much as you'd like. Check to see if you have the two hood pads, located near the tips. They look like:
https://autoricambi.us/hood-end-pad/
and rest against the cowl under the hood to keep the hood from vibrating.

Another source of hood vibration is the lack of the engine pan around the front of the engine. These are almost always removed as they are a royal pain when trying to work on the engine, but they do reduce hood flapping.

Truth be told, we took the hood latch assembly off the car a couple weekends ago, stripped it down, cleaned it, reassembled the assembly and put it back on. The hood was being difficult latching at times and the cleanup seems to have helped. Just seems like the hood vibrates more now than before. As far as the hood pads. There's a couple of black things out there, but they look more like foam than the rubber pads that you linked to. Will have to take a closer look. Thanks for that link. My 76 had cone pads if I recall correctly and I actually looked for them years ago when I first got this 80.

[TomandAlex]

So I'm not sure what you guys are calling clips, but I took a better look at the rubber seal and it's metal covered by rubber. I was able to crimp the metal down so that when the strip was put back on the car, friction keeps the strip on the car. So much nicer having that weather strip stay attached.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

The hood was being difficult latching at times and the cleanup seems to have helped. Just seems like the hood vibrates more now than before.

You may have adjusted the latch mechanism so it's too high and thus not "pulling" the hood down as much as it should. So the hood vibrates. Try loosening the two nuts and moving the latch mechanism down just a tad, perhaps just 1/8" or so. Then retighten the nuts.

Getting the latch mechanism right is a bit of an art, at least on the older cars. Not too tight, not too loose, and just right side-to-side.

-Bryan

[TomandAlex]

The hood was being difficult latching at times and the cleanup seems to have helped. Just seems like the hood vibrates more now than before.

You may have adjusted the latch mechanism so it's too high and thus not "pulling" the hood down as much as it should. So the hood vibrates. Try loosening the two nuts and moving the latch mechanism down just a tad, perhaps just 1/8" or so. Then retighten the nuts.

Getting the latch mechanism right is a bit of an art, at least on the older cars. Not too tight, not too loose, and just right side-to-side.

Yeah that was my thought as well as latch didn't click when the hood was closed. I actually played around with adjusting the placement some yesterday after I posted. It clicks now but I haven't had it for a drive yet to know if the vibration was reduced.