Gummi Pflege Stift?

One of the things most people really don't think about with owning a classic 80s car is just how you deal with parts you cannot replace. That's the case with the weather seals for the doors on KARR. This is not a part that is being made or reproduced for the Fiero, so you are left with only two options. You can replace them with another 30+ year old set of used weather seals, which more than likely are either in the same condition or worse than the ones you are replacing. Your other option is to make do with the ones you have and find ways to care for them and to some degree, restore them.

That's what I was doing Friday: cleaning, protecting and rejuvenating the door seals. I started by cleaning them with just water and a microfiber cloth. This is just to remove the dirt and dust.

I have come across some really cool products while doing research for the Project. One of the most interesting is a German product called Gummi Pflege Stift. This translates to "Rubber Care Stick". It is a special formula that treats the rubber and works to restore the elasticity, which in turn plumps the rubber. It helps to reduce wind noise by creating a better seal. It protects the rubber from the elements. It also has the added benefit of helping to keep your doors from freezing shut in the winter. Unlike other protectants sold for weather seals, it is not just a coating or a dressing. It works for anything rubber. You can find it on Amazon. 

I has a foam applicator built into the top of the bottle, and you squeeze the bottle slightly to saturate the foam, then work the product into the seals.

You can see that the seals look slightly greasy. It will completely absorb in about 20 to 30 minutes, or you can wipe off any excess with a clean microfiber cloth. I prefer to let it absorb.

I was planning to just do the door seals Friday night, but we found out we needed to make an emergency trip to Rochester, Minnesota to see Sara's cousin who has been in the hospital battling cancer. She was put into hospice and wanted to see Sara, so we planned to leave early Saturday morning. This meant that I needed to get a few more things ready on KARR for the trip. I treated the sunroof seal because I am still battling a little wind noise from it not sealing 100%. More adjustments on that to come.

I also needed to install my new center console cigarette lighter plate. As you can see, they look identical from the front, except the new one has just a little more texture and is a little glossier.

From the back, you can see they modified the new plate to address the natural gap that forms at the top of the plate where it meets the center console. You can see on the old plate I had added some weatherstripping to close that gap. On the new plate they removed the mounting studs, which allowed the plate to sit back flush against the center console.

The only thing I needed to do was drill the hole for KARR's scanner switch.

I lined the plates up and marked where the hole needed to be.

I drilled a small pilot hole before switching to the larger bit.

The new plate is installed!

Sara snapped this picture while we were on the road Saturday morning. Our added ground wire to the water temperature and fuel gauges solved the erratic temperature and fuel readings! I just need to re-calibrate the fuel gauge for my ten gallon tank, as right now it is reading as if it is a 22 gallon tank.