'66 Break B-Pillar material?

techdef

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Sven et al: I'm about to have headliner and B-pillars done (replacing gaskets and hardware on roof rack as well). Have replacement door trims en-route too. Wondering what the proper material is for the B-pillars, and also looking for any pix of these trim bits at the top of them? One of mine is clearly on crooked, and I'm not sure how they interface with the correct black door trim (the continuous strip) etc...

thanks,
-jamie
 

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Jamie,

There are a few good photos on nuancierds….

Looks like the two screws are wrong, the light is the right one, but the colour should be gris rose - ie chassis colour.

I have a plastic cover that covers the top part of the b-pillar, with vinyl under it to padd it out a little.

Looks like yours should have the small plate on top, then the light , then a shorter beige b-pillar cover… which looks like it’s missing?

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Here mine - a little different, but conceptually the same…

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Sven
 
@bleudanube

Ah, that kind of explains… I’d been peeping the other usual sites (dancho etc…) but forgot that one.

Seems I’m missing the plastic bits. Previous Owner had wrapped the pillars in the dark grey vinyl you noted as ‘wrong color’ and it’s peeling off.

I’m not clear how the meta plates are supposed to attach without screws, but I guess I’ll pull them off and look.

Barring some spare correct bits, I’ll probably have the upholsterer wrap the pillars to match the headliner, which is a match for the lower armrest portion on the door cards, sort of oatmeal jersey.

PS: would you be able to send a pic of the insides of doors closed? I’ve seen too many wrong/ugly/missing areas in detail only. Nobody ever takes a picture perpendicular to the headrests. Overall, I’m looking for the correct relationship between the 3 or 4 bits of door trim: the tan verticals, black around the doors and the upper ‘sausage’.

Sincere thanks!

PPS : LED dome lights saved my ass. Kids playing in car left the dome on for days. Battery unfazed.
 
The upper sausage…? Not sure I follow, but here a crop from a closed door shot:
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And an open one:

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Hope that helps assessing the sausage placement? 😂
 
and in all seriousness: ive seen later, post '69 breaks with a continuous black seal that runs up A post and down C (see pic below), but I'm not seeing that in the pre '69 manual. My current car has these things apparently filled out with parts from a few different cars...
 

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Ok, what I have on mine is:

- fat sausage covering the roof rail, no additional black seal - never seen that, my 70 DSuper didn’t have that either
- the black door seal of course, some were grey as well I believe
- a small light grey profile on the inside that covers the crimped section that holds the door seal. Repro parts available.
- grey vinyl under the b-pillar covers
- gris rose pillar covers with lights

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Hope that helps? Sausage fest riddle solved?

Sven
 
@bleudanube, might I trouble you for some follow up questions? Have had success on the tailgate seals, and lower door seals, time to work on this area for real
  1. My main door seals are black like yours, and are not great. I have not been able to locate anyone making that part new, did you?
  2. It seems the main door seals have to come off to do the little grey trims? True or false? If so, how?
  3. Do your door seals have backing rods in them?
  4. One of the german vendors has some used, "good condition" main door seals in grey, I"m not sure if that means a later date car or no, or just a different material/color?
thanks!
 
No bother at all… here to help!

1: My seals were still in very good condition, so didn’t need a new set. Quickly checked Darrin’s Citroen classics UK website and couldn’t find seals either, so maybe you are right that they are not available? Others may chime in here!?
I am sure some of the aussiefrogs guys will have decent door seals in some of the spare cars (Buttercup - Bob, would you have any?). Do you need all 4 or less?

2: I put the main seals back in first, then pushed the little grey ones over the crimping channel’s edge - a bit rough on the fingers, but doable. You may need to pry the channel outer open a little to buy you some space to push the edge of the grey channel onto it.

3: No, they are just rubber seals

4: grey would be for the later (or or was it Pallas/DS?) models… if black is original for your car, then I would try to find a used black set… see point 1. Someone will surely have some! Maybe there are US wreckers?

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Here a cross section how the whole show hangs together - the Safari roof is a little different, but the seals and crimping is the same.

Good luck. Let us know how you go and send Bob and PM - under “Buttercup”. He is always super helpful…
 
Superbly helpful, and an amazing cutaway! I’ll maybe stop worrying about the black seals unless something pops up. They’re maybe 4/10 so not entirely dead. Like some of the other seals on the car it appears previous owner glued them down, so may be a hugely horrid effort not worth it unless some really new and good seals materialize.

The small ones I will try and do though. Most of mine are mismatched and some are several inches too short, for a not too expensive bit…

Thanks as always!
-jamie
 
Pretty sure the main door seals were always black, happy to be corrected though. Nobody is remaking them so good used is the only way to replace them. The good news is that they almost never perish. Given the quality of repro rubber parts generally it’s probably a good thing nobody is remaking the door seals.

The little grey trim pieces are much easier to install first and then fit the door seals. You can see in Sven’s cross section above that they occupy the same space and are held in place by the door seals. The long one that runs front to back is a right pain.

To get the door seals off, pull back the exterior flap and use a large flat paint scraper to open up the crimp. Fitting them is a bit more fiddly as you need to hold the seal in place and use a hammer and chisel to close the crimp.

You can try salvaging the spring steel core of the large grey rubber roof trim but I found the new ones stay in place just fine without it.
 
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