Hello all!

When I first bought my high-top 2000 E-250 about a year ago, the rear door seals were basically non-existent. Without realizing my error I ordered the non-high-top OEM door seals from Tasca parts. Upon realizing that I had ordered the wrong part, I decided to jerry-rig a combination of the new OEM non-high-top door seals and the tattered remains of the seals that were on the van when I bought it, considering that I was unable to find the high-top variant and that doing so would still put me in a much better situation than before.

Fast-forward to today, I'm trying to completely eradicate my leaks with a permanent solution. I know that I could try to track down old door seals from a junkyard (which might be in no better shape than what I have now if I can even find them at all) or improvise a solution with universal weatherstripping (which is usually more hassle than its worth for a poor fit), but I strongly prefer to find new / unused OEM door seals when possible, because it's generally the best fit possible with the least amount of hassle, and the time that it saves me usually offsets the extra cost of buying OEM.

The problem is I can't find the high-top variant of the rear-door seals anywhere, and none of the parts diagrams / catalogs that my Google-fu is turning up even acknowledge the existence of the high-top vans. I can find the non-high-top variant, which I already have, in places like the following:
https://www.tascaparts.com/auto-part...omponents-scat
https://parts.lakelandford.com/a/For...M/MB92550.html

Does anybody here have any insight as to how I might track down the OEM high-top rear door seals? Even if I can't find the seals themselves, even just knowing the exact part numbers would be immensely helpful in that that would help me track down old stock wherever it might pop up now or in the future. I'm going to call my local dealership, NAPA, and junkyard tomorrow, as well as TASCA, but I'm not expecting them to be of any help.

 

There is no factory high top Ford Econoline. So, the seals will not be OEM, they would have been an aftermarket part.

 

As said above ^^^ doors fitting a raised roof are not available from usual parts channels so you'll have to improvise and fabricate your own. If you'll post photos of the tops of the doors where they've been modified to fit against the lintel I might have an idea. I have two E-Series with raised roofs, one a 2000 and the other a 2005 by different vendors and can show you how they did this modification.

HTH

 

Thanks! That explains it. With that in mind I think that my best bet is to patch up what I've got. At the very least it helps to know that the OEM that I already bought is probably the closest fit that I'll find out-of-the-box.

I'll post some pictures in a day or so when it's light enough outside after the workday to get some pictures. In the meantime I can at least try to explain the modification that I already did. I took the new OEM weatherstripping and cut it off near the top in order to fit the top piece around the top of the door and the rest around the rest of the door. This left about five or six inches uncovered since the high top is obviously taller than the regular door, so I cut pieces of that length from the original, worn door seals and glued / screwed them into place to seal the remaining gap.

I think that my leaking problems are twofold: first, the gap-covering pieces are either too small after shrinking with age or just incorrectly placed (when I look outside from the inside of the van, I can see sunlight coming in through the gap), and second, the connecting pieces don't form a good enough mating surface due to my amateur cutting job. The solution that I have in mind is to run some rubber hose through the connecting pieces and into the OEM seal on either side of the connection in order to (a) expand the old seals, and (b) form a better connection, and then to seal the rest of the mating surfaces with some outdoor caulk.

This is a tricky thing to describe through text only, so I hope that made sense. Either way I'll post some pictures as soon as I'm able to. Thanks again!

 

I understand your process so far---it's pretty much what the original raised roof converter used. Running the single unsplice piece arcross the top was great. When you do splice one piece to another instead of drilling holes use 3M Super Weatherstrip Adhesive to connect the cut ends to one another, use the same adhesive to attach the seals to the door shells.

Running the small rubber hose through the OEM seals is a good idea. Also make sure your doors are properly adjusted so they fit against the body consistently. The light at the top of the doors is quite common, I have it on my two E-Series with raised roof. Most times the lintel is built so water doesn't leak in unless its a hard driving rain blowing straight at the rear doors.

 

I have a high top, but the doors are the same as a low top.

 

That was the case if the raised roof didn't include replacing the upper C-pillar with a fabricated lintel which accommodated the taller doors.

 

 

Sorry for the late reply - Every day this week either I've had to work late or it's been raining, meaning that I haven't had much time out in the sunlight to take pictures.

In the first picture I already ran a piece of hose through the connector piece, but I haven't properly attached it or sealed it up yet. It already looks better than before. I'll try to seal it up and fill any gaps with the 3M adhesive. I was originally going to try to seal the gaps with caulk or silicone because they seem too wide for glue. I'm still unsure about that bit.

Ironically, before I took the connector piece off and put the hose in it, that piece already appeared to be a better fit than the other two, but that's where the worst of my leak is coming from. The latter two are obviously a much poorer fit - due both to the age of the old piece and the rush job I did at the time - but I've noted little to no leaks from those corners of the door. The non-leaking door needs adjustment, but the leaking door seems to be in place - go figure.

Much like you're describing, it doesn't leak noticably until there's a heavy rain. I don't see how anybody considers that acceptable long term, though, because mold causes problems. After the rain I smell that spaghetti-like post-rain mold smell that I remember from when I had a leaky convertible. Won't it eventually get bad enough to cause enough water damage to care about?

 

[QUOTE=ToxicBard;18287681]

Hey Bard---I might have found the best solution for your problem here. If you're still reading this don't do anything until I'm able to update this post.

I found my own extended height rear doors, have the solution worked out and have to implement it. Should be later today or early Tuesday morning.