Just wanted to let everyone know, that I will be mailing Dwayne Brooks a box of door weather stripping samples, to be handed out at the International PCS coach show. I initally contacted Metro Moulded Rubber products early this winter after the door weather stripping post. After asking for the Karr rubber sample to be submitted to me, Ed was happy to provide me with a piece for reference. I took that sample to Metro, then it was blueprinted, a die made, then a sample extruded. Ed installed the sample into his 1968 Miller Meteor. You can see the installation process Ed used to install the sample on his back door if you go to his dropshots. Ed then did a paper test to see how much drag there was on the paper as it was being pulled out from between the door and the inner jam. The fit seemed very close in the video with only the fit across the bottom of the door being the least tight of fit. The bottoms of the rear doors do not fit against a jam but against the loading platform so I believe that was the cause of the loose fit. I lost sleep over the results and redesigned the weather stripping with a friend who is a retired engineer. A second sample was drawn up, another die made and a second sample created. Whats different about the second sample is simple but effective, the fin that is part of the profile of the Miller Meteor door gasket, stands up from the base to fill the opening between the door and the jam. The fin on the original sample was set far enough forward that when the door closed, the fin was pushed backwards reducing the height of the fin before it was ultimately pinched into the position with the door in the closed position. Ed reported in his dropshots that it seamed that the mark that was left on the door gasket indicated that approximately 1/8 inch or a bit greater of the rubber showed signs as being in contact between the door and the jam. In the redesign, the shank of the fin was increased in size, the height on the fin was increased, then the key element was moving the fin back on the base, which enabled the fin not to loose as much height as it was bent backwards. After talking to Richard Vyse on the fit of the Karr rubber door weatherstripping that Ed sent Richard to do his back door, Richard told me that after he installed the Karr rubber on his door, when he closes it, there is a small amount of bounce back. Richard said that his rear door closed prior to the new weather stripping the same way. The version 2 weather stripping is so close to acceptable, that I am offering the members to input comments whether to go ahead and have a run made or the second choice is to wait and see if a third version I am having a blueprint made of will be a more better design. The third version done, will raise the height of the fin more, and increases the thickness of the fin more, where it sweeps down towards the base. We are using savings out of our 401 K and we would like to make some money from our efforts. Tentatively the pricing on version 2 will be $2.75 a foot for 1 foot to 50 feet, then $2.50 for 50 feet to 75 feet, 75 feet to 100 feet $2.25 then any purchases of 100 + feet will be $2.00 per foot. Please comment if I have left anything out you have a question about. It takes 4 weeks to get the product made. After shipping some of the rubber, I have found out that 50 feet will fit into a $14.50 large priority USPS mailing box with out being ruined. The rubber has a memory when freshly extruded, and will retain wrinkles when compressd for a long period of time. This said, the rubber will have to be spun or spiraled into the shipping box to lay it in nicely which requires some effort to get to the end user in good condition. An extra $5.00 dollars is what I felt would be warranted to pay for my time to pack the weather stripping so it lays in the shipping box with the minimal amount of damage, plus the rest of the labor of labeling the box and ultimately taking the parcels to the post office. Sorry that I could not keep a dialogue open on the project, I was asked to not do so. Version 1 has a die on the shelf as well, but I would prefer not to use it. Paul suggested to me that prior to installing the new rubber gasket you should check what kind of fit your door gasket is currently giving you so that after you install the new gasket, a better judgement call can be made, after you have completed the installation. Just a heads up for everyone as a warning, our computer was hacked into some months ago, our credit card number was stolen and sold to some one in Russia, our email hacked into, and our trust changed forever. Our friends have received mail from us that we never sent and posts have been made using our email address. So please no business with us except by phone. I learned how to use a computer in 2006 so I am not very computer literate, this hacker has cost us $500.00 so far and we are still trying to get the situation taken care of months later. We have a very good idea who did it, and it seems to be someone that is trying to slander our reputations and create divisions between our personal friends and Dawn and I. Last the investigator from the ICC called us he asked if we used a cordless phone, which we did until recently. He found out that someone in Minneapolis is using a ham radio to listen in on cordless phone calls and it is likely that it is how it all began. Members can go to the member ship directory for our contact information. Thank You All, Sincerely, Michael Mykulak
