Part of the brake job required me to remove the two ducts that go between the blower motor and heater box on each side.

Getting those ducts in and out was an absolute shitemare, however theres a further issue and thats that they dont seal in anyway. It looks like there used to be some sort of foam sealing on the duct which has long since perished, now the two parts just rattle around loose on the spigots, which will explain why i get a cold draft from the footwell in the winter!!

Anyone got any advice on what i can use to replace this missing foam, and perhaps also any tips on getting the ducts in without mangling the foam.

Draught excluding door foam strips from B&Q. It comes on a roll and has sticky stuff on one side and a foam on the other, much the same as what was in there originally.

I also give the seam a bit of a wrap with gorilla tape. This may be more of an issue in my Canadian winters, but the way that the P38 air flow works is that the fan blows outside air toward the heater core. There is a fair distance from the fan to the matrix, and several duct joints. Any leaks between the fan and the matrix is cold air blowing at my feet. In most other vehicles I’ve had, the fan is very close to the matrix and there isn’t as much chance for leaks. Before I did this, my P38 heater was not up to our cold weather.

a 2nd option is to use the fluffy side of stick on velcro , you bye it from a craft store, used it the other day worked well.

W profile draught excluder strip is somewhat more resistant to mangling, or being pushed off, when fitting as the ribs that do the sealing are stronger than simple foam but still able to deflect as you push things together. Looks rather like a multi-Vee (serpentine) ancillary drive belt. Always seems to be made as a double width that can be split down the middle if its too wide.

I bought a lifetime supply from LiDL some years back under the Powerfix branding. Current version, branded Parkside, has dual strips of 4 ribs rather than the 3 ribs on the ones I bought but I imagine it would work as well. Around £6 or £7 off E-Bay.

I imagine there are other brands of similar stuff. E section has a shorter central rib but may well work just as well.

Clive

I guess it's essentially draught excluder, but if you go on ebay you can buy single sided foam tape in multiple thicknesses and widths...I like the 3mm x 15mm. But I also apply the duct tape to the outside as well... Especially the mid section (heater box to tunnel cover) that i cut with the wire saw 😀

I bought some "E" profile draught excluder which seemed to work-ish. ducts still feel a little loose, ideally i think slightly thicker profile would have worked better. They seem to be on there though. I might apply some tape or something as well, though i tried that initally without the foam and found it didnt stick very well to the heaterbox. Will see what other tape is around.

Cheers for the pointers :)

Aragon
Interesting to hear that the E section profile is little on the loose side. Far as I can see the overall thickness dimension is, for all practical purposes, the same as the three rib W section I have which is a very nice fit. Stiff enough to be stable but not so stiff that the adhesive doesn't hold it when pushing on. I never managed to get the foam stuff to work. Usually either tore for pushed off part way round.

I guess the shallower central rib of the E section doesn't really get squidged so only the outer ones provide support.

I imagine it's made that way to provide bit more tolerance or "squidge range" when used as a draught excluder. My 3 rib W has, probably, about a mm or so of useful squidge range before it's effectively solid. Many naughty words when I had to re-work a door frame to use it for its intended purpose!

Clive