The MGA's cockpit and door seals form the line of weather defence between the cabin and the outside, working in combination with the door tops, corner rails and sidescreen mountings to keep wind, rain and road noise out of the cockpit. On the open roadster in particular, the seal between door top, sidescreen and hood is the only barrier against the elements when the car is buttoned up, making correct seal renewal an essential part of any restoration. This category covers the Furflex door seals, the door top and corner rails, the rim savers that protect paintwork, the sidescreen mounting hardware and the small fixings used throughout.
Furflex Door Seals
Furflex is the original-pattern door seal fitted to the MGA, a fabric-faced rubber-cored seal that runs around the door aperture and compresses against the door edge as it closes. The seal was originally colour-coded to the interior trim across the 1500 model run, but from the start of 1600 production this was standardised to either black or red regardless of trim colour. Reproduction Furflex is supplied by the metre in both colours, allowing either an original-correct 1500 trim-matched scheme to be approximated or the standard 1600-onwards black or red specification to be reproduced. Sufficient material should be ordered to run continuously around the door aperture without joints in visible areas.
Door Top and Corner Rails
The door top rail forms the upper edge of the door aperture on the roadster, providing the surface against which the sidescreen base seats and the location for the sidescreen fixing hardware. Reproduction top rails are supplied in left-hand and right-hand pairs to suit each door. The corner rails, both forward and rearward of the door, in steel and aluminium versions, finish the door aperture frame at the front and rear corners and are supplied separately to allow renewal of corroded sections without replacing the entire door frame assembly. Aluminium corner rails were used on later cars where steel had previously been fitted, reflecting the production-change move to cast aluminium components in trim roll bases from mid-1956.
Cockpit Rail and Rear Cockpit Trim
The rear cockpit rail finishes the rear edge of the cockpit aperture behind the seats and locates the rear edge of the tonneau cover, soft top and (on the roadster) the sidescreen rear fixing brackets. Renewal is typically only required where serious corrosion or damage has been identified, since the rail is largely concealed behind the trim once the interior is finished. The rear cockpit area also incorporates the moulding sets that run along the lower edges, supplied as a five-piece kit for the rear and as additional sections for the front.
Rim Savers
Rim savers are small rubber or fabric pads fitted to the four corners of the door aperture (left and right, front and rear) to protect the paintwork at points where the door edge would otherwise contact the body. Replacing rim savers when door seals are renewed makes sense because the old material is normally hardened, partially detached or missing entirely, leaving the paint unprotected. They are supplied in left-hand-front, right-hand-front, left-hand-rear and right-hand-rear positions, each shaped to the relevant corner.
Sidescreen Sockets and Stud Fasteners
The sidescreens (where fitted) locate into sockets built into the door top trim or the cockpit edge. The sockets carry chrome-plated bezels and accept the matching pegs on the sidescreen lower brackets.
Replacement sockets restore the secure location of the sidescreens when the hood is up, which on a worn car can become loose enough to allow the sidescreen to lift away from the door top in wind. Stud fasteners are also used to retain the front of the moulding sets.
Trim Panel Cups, Screws and Other Fixings
A complete door and cockpit seal renewal involves a substantial quantity of small fixings, trim panel cups (the chrome-finished cups recessed into the door cards through which the retaining screws pass), self-tapping screws in countersunk and pan-head patterns, plain and locking washers, plain nuts in 1/4 inch and 5/16 inch UNF sizes, and moulding stud fasteners. Trim panel cups are supplied as a kit for the MGA roadster in a bright finish to match the original chrome detail. Ordering the fixings as a set alongside the seals and rails avoids the project being held up waiting for missing items.
Ordering Considerations
Three points should be confirmed before ordering. First, whether the car is a 1500 (original-style trim-matched seal colour) or a 1600 onwards (standardised black or red Furflex). Second, whether the rails being renewed are left-hand or right-hand fitment. Third, whether rim savers, sidescreen sockets and trim panel cups are also being renewed at the same time, addressing all four together produces a much cleaner result than tackling the door seal alone.