Door seals for the MGA Coupe are similar to the seals for the roadster, except they go all around the door opening on the Coupe, including around the window opening in the roof line. The Coupe seals would originally start and end at the lower front corner, but Todd Clarke recommends start and end at bottom center for a neater appearance. Please review fitting instructions for the roadster door seals first in article INT-108B. Then go to the Clarke Spares & Restorations web site and read the instructions for installing this door seal.


The Coupe has two additional pieces of seal along the front of the door opening. One is a molded crescent shape piece that goes at the body curve at top front corner of the door shell. This piece fits just forward of the main door seal. Photos above, supplied by Edward Vandyk in the UK, show remnants of this crescent seal on the right side door.

The other is a longer molded piece that runs from the crescent piece to bottom corner. This one fits just outboard of the main seal. If you look at the photo above right, the line left by the original seal is visible down the length of the door jam, parallel to the main seal. These two additional seals are glued in place, and together they seal the entire height of the steel door shell along the front edge, including intimate seal for the hinge wings. This should make the MGA Coupe a cozy and draft free cruiser.

These additional seal pieces are listed but not illustrated in the 1500 SPL, but they are shown in the Twin Cam SPL and in the 1600 SPL.

AFH4822 - Sealing pad - 'A' post - RH
AFH4823 - Sealing pad - 'A' post - LH
AFH4819 - Sealing rubber - door hinge pillar (2 req'd)

MacGregor UK Car Parts list these items on their web site but actually only supply the long seal item AFH4819, which they describe as a "P shaped tube covering the hinges with the hollow (P) section outermost". I'm not sure if that description matches the SPL illustration. The pads AFH4822/23 are available from Anglo and Moss at significant expense. Photos of a Moss part below.

Pictures below are supplied by Edward Vandyk in the UK, along with following comments.

"Attached are what I think the door seals should have been like. The rubber at the top is not the correct piece as I have not yet found one to copy. I made it from the incorrect (i.e. solid) boot sealing strip. It certainly cuts down, but does not eliminate, the draft"!

Note: The "P" shape seal shown above is not correct as original, shows the incorrect seal (originally installed on Triumphs). It should be more of an "L" shape, solid without the tubular hole, as in the illustration above right.

Current offerings by the suppliers who actually stock the supplementary seals AFH 4822, 4823 and 4819 provide a p-shaped seal that does not have the same profile as the drawing in the service parts list (see page RF, item #34, best seen in the twin cam version). In pictures above (far above) can be seen on the car with the original AFH4822.

Photos and dimensions below are from an original part, supplied by Ian Bowen.

Note from Ian Bowen: "As far as I remember, the staple holds the long door seal to the tapered seal round about the area where the bottom of the block is. As far as I can see, this would hold the long seal tightly up against the block (as the tapered seal is glued to the body) where it starts to curve upwards. I can only assume that this would make for a better seal although my long seal holds perfectly well and I don't have the tapered seal fitted so don't have a staple. The other possibility (although the long seal & the tapered seal have separate part numbers) is that when you bought the long seal, it came with the tapered seal attached so that it fitted in the right place on assembly - this might have been done for factory assembly for ease & speed of fixing??? Only an idea as the staple really did not seem to do much"!



Both ends are identical so the strip can be used for LHS and RHS. The strip is behind the door seal with the edge of the seal touching its raised part. The strip runs from the bottom of the A-post up, over the rubber block, and finishes at the bottom of the chrome door surround. It was originally secured to the door seal at the top by a staple. The flap that sits under the main door seal was glued in place.

Consider that the 20-inch height will cover the full height of the door post. I believe this means the "L" shape edge of the long seal is intended to be in intimate contact with the door shell for full height. This means the rubber wedge block is glued to the body first as a spacer to make the body shape more closely match the door shape. The long rubber strip is then tucked under the edge of the main door seal and is glued to the body post and on top of (aft of) the rubber wedge block. There was a staple securing the long rubber strip to the rubber wedge block, possibly a production technique to assure the strip stayed stuck while the adhesive would dry.

A few people who had seen the seal said that the pads AFH4822/23 were good water traps for rust promotion. The horse-hair blocks in the pillars would also contribute to rust in this area, as shown below.


Addendum May 28 2021:
Here we have pictures of the Coupe specific door seals courtesy of Dick Gough in England, GB. "These are new old stock factory parts purchased in the late 60's and never installed".

And pictures of the correct seal parts installed,also compliments of Dick Gough