Sealing the tailgate on a Sandman Panelvan

**Frosty** · 29-10-2014, 09:29 AM

This is a old chestnut but when I changed the carbie the fumes all but stopped in the van. I went from a Hollie 350 to a 465 on the 253. Van ran better and stink stopped.

**wbute** · 29-10-2014, 09:57 AM

Yeah windows down would be worse. Mum used to crack the window a bit and it would suck the cigarette smoke out. Venturi I suppose. That would draw even more fumes in the back.
A bad carby would not help that's for sure.

**Big Rob** · 30-10-2014, 02:35 AM

I took the van into town today for a run (50km round trip) and had the tailgate up all the way. With windows down my wife was whinging about the fumes, wound up and there was no problem. With the fan on it was even better. With the tailgate shut I have no fumes even with both windows wound down, so I guess my 30 year old tailgate seals are still good.

It does seem to be an individual issue for different vans and/or exhaust exit points.

**SLR_dave** · 30-10-2014, 07:14 AM

Originally Posted by wbute

The rear of the car has a swirl of air caused by the lower pressure. The air rushes in to fill the the gap so to speak. This sucks the exhaust gas into the same area. If you don't have proper ventilation in the cab to increase the pressure then the exhaust fumes will be rushing into the lower pressure of the cab. You can see it happening on a dirt road. If you drive a ute on dirt the tail gate is always dusty. If you put the tonneau on then the back fills with dust. If you undo the tonneau and fold the rear up under the rib you get no dust in the back as the air pressure is equalised.
Unless you sealed the tailgates shut with sikaflex I think you would really need the fan going to pressurise the cab.

Nice observation.

**siegs57** · 30-10-2014, 12:35 PM

Thanks to everyone for their advice. I will take all your ideas on board and have a go at fixing my problem.
Really do appreciate the help

**jaft** · 30-10-2014, 05:16 PM

What rubber are you using..

I'm finding that the top tailgate rubber that I'm using doesn't seem to be fitting right and is hard to close the top tailgate at all.

**siegs57** · 30-10-2014, 09:25 PM

We are using a 5 years old, but new rubber from Rares and we have the top tailgate adjusted in as far as possible and you can still see daylight around the top tail gate from the inside

**Kiwivan** · 30-10-2014, 09:42 PM

I brought top and bottom tailgate set from I think it was called Betta auto rubbers off evilbay.
Great price and a great fit,They were that good I brought the door set off them also.

Cheers Kiwivan

**jaft** · 30-10-2014, 09:52 PM

mine is a betta auto rubber which is very thick at the bottom corner of the top tailgate.

I have adjusted my latches out to the max and still cant shut tailgate.
Have tried heating rubbers with hot water and managed to close tailgate for over a month, but still no luck..
The corner bottom piece when closed doesn't sit in the corner proper.

will take a pic tomorrow to show..

**Big Rob** · 31-10-2014, 01:24 AM

There's a huge discrepancy in panel fit on most cars from the 70's, but vans, being a commercial suffered from the "near enough is good enough" attitude more than most.

Some vans have tailgates that have considerable gaps and need extra rubber, while others (like jaft), need thin rubbers to get the tailgate to shut!

Each situation needs an individual solution it seems. I'm lucky mine is in the middle somewhere but we'll see what happens after I paint it and fit new rubbers.......