RAM AIR HOOD SEAL, what's going on here...

My Ram Air is original from factory. 

My Seal on the air cleaner stretches around a lip on the air cleaner assembly.  This puts the "groove" in the foam on the inside of the seal.

The aftermarket (Daniel Carpenter) seal has the "groove" on the outside.  As if it fits on an air cleaner that has a lip facing inward?

What gives here?

When you turn the product inside out, to get the "groove" on the inside, the foam seal looks like crap.  Not round.  Definitely not worth $75.00 it cost.

NPD wasn't much help.  He said their aftermarket Ram Air assembly has a lip facing out and a little lip facing in.  Even he said though that he couldn't really get this Daniel Carpenter seal to work on their Ram Air assembly.  NPD catalog claims this seal is "exactly like original".

Anybody replaced their Ram Air Seal on an original factory Ram Air car?

What am I missing here?

Help...

It sucks to read this because i just bought one. I will be getting it next week.

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Tony,

How does yours attach to your air cleaner?

You didn't say???

Original Ram Air?

Can you show us what the DC seal looks like when inside out?  It seems odd that a DC seal would be that far off.  Does the DC seal have the radial circular features on the sealing surface like the original?

I just stuck with my original seal.  It has the cracked area similar to yours.  

I have too many other things to spend money on first.

kcmash

I would not just complain to the mustang parts supplier. I would get in direct contact with Daniel Carpenter. I personally talked with him while at the MOM in April of this year. I told him how sorry all the repo parts were and he agreed. He stated that if there was an issue with one of his parts he would like to hear about it.

He said all the sheet metal comes off the same dies in Taiwan and just different brands applied. I told him that his chrome attach clips for the 73 grill were too small that you had to bend the stainless to get it to stay on. He pulled out a note pad and wrote it down. Do not know if it went farther.

He usually makes the rubber parts in Charlotte since they had the extrude equipment there. Was it made in USA or Taiwan?

I have an original RAM air but I modified it so it sits a bit lower. I still need the groove in the inside. I just ordered it so i should receive it this week.

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I would think it would be possible that when they put the extruded rubber together they turned it the wrong way with the groove out.

Here's the seal turned inside out. 

As you can see, it's not happy being inside out.

There is an attempt at the radial circles on top, but it sits very thin and tall.

My original, over the years, is year wide and flat with pronounced radial circles.

Not sure if this is actually the original shape?

NPD could tell me nothing about it being glued inside out when manufactured. I  understand that.

That's why I want some original owners on this site to tell me how there's is on an original car.

Did Daniel Carpenter flat out make this part incorrectly?  I need some back up to start having intelligent conversation with anybody.

Also, the glue seam where the foam comes together is very poor.  Not lined up well and not glued well.  Gaps where there is no glue.

At this point I will return mine to NPD.  Like I said, $75.00 for a quality part, not for this.

Since this all came up this weekend I have not reached out to say, Don at Ohio.

I still want to know what's up?

This is how my old one looks like. The first picture is of the bottom.

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Please keep me updated Tony.  Seems you are going to have the same problem I had when I got mine.

I can't believe something seemingly so simple is turning into confusion.

Ok was at the garage and I pulled out two ram air cleaners. Both rubber seals pretty good. The best one only had about 35,000 miles and not been on car since back in 70's so not crushed. Was on a 72, Q code export model T-5 Q code. The other came with my 72 Q vert but was not original with it. You can hardly find the joint in the rubber.

Here are some pics.

So it looks like your seals also have the seam on the inside...

The mystery of the Daniel Carpenter seal problem lives on...

Off course. Today i got mine and it has the same problem. At least we now know is not a one part problem but rather a design defect. It is clear that someone screwed up when gluing the seal. So sad......

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I just purchased a seal made by Scott Drake from Summit.

I'll keep the site informed on how the seal works out...

Andy

I just purchased a seal made by Scott Drake from Summit.

I'll keep the site informed on how the seal works out...

Andy

Click to expand...

Andy, pretty sure you are going to get a Carpenter seal with a Drake label on it

well that would be a bummer...

I had assumed that Scott Drake made their own products...

I was going to call Ohio Mustang, Don, is that you?

Are you a dealer that talk to the manufacturer?

NPD told me I'd have to go through purchasing in Florida to try to start to unravel this mystery. Monday

That's why I went and found this seal at Summit.

Summit has a good return policy..I might need it.

So, you didn't mention your take on this thread.

The seals are being made incorrectly, right?

How is this possible?  I can't be the first...

well that would be a bummer...

I had assumed that Scott Drake made their own products...

I was going to call Ohio Mustang, Don, is that you?

Are you a dealer that talk to the manufacturer?

NPD told me I'd have to go through purchasing in Florida to try to start to unravel this mystery. Monday

That's why I went and found this seal at Summit.

Summit has a good return policy..I might need it.

So, you didn't mention your take on this thread.

The seals are being made incorrectly, right?

How is this possible?  I can't be the first...

Click to expand...

These would be made as a long strip of extruded material which is cut to a pre-determined length then butt-joined at the cut ends.  This join is right through the extrusion, not just one side or the other.  Somewhere in the packaging or supplier notes is the detail about being supplied inside out & needs to be turned for installation.  It can't be joined incorrectly - the profile dictates the shape.  As noted, Scott Drake is an agent / supplier for thousands of parts and a lot of the rubber components etc are Daniel Carpenter products.

I got my seal in a plastic bag with two labels - Scott Drake & D. C. part numbers.  It fits spot on.  Was tight initially but half hour lying out in the sun ( I'm in Queensland, Australia ) and no problems.  Take a deep breath and have another look. Stick with it.

PKJ

well that would be a bummer...

I had assumed that Scott Drake made their own products...

I was going to call Ohio Mustang, Don, is that you?

Are you a dealer that talk to the manufacturer?

NPD told me I'd have to go through purchasing in Florida to try to start to unravel this mystery. Monday

That's why I went and found this seal at Summit.

Summit has a good return policy..I might need it.

So, you didn't mention your take on this thread.

The seals are being made incorrectly, right?

How is this possible?  I can't be the first...

Click to expand...

These would be made as a long strip of extruded material which is cut to a pre-determined length then butt-joined at the cut ends.  This join is right through the extrusion, not just one side or the other.  Somewhere in the packaging or supplier notes is the detail about being supplied inside out & needs to be turned for installation.  It can't be joined incorrectly - the profile dictates the shape.  As noted, Scott Drake is an agent / supplier for thousands of parts and a lot of the rubber components etc are Daniel Carpenter products.

I got my seal in a plastic bag with two labels - Scott Drake & D. C. part numbers.  It fits spot on.  Was tight initially but half hour lying out in the sun ( I'm in Queensland, Australia ) and no problems.  Take a deep breath and have another look. Stick with it.

PKJ

Click to expand...

+1 I purchased my seal from either NPD, Mustang Unlimited or CJ Pony Parts. I imagine they all source the seal from the same manufacturer. As I recall it came inside out and as PKJ mentioned above, it was tight going on. I thought I was going to tear it at its seam as I pulled it around the lip. In the end, it went on and over time it flattened out and settled in, as in the picture below. Ignore the aftermarket lid and filter, I was experimenting.

I thought about heating it up to see if it improves but the reason it wrinkles when you turn it inside out is because the inner circumference is smaller than the outer circumference. Warming it up may relax/stretch the rubber over time accordingly to fit better.