For those of you who own a 1970 Plymouth RoadRunner or GTX with the optional Air Grabber hood, this article will help you install the long, thin, flat rubber seals that screw to each bottom side of the "pop-up" door. One can buy these seals as reproductions from Year One, Inc. as part number A0201. One can contact Year One for the current price at 1-800-YEAR-ONE or on the web at www.yearone.com. Their catalog lists them as "Trap Door" seals. It describes them as "a matched pair of the seals used on the scoop on 1970-72 Plymouth Air Grabber and 1971 Dodge Ramcharger hoods. Nice reproduction, trim to fit."

On many of the Air Grabber trap doors, this seal is missing as over the last 30 years, the seal has become brittle and just plain deteriorated, crumbling to pieces probably due to the heat of the motor. The seal is attached to the bottom of the sides of the door with three Phillips screws.

The reproduction seals need a notch cut out of them so that they fit properly onto the bottom sides of the door. That is what the Year One catalog is referring to when it mentions "...trim to fit." Please refer to the template below for the correct area to be cut off the seal.

Of great importance is the side that the notch is cut from. Place the seal on a table or space that is flat to cut the notch. Each seal has two raised ribs on one side. Make sure these raised ribs are facing up and the totally flat side of the seal is down. The notch to cut out is approximately 13mm x 13mm. The template shows the approximate location of the three screw holes. I would suggest placing the trimmed seal down on the trap door and accurately marking the center of the holes on the seal. When using a drill and bit, drill holes through these marks while the seal is on the table or flat surface.

The bit will not make a clean hole, so one may have to experiment with different size bits to get the appropriate size opening so that when the screw is turning through the trap door hole, it will not twist the rubber and distort it. Of course, be careful to not drill a hole too big so the screw head could not fasten the seal firmly to the bottom part of the door.

When the seal is properly attached to the bottom of the trap door, the Phillips screw heads should be centered in between the two raised rib space. Also the completely flat side of the seal is the side that should be fastened to the bottom of the side of the trap door.

Tools needed for this project (Photo 1) include a knife, like an Exacto or sheetrock knife, ruler with metric measurements, a marker, drill and a Phillips screw driver. Note the notches have been cut out of the two left seals shown here.

Also shown here (Photo 2) is the Year One seal correctly installed on the side of the trap door.

Photo 3 is the template.