It appears that maybe the description of the rubber weather seal has been described as SPONGE.

Is this correct, as I believe the seal was actually just rubber.

Can anyone give a desciption of the original product as the remanufacturer is having problems with sponge material?

Please check out your Mini's that are original.

Rubber Seals Australia has been provided with the BMC engineering drawings for the seal and pinchweld, as well as a sample of both, so they know what's required. I have one of their trial seals and its very similar to the original, just bunches up in the corners.

There are pictures of the seal earlier in this thread.

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ex-NSW Police 1970 MK II Cooper S
VMCI #43

Cooperess might not realise that several seals on minis, like the door and boot-lid, were described as being "black sponge rubber with a smooth skin". From the outside it looks like solid rubber, but inside, it is sponge to allow for crush.
Bit like a Violet Crumble Bar...dribble....dribble...

Or a Polly Waffle (not made anymore I think).

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ex-NSW Police 1970 MK II Cooper S
VMCI #43

Well guys, the remanufacturer has mislaid the sample he had.

If you are talking about the sample of the original I can send another, although not sure why this is really needed as they have transferred all the measurements to their CAD system. I will call them tomorrow.

Coincidentally today I came across this SLS describing a similar issue with the Morris 1100 door rubbers and a field fix, but could also be a manufacturing solution.

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ex-NSW Police 1970 MK II Cooper S
VMCI #43

Probably exactly what's needed winabbey.

I spoke to Richard at Rubber Seals Australia today.

The original seal was made of a sponge type rubber with a shiny skin on the outside. The options for today's rubber don't allow the leg that goes under the pinch weld to be properly formed so accurately recreating the original type is not possible. Instead Richard is planning to source exactly the same grey/silver pinch weld and vulcanise the rubber bulb seal onto it, rather than having the tail of the seal lap over the door aperture with the pinch weld holding it in place. He assures me the end result when fitted will look the same as the original.

It will be several months before a sample can be produced given their current workload.

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ex-NSW Police 1970 MK II Cooper S
VMCI #43