Hard top rear window seal

[mgtfnut]

As I had a small leak at one corner of the hardtop window back in Oct/Nov, I did what I normally do and remove the soft top and put the hard top on for winter.
I got a "new" SAIC window seal and fitted it without any goo - it leaked like a sieve, 100 times worse than with the old seal I cut the old seal from inside to make life easier, and fitted the seal to the glass, and then with some string and my neighbour's help, pulled the seal lip over from inside the car.
I last did this back when my son wanted a HRW from a scrappie in a Mini I was building, years ago and no problem at all.

The question is, if I manage to get the screen out in one piece again, do I fit the seal to the hard top first with some sealing gunge, or do what I did originally and fit the seal to the screen with gunge? It looked like less force was needed to peel the seal lip back from inside, but perhaps it might be better to fit the seal with gunge to the hard top, and then fit the glass from the outside - bearing in mind any black gunge will be easier and less messy to deal with outside the car using a gungy string
As my car has lived outside all it's life, I now have to keep the driver's seat out of the car with carpet curled up and foam removed to deal with the water ingress several times a week.
I'll shortly be about to put the soft top back on - it's been a long wet winter.

[mgtfnut]

I think - possibly, that the leaks have stopped

The problem seems to be that the slot in the seal onto the bodywork/ hardtop is about 2/3 times bigger than the thickness of the fibreglass. The window glass seal slot appeared to be ok. So, third time of refitting the screen with much gunge reduced the water flow last night to a few drops in one corner. More gunge went in last night and waiting for rain this afternoon

I shouldn't have cut the original OEM seal off with a stanley knife, you can peel back the seal from inside using your fingers and push the window out.
The new seal was from China/ Rimmers and packaged as MG, part no CDB100180, 23/05/2008, and the glass was fitted from the outside with difficulty.

Not something I would want to do again. As soon as the leak has proven to have ceased, the hard top is coming off and the soft top frame put back on.