Long MFG. - Silent Flame 1653 - Door gasket??

[Mr4btTahoe]

Hey guys..

Working on an '84 Silent Flame 1653 free standing wood stove with a blower built into its pedestal. It has an 8" round flue.

Problem I'm having is finding what to use for the door gasket. I looked around online and everything was pointing to 1/2" standard gasket material, so I picked some up. Cleaned the channel a bit, cut the gasket to length, ran a bead of adhesive and pressed the gasket into place.

Went to close the door and not happening. Its lacking 1/2" with me crushing the gasket pretty tight and pushing on the door VERY firmly. So I pulled the gasket back out.

This stove has little metal tabs down in the channel where I "think" the gasket should lay. Without the gasket material in place, the doors close fine and close tight without any play as if there isn't any space for a gasket in the first place.

Below are some pics of the firebox and gasket channel. Looks a bit rough I know... working on that.

Ideas? The only manual I can find is for an insert and it calls for "Thermotape Gasket" with no reference to size in the parts breakdown.

The clips in the channel look like what you see on the back of picture frames...

 

[jasonparallel]

Figure out the correct gasket material?

 

[Mr4btTahoe]

The first season, I just used 5/8" wide flat gasket. It sealed ok... but not the best. Last year, I ripped all that out and replaced it with 1/2" rope gasket (IIRC). This provided a much tighter seal however also made it difficult to open and close the door. The wife has issues with it from time to time so I do most of the loading.