Corvair Forum

Next little thing I wanted to try was getting some of the door weatherstripping replaced. 85% of it is a dried out, crumbling mess. The only 2 little pieces I have done so far were the rear 1/4 window to door window seals. Not too bad of a job, getting the old stuff out without bending anything too bad or hurting glass was the scariest part.

Until I started on it, I never knew that the qtr window trim strip with the weatherstrip literally just pulls off the glass. No tools needed for me, just a little scary, lol.

Here is the removed strip, just pulled from the glass with the new strip from Clarks beside it.
New strips are pretty nice, with the only caveat being they do not have the metal strip in them like the originals do. Didn't seem to make much difference. Hardest part of everything was getting the old weatherstripping out of the channel without bending the chrome too much. I found it easiest to take some pliers and going down the old strip a couple inches at a time to break the seal from the rubber to chrome. I did this on both sides and then was able to pull/twist/break my way until I got the old strip out.

My chrome isn't too bad on the outside, but the inside and some of the channel was crusty.
I scrubbed it all up with 0000 steel wool, and paid extra attention to cleaning out the channel. While there wasn't any sealant I know of on the originals, I put one little pea sized dollop of 3M Weatherstrip Adhesive a couple inches from both the top and bottom since there isn't the metal support strip in the replacement. Just insurance against slipping.

The glass side also has a bonded rubber in the channel to protect the glass. Mine looked pretty good, so I just did a good cleaning of it and again put a small pea sized dollop in the channel for insurance.

Back installed and looks much better.
Haven't started on the door seals, fuzzies, or roof line seals yet, so we'll see how that all goes soon.

Today I got all the fuzzies, door seals, and roof rail weatherstripping out. I think that is the worst part, just messy and not sure how bad it was going to be.

Started in on the roof rails, and got those knocked out. Mine were super crusty and just a mess. Overall, the weatherstripping jobs seem to be going smoother than anticipated. Not a hard job by any means, but a little weird if you've never done it, like me.

Here's my starting point. Things to notice on the front edge corner are the 2 plastic push pins, and the metal zigzag cording that is in the originals. The new ones came with push pins, but I don't think there's any metal in them.
First order of business was just getting everything cleaned out. Honestly, I never even knew these lay in a stainless steel channel until I got going on this. Broke off all the crustiness that I could, then went through the channel, and especially the edges where it will sit, with a small chisel. Followed it up with a wet scotchbright pad and they cleaned up pretty good. Only think to really watch for are the screws every few inches securing the channel to the roof line. A lot of mine were either loose or backed out a bit, so don't chisel them away, just work around them.
All cleaned up and ready for replacement. I started with the pinned front end and worked my way back using a small drop of adhesive every so often, just in case.
I seated the inside car edge first, and then used a plastic putty knife to hook the outboard edge under the lip. 6 inches or so at a time. Didn't stretch it, there's plenty left over, just enough tension to get it straight. I didn't cut off the back few inches, just fed it into the body. No blood, no foul.
After this, I just rolled up all the windows and closed it up as best I could (my windows aren't perfectly aligned). Wanted to just let it seat and get used to it's new home while the few drops of adhesive I used in there cured up.

I think I decided to get off my butt and paint my inner doors before doing the door strips and fuzzies, so more to come later.

Did a little painting finally. Rattle Canning the inner doors was holding me up from mocking up door panels, door weather-stripping, and front speakers. Seemed to take a lot longer then necessary, lol. I think taping and plastic took longer than a quick 500 grit prep on the paint areas. Needed some cleaning up first also.

Vacuumed out the doors and vents, making sure all the drain holes are nice and clear.

Posted before on the dash parts, but since I'm just using spray cans for the little interior areas, I used Duplicolor Wheel Paint in Graphite. Wheel paint is supposed to be a little more durable, UV protected, and has a nice satin finish for the interior.
Door areas came out pretty good. There is a bit of fine metal flake in this, so a couple areas came out slightly blotchy, but pretty good. Just need to be careful with metal flake and make long, smooth sweeps so it kind of lays down the same way.
After that cured up, I did the door weather strips. Also easy to do, but some of the pushpins gave my thumbs a workout.

Make sure you grab the correct one by starting at the rear top of door, it's got a little window flap that will make sure your orientation is correct.
Then just go around and seat all the pins built into the strip. From the factory, it looked like I had a bit of strip adhesive for the first few pins. I just used a light strip between the pin holes until I rounded the bottom of the door, then just pins.
Easy Peasy. A little weird that the hinge side just...stops. But that's what it looks like.
Of course one thing leads to 3 more going down the rabbit hole. Now that the strips are done, I get to learn how to re-adjust all the windows and door latches...