weather strip repair on hardtop quarters

[Jeff T.]

Has anyone tried replacing the weatherstripping from the stainless steel quarter window trim from a Lark hardtop. I glued in the fuzzy part of wide velcro years ago with 3M trim cement but after 15 plus years of exposure the glue is turning to dust and the trim is falling out...the original felt dryroted years ago.

One thought that I had would be to take the stainless pieces out, cut the spotwelds holding the stainless halves together and sew in new felt or velcro using a good synthetic thread.

I dont know if sasco would have some nos units, I fear dryrot but then again I just got a set of nos blue on blue interior panels for a 62 two door that were in great shape.

Any ideas?

Jeff T.

"I'm getting nowhere as fast as I can"
The Replacements.

[Ian Mackellar]

I have rebuilt K body hardtop 1/4 window sleeves,and it is not that difficult just time consuming.Remove the sleeves from the car and grind or drill out the rivets that hold the two halves together on the outsde edge. You then use a good quality scraper with a fairly wide(not thick)blade and a block of wood to open up the crimp on the stainless edge.Cut new pieses of felt,contact cement in place.Then fold back the crimped edge using a soft dolly taking care not to crease it by taking too big a bite.Rivet the two halves back together with small rivets.Good idea to buff the stainless before fitting the felt. Good Luck.

1958 Golden Hawk
1962 GT Hawk
1963 Avanti R2
1963 Avanti Salt Racer