jdlclam

Started tearing off the old A pillar weatherstripping today. Good grief, it's a much nastier job than any YouTube video I've seen.

Sides came off mostly OK, but the top along the windshield is going to be a real patience tester.

Has anyone here done it before? Any tips, tricks, or hacks?

Thanks!

J.

belairbrian

I'm guessing someone used some form of weatherstrip adhesive in the track.
Mine had some but not a lot.
a set of these from HF really helped



I didn't see a need for adhesive in the track.

I did buy a bag of the little plastic push in retainers and replaced them.

jdlclam

Awesome, thank you. I did pick up a set of the tools, although since they are metal I'm a little concerned about tearing the new seal while installing. And I bought some retainer clips since there are only four to begin with and at least one is sure to break.

From what I can gather, it's OK to have a little bit of residue/crud in the track as long as both the top and bottom channels are entirely clear.

J.

rfn026

One of the worst jobs I've done on my car.

The key is cleanliness. The track has to be spotless.

It might be another decade before I do this again. Ok, the '58 is easy to do.

Richard Newton
The Callaway B2K

belairbrian

I should clarify, i used the picks to clean the track. For installing I mainly use a wooden Popsicle stick and plastic trim tools.

bac22

It's a pita, I did the one on the windshield last year, need to do the A-pillar this year. Found these tools that seem to help

http://www.harborfreight.com/5-piece...set-67021.html

jdlclam

Done! Not as horrific as I thought it would be - hardest part was clearing the track of all the old glue and rubber. About 2 hrs doing that and another 60-90 minutes taking my time to dry fit then apply adhesive.

New stuff popped right in, and rather than use the sharp edges metal tool that came w/my Eckler's kit, the end of a metal spoon handle was perfect. Slathered it all in Dynatex silicone compound, and we're good to go.

For someone not particularly good with his hands, this was a relatively painless job.

Joe Madden

I just did the complete weatherstripping on my 90 coupe. My A pillar was all kinda nasty, the metal stiffness pcs inside were all rusty and falling all inside the car. I found having a shop vac handy helped along with garbage bags zip tied to the visors and seat belt hangers helped alot. Goo gone and a few plastic scrapers help clean inside the tracks. The rear hatch and doors were as simple as it gets. Cleaning the A & B pillars is time consuming. When you do the targa top, use masking tape on the painted areas and have a soft place to stand it up on its side. There are screws holding the tracks down on the A and B also on the targa, but they are glued too. You can remove the tracks and clean them better if you are trying to do it without damaging the car with dirt, dust and grubby hands. There is 4 hex heads in the targa tracks and 1 hex every 9 or so inches on the A & B. Don't be scared of doing this job, it's probably easier than taking the oil filter off a cold engine.