I had purchased a weatherstrip kit for my '64 coupe and have had some technical issues. I made the purchase through Wilcox. I emailed their technical service department and the response was to post it on the Corvette Forum on a specific thread. The thread has been shut down an no response has been received directly from Wilcox so I decided to post it here. The following is my communication with Wilcox and documents my issues. Hopefully, others have potential solutions. Thank you in advance.


My order # is 100012135. This order was made in August, 2019. As a hobbyist, progress is slow. Included in the order was coupe weatherstripping for my '64 coupe and the top coupe door weatherstrip. So far, I have placed the weatherstrip on both of my window vents and attempted the top coupe door weatherstrip. It is my understanding that your supplier is Corvette Rubber which has a good reputation on the Corvette Forum.

The first issue to address is the top coupe door pieces. When installed, the properly adjusted door won't close. The thickness of the pieces is over twice the thickness of my old one, which I have reverted to at this point. I am including a photo as to the excessive material on the supplied pieces.







As is evident, the thickness differences are markedly apparent. The first issue is the shelf on the body side is too thick and the material on the door side is also too thick. The rubber is thicker than the amount of depth of the recess. This rubber is very hard so the molding over time is not likely. In an attempt to utilize the new pieces, I trimmed the rubber but determined it would not be satisfactory.



The other issue is the vent window piece




This photo shows the height of the rubber on the left side of the open vent that the window needs to close over to shut and the material is attempting to fold over.




This photo shows the area as the previous photo with the window out of the way. This is taken from the inside of the car. This shows that the height on the outside and inside of the weatherstrip is equal so that when the vent is closed, the exterior segment in this area needs to be folded over to allow the vent to completely close.




This photo shows the portion of the vent from the post to the front of the car showing the same relationship of the height of, in this case the interior side of the rubber preventing the closure of the window. This situation continues along the ascending aspect of the interior of the weatherstrip.



There is not enough room between the frame and the bottom of the weatherstrip to allow the window to shut. I have attempted to place silicone grease on the weatherstrip and fold it out of the way with a small screwdriver but was not successful. It seems to me that the portions that the vent closes over needs to have been molded lower than it is. The factory wouldn't have messed with these issues when the car was assembled.



Is it common with the replacement weatherstrip available now that these issues exist? Is your supplier Corvette Rubber? What advice do you have for my situation? With these issues, I have not attempted using the other pieces with the concern of more hurdles to cross prior to receiving your feedback

 

For weatherstripping, I think using NOS (at any cost) is worth it and avoids a lot of issues; the manufacturers and suppliers do a decent job but nothing beats NOS.

 

Dave,
I don't have a coupe, but I just restored my 1965 hardtop with a full weatherstrip kit from Corvette Rubber. Everything fits fairly well, I do have a gap on one side where a piece could have been a bit longer. But it is very useable.
That doesn't seem to be the results you are having. Hopefully someone will be able to help figure it out, as you stated Corvette Rubber does have a good reputation. I can't see your photos, I don't know if others can. Hard to tell what the problems look like.
Aflyer

 

Dave, I will mention something that was in another thread several months ago. I don't recall the OP, but they had a '64 coupe and was asking for pics of original door w/s. In particular they wanted to see the lower portion because they understood that there should be some "factory" diagonal cuts in the weatherstrips that were clearly done to facilitate fit. I have the original w/s on my '64 and went and checked and sure enough both doors have these diagonal cuts. Do the reproductions w/s from Corvette Rubber require these as well? That I can't say. I would be happy to send you pics of these fitment cuts so that you can better understand and sort out your problem. If this information is already known by you that's find too.

 

Panama 58, thank you for your reply. I am aware that the coupe weatherstrip that surrounds the door is cut diagonally at the bottom and that is shown in the AIM. I am now going to try to reinsert the photos in my post.