Anyone buy a set of those made in !@#@$ weatherstrip kits from Willcox? I thought they looked kind of cheap, but when I was riding in my car for the first time today, noticed light between the TTop and the top of the car, it won't adjust tight enough to even touch! Is there something I missed? I guess I am going to have to order a set from somewhere else for the tops. Isn't the weatherstrip above where the side window touches the top supposed to have a metal strip under it?? This is just a bare piece of weatherstrip. My car is a 77 with the dual latches..

 

Sorry about your troubles. Wish I could help.
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Now everybody hang on tight! This one could get nasty too.

 

I just installed my weatherstrip kit from Wilcox and all strips fit very good - the tops are VERY tight.

....confused......

 

I just ordered a set for my 82 based on the praises from this forum. The Wilcox website claims " this kit is all US made by Corvette Rubber Company and is the highest quality available"

 

I have used Corvette Rubber which Wilcox sells and they have fit great with no leaks. You may have to adjust your T-tops a little more.

 

The metal strip that you refer to does not come with any weatherstrip kit. There is also a similar metal strip that the pillar post weatherstrip fits into. Good luck finding them!

 

Obviously, Corvette Rubber is the real source of the problem. I had purchased new door seals from them for my '89 coupe and the fit was not too good. I could not shut the door without trying to slam it. Ended up purchasing original GM door w/s and it fit perfectly.

Good luck,
Dino

 

They must have, because you can throw cardboard through mine.

 

Bill,

I’m sorry for you problem with the weatherstrip and well figure out what is going on.

All the weatherstrips on your car were manufactured by Corvette Rubber Company in the US. All these weatherstrips can be identified by the presences of the CRC logo molded in the weatherstrip. On the roof panel weatherstrip it is located on the section that is over the top of the door glass where it glues to the top.

When installing new T-top weatherstrips on the car, the tops must be re-adjusted! As with any other weatherstrip, (doors, pillars and door glass rears) there presences of a new weatherstrip can change the fit of any part on the car. Re-adjustment is almost always required for the install of the weatherstrips properly. From time to time you will get lucky and the tops will fit just fine, in your case they need an adjustment.

I’m sure if you adjust the t-tops to the factory specifications you won’t have any issue.

To do this, you can either refer to the 1977 AIM in Section C01 to C12 Sheet Number 10.

In this section it will tell you to adjust the center T-top alignment tabs in this order: Fit roof panel locks such that fore and aft surfaces firmly contact the plastic bushings in the housings. Resulting assembly should be free of squeaks. Not printed, but implied by the drawing is the insertion or removal of shims to acquire this fit.

You should also adjust the locks to obtain a 13-16 lb release load at the back edge of the paddles. Assuming the rubber **** are in good condition on the lock bolts.

Unfortunately, this is all the assembly manual tells you about installing the roof panels on a car with new weatherstrips. My own personal experience with installing the tops with new weatherstrips is as follows.

In our shop:

We first of all make sure the roof panel striker receiver has the black bushing still in them. After years of tops coming in and out of the car, these bushing will fail and fall out of the receiver. If the striker receiver is missing the plastic insert, then this will cause a loose fitting top. Until recently this plastic insert was not available and the only way to correct this issue was with good used.

After the weatherstrip is installed on the roof panel, we then take the two chrome tabs loose from the inside edge roof panel. There are three nuts that hold these in place and there should be shims on the under side of them.

We then sit the roof panel on the car and guide the strikers in to the striker receiver and sit the top in place. Once we have the top in place we then install the other top in the same manner. (to try to match fit the tops)

After this is done, we then lock down the outside latches and lock them down. (Making sure the header trim bushing is still in the car and in good condition) From there, you just shim the top to the car as needed to obtain the correct fit on the weatherstrip from the top to the header T-bar. If you have excess shims the tops will be loose, if you are to tight, then remove shims. The trick is to shim the roof weatherstrip until it is tight on the car while trying to keep it level with the other side. Each and every time you add or remove a shim from either top, you need to tighten down the three nuts on each of the striker plates. You want to do this until the roof panel weatherstrip is not just a little snug, but tight.. Once the weatherstrip is installed on the car it will settle down and not be as tight. (the core will collapse as did on the original weatherstrips)

Other things that will cause a roof panel to not seal properly is early and late design weatherstrips. Early weatherstrips are flimsy where the weatherstrip mounts over the door glass. Late cars are not and have a built in metal retainer. Since 1977 late cars did away with the stainless steel T-top retainer, to make up for this a metal insert was put in to the weatherstrip. You can go to our web site and look at part number wst01 for help with early and late. The number of pins to hold a 1977 early cars had 19 white pins that held the roof weatherstrip in place, 1977 late cars had 18. This makes a huge difference in the weatherstrip too, since the core of the 1977 late to 1982 weatherstrip was fatter around the roof panel.

If you are installing roof panels that are glass on your car, this may also be a problem. From the appearance in your avatar it appears as if you have the correct tops on the car and they are painted tops… So this should not be an issue.

Bill in closing, if you would email me a phone number customerservice@willcoxcorvette.com I would be happy to discuss this with you on Monday. I’m sure between the two of us we can figure out what is going on.

This weatherstrip is top of the line and nothing but US made CRC brand. It’s not very often that we have an issue with this product, but I’d be glad to try and help you figure out the problem.

added:
Early cars used a metal retainer, Late cars did not! Just another way to make sure which top you have.

Willcox

 

The tops aren't glass and I have gone through the adjustment procedure. You can still see light and hear air through the inner front of both tops. The strips looked too small when I installed them. Is is possible I got a bad set, or could they be the wrong weatherstips? My tops are the early tops and have two latches.

 

Hang in there Bill, I'm working on a easy way for you to figure this out... Give me just a few minutes and I'll post something that should answer your question as well as defuse this issue from happening again. I suspect you have a Late car with early weatherstrips.

 

Try melrose t tops for parts they were able to supply me withs parts I could not find elsewhere. They restore T Tops so I think they could help.

www.melroset-tops.com

 

When you removed the old weatherstrip was there a metal retainer made in to the part of the weatherstrip that touched the door side glass? I don't think this is a missing retainer issue, just an early or late problem. If you have an early car and you were missing the retainer, it would not change the way the top fits on the inside forward edge. Only a weatherstrip issue or an adjustment issue would cause this.

The lack of the retainer indicates a Late top more often than a early top missing it. After reading your original post again, you indicated that the weatherstrip just went on the top. "Isn't the weatherstrip above where the side window touches the top supposed to have a metal strip under it?? This is just a bare piece of weatherstrip." This might be why you thought ht weatherstrip was cheap, since it did not come with metal in the roof panel side that the old weatherstrip had. If this is the case, the early weatherttrip core around the roof panels is a smaller core than the 77 late design and explain the issue.

I went in to the main server this morning and took a look at your account. On November 05,2006 you purchased our part number wst01. This is a 1973-1977early weatherstrip kit. So, from the pictures posted below, can you distinguish the difference between what you took off the car and what was installed?

See if this helps clear the water some. Again, I suspect you might have a late car and installed early weatherstrips on it. This being the case, no matter how many shims you remove from the guide, the top will not lay flat enough to seal up the car.

I see where you have been talking with Norm on most of your orders. You might want to give him a call at 800-588-3883. Or if you can, email us some pictures to Customerservice@willcoxcorvette.com. Let me take a look at it and well figure it out. Either way, it’s not a problem that can not be corrected.

If you told me the top was fitting to tight, then I might think that shipping may have pulled the wrong weatherstrip, but fitting to loose indicates that you may have a late car roof panel.

I put these pictures together this morning and they can be found in the "REPAIR HELP" Section of the web site. I hope this helps and as I have stated in the past. If you have an issue, please contact us at the customer service email address above! There is NO issue that we can not fix.

1977 Early T-top Weatherstip picture



1977 Late T-top Weatherstrip Picture.

 

It had a metal retainer, but was all rusted away. I thought it was an early top because of the dual latches. If a late top can have dual latches, you are right about what happened. Let me know what you think? It won't adjust any closer. I also had to remove a couple of white pins when installing, but everything else seemed to fit OK. The rest of the weatherstrips did fit the car A+. I appreciate you help!

 

Bill,

You have a late car! Two latches or one, it is possible! This is why when we refer to early or late issue; we never ask how many handles you have.

If the t-top weatherstrip had the metal in the rubber, and it was all rusted (which you stated) then yes.... you have a late car and ordered the wrong kit.

You need a set of late weatherstrips.

You call Norm tomorrow at 800-588-3883. I won't be in my office until the 24th again, so you'll have to call. Tell him that I said to sell you a pair of the CRC tops for 65.00. Part number is B464L AND B464R. I’m going to email him a copy of this post so he has a heads up too!

This will solve your problem. You can not put early rubbers on a late top.... You'll have the exact problem that you have now. The main reason is the rubber extrusion that loops around the top is way fatter on a late car! The main tip to this is that you said it was rusted. The stainless retainer used by the early cars won't rust!

Willcox

 

I think this makes it obvious that you attempted to use 19 pin weatherstrips with 18 hole tops.
If you did not use too much of that adhesive you should be able to get the strips off without much damage - there might be a member here who could use them

 

I will try my best to get them off and give them to someone on the forum. I didn't use a lot of glue. I guess I will eat crow, the mistake was mine. I used the wrong weatherstrips. Willcox took care of things once again!!

PS to Willcox.. Your email is bouncing. Just wanted to let you know. Thanks again!

 

Thanks for the email notice.. You are correct...Dummy me it's WillcoxCustomerService@WILLCOXCORVETTE.C OM
Sorry about that. No wonder no body is using it.... I keep posting this wrong....