Bubba loves him some rubber
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 44,681
Likes: 1,830
From: Huntsville AL
Bubba loves him some rubber
I picked up a project 71 Steels Cities Gray Coupe a few months back and don't plan to start the frame off until next year. This is a numbers matching car that is about 95% complete that was taken off the road in 85. So in the mean time I have stripped all the paint and have been working my way from the rear to the front to get everything in working order and plan to drive the car by the end of July.
So far I have replaced the fuel tank, new calipers and master Cly and this weekend was to address the frozen windshield wiper door mechanism.
Somewhere alone the way I guess something was a miss and Bubba needed to seal up the passenger side windshield wiper mount area and used some type of rubber product. Were not talking something out of a tube and if I have to guess I'm thinking maybe he melted down a rubber tire in a coffee can and poured it around that area.
A mess for sure to clean up.
So far I have replaced the fuel tank, new calipers and master Cly and this weekend was to address the frozen windshield wiper door mechanism.
Somewhere alone the way I guess something was a miss and Bubba needed to seal up the passenger side windshield wiper mount area and used some type of rubber product. Were not talking something out of a tube and if I have to guess I'm thinking maybe he melted down a rubber tire in a coffee can and poured it around that area.
A mess for sure to clean up.
Race Director
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 12,706
Likes: 329
From: Scottsdale Arizona
Although a little hard to tell from the pics, it might have been the General and not Bubba that did that one. I don't know what the material was (looks like tar to me) but there was copious amounts of that crappy sealer used in that area. Yours looks like an unusually generous application though 
Last edited by CA-Legal-Vette; Jul 9, 2017 at 01:37 PM.
Thread Starter
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 44,681
Likes: 1,830
From: Huntsville AL
GM used a asphalt tarish looking type sealer in the windshield wiper bay area. The driver side is OEM original, passenger side not so much.
If this was put in by GM they did a very sloppy job.
If this was put in by GM they did a very sloppy job.
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 31,283
Likes: 4,373
From: Westminster Maryland
Hi Mr.D,
St.Louis did a pretty quick and sloppy job sealing the seams in the wiper bay but it appears to me from your photos that someone was chasing a leak sometime later in the car's life.
Regards,
Alan
Not pretty.
St.Louis did a pretty quick and sloppy job sealing the seams in the wiper bay but it appears to me from your photos that someone was chasing a leak sometime later in the car's life.
Regards,
Alan
Not pretty.
Melting Slicks
Joined: May 2015
Posts: 2,365
Likes: 428
From: Cape Girardeau Missouri
I've never used it but the newer "sealant" in there looks suspiciously like "liquid rubber in a can", e.g. FlexSeal. Provided someone cleaned the area very well before application it probably works. The closest product I can find to what GM used is "plastic roof cement".
Considering the assembly manual lists such sealants to the 10th if not hundredth of an ounce I'm amazed how abundantly and sloppily it is applied in some wiper wells. Why do I bet that the line foreman was alternately berating the crew for using too much while telling his boss, "We need to use more than you allow in the time you give".
Considering the assembly manual lists such sealants to the 10th if not hundredth of an ounce I'm amazed how abundantly and sloppily it is applied in some wiper wells. Why do I bet that the line foreman was alternately berating the crew for using too much while telling his boss, "We need to use more than you allow in the time you give".
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 37,637
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From: Crossville TN
And, it would have been nice if the factory assembly folks were encouraged to do their work in a 'better' manner. But, that wasn't one of the important criteria the factory was after. Their priorities were:
1) faster; 2) FASTER; and 3) FASTER!!!
