Inner Window Seal Replacement
Thread Starter
Pro
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 564
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From: Riverview Florida
Inner Window Seal Replacement
The inner window seals on my '81 are going south and need replacing. The rubber strip is held on to the steel along the top edge of the door panel with heavy "staples". Is there a replacement rubber available and if so, how do you remove/replace the staples?
Instructor
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 106
Likes: 1
From: Indiana
The felts are available for around 15.00 per side. The staple in the old one can be removed with a set of wire cutters. Once the wire is cut, you can pull the staple out from the front or back.
To install, you can buy staples from many vendors. Some have them loose, but you don't want these. Try to find the staple sets that in a package and look like giant house hold stapler staple. They are easier to use and for the most part the exact same size. Hold the felt up to the door panel and drill one hole. Then stick the staple in the hole and mark the area where the second hole needs to be. Drill this hole, insert staple and..... Ok... Follow this for a neat tool...
It takes a cheap pair of pliers, a drill press, a 1/8" drill bit, and a machinist vise on your press. Relax, you can also hold it in your hand to make this but take your time when you drill.
If you have a drill press and vice, clamp the pliers so that the jaw is in the closed position and the tip is pointed upward to the drill chuck.
Drill a hole exactly 1/2 way between the top and lower portion of the jaws of the pliers. Drill all the way through. Then clamp the pliers on the side and in the middle of the end of the pliers, drill a perpendicular hole that will pass all the through to the other side. When you open the jaws up, you will see a cross roads on both the upper and lower part of the front jaw area.
Making this will allow you to crimp over the staples on the back of the door panel. You can use the nose on some cars and the side on others. Use these pliers to start the bend of the staples, then use them as a regular pliers to smash the staple the rest of the way over.
If you don't have a vise, then drill them on the work bench. Tape the handles together or check them in your vice on the bench. Drill careful and you can get 1/2 of the hole on each side.
The biggest complaint about doing the staples is how to start the bend to crimp them. This is a tool I've used for years. I have made them from regular pliers and even bent nose pliers. They work great for installing staples in the following. Rubber to the splash shields, Fan shroud staples for a mid year, kick panel windlace on a c1, inner fender splash shields on a c2.
Red
To install, you can buy staples from many vendors. Some have them loose, but you don't want these. Try to find the staple sets that in a package and look like giant house hold stapler staple. They are easier to use and for the most part the exact same size. Hold the felt up to the door panel and drill one hole. Then stick the staple in the hole and mark the area where the second hole needs to be. Drill this hole, insert staple and..... Ok... Follow this for a neat tool...
It takes a cheap pair of pliers, a drill press, a 1/8" drill bit, and a machinist vise on your press. Relax, you can also hold it in your hand to make this but take your time when you drill.
If you have a drill press and vice, clamp the pliers so that the jaw is in the closed position and the tip is pointed upward to the drill chuck.
Drill a hole exactly 1/2 way between the top and lower portion of the jaws of the pliers. Drill all the way through. Then clamp the pliers on the side and in the middle of the end of the pliers, drill a perpendicular hole that will pass all the through to the other side. When you open the jaws up, you will see a cross roads on both the upper and lower part of the front jaw area.
Making this will allow you to crimp over the staples on the back of the door panel. You can use the nose on some cars and the side on others. Use these pliers to start the bend of the staples, then use them as a regular pliers to smash the staple the rest of the way over.
If you don't have a vise, then drill them on the work bench. Tape the handles together or check them in your vice on the bench. Drill careful and you can get 1/2 of the hole on each side.
The biggest complaint about doing the staples is how to start the bend to crimp them. This is a tool I've used for years. I have made them from regular pliers and even bent nose pliers. They work great for installing staples in the following. Rubber to the splash shields, Fan shroud staples for a mid year, kick panel windlace on a c1, inner fender splash shields on a c2.
Red
