Is there a trick to getting the weather strip replaced on the A Pillar? I purchased the "gm" shop manuals but those are clear as mud...... any help?

 

No one in this whole forum knows how to change out an A pillar weatherstrip....cmon......

 

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1766364

I did it a few weeks ago. Nothing special. You might want to get extra plastic tabs. The old WS just pulls off. You have the clean the area for the new WS. Take your time or you will regret it. Read the thread.

 

Lots of information and opinions on this if you do a search. I replaced mine last fall because it was leaking, although the WS was a only a contributor, I think my leak was also between the WS retainer and the windshield frame. If is just the WS, remove the screws holding it on and the plastic push pins, scrape out ALL of the old WS and install the new one. I didn't use glue on mine, most people do use glue, but some of us have done it without the glue and had good results. You will need some 3M bedding and glazing compound for the ends and corners. You will see what I mean when you get it apart, there are three pieces of WS retainer one up each side and one across the top, they don't meet at the corners, thats were the bedding compound is applied.

If you want to make a bigger job like I did, take off the WS retainers and the reveal molding. there are three pieces of channel called WS retainer, one up each side and one across the top. There are also three pieces of reveal molding, one up each side and one across the top. The reveal molding goes in between the WS retainer and the windshield frame. On the top, the WS retainer and the reveal molding are riveted together. In between the windshield frame and the reveal molding and also in between the reveal molding and the WS retainer, the factory puts a double sided foam tape. On my car, this foam tape was falling apart and consequently leaking water in.

So, I took all the pieces off, drilled out the rivets, cleaned all of the old WS out, sanded everything and repainted it with trim paint. I then took the two top pieces that were originally riveted together and put black RTV in between and re-riveted them. It is unlikely that these two pieces will ever come apart again so I used the RTV which will make them very difficult to separate. I didn't use RTV anywhere else or a urethane sealer as Gordon K suggested because if you need to change a windshield, all of these pieces need to come off. Many use the foam tape as the factory did. However, after asking a lot of questions and searching the archives, I decided to use the 3M bedding and glazing compound instead of the foam tape. There are many opinions on this but I felt it was the best compromise between a long lasting seal and something that can be removed if the windshield needs to be replaced.

So with a bead of the 3M stuff across the top, I put the top piece on, then a bead on each side and the two pieces of reveal molding on the sides and then a second bead and the two side WS retainers. At this point I test fit the WS. Once comfortable with that, I put the 3M stuff on the corners and then put the WS in, put the screws in and the two little push pins. Then I put a liberal amount of dielectric grease on and put the top on. I had to adjust up the mounts because of the new puffy WS.

After about a week, I readjusted the mounts and have been leak free ever since.................................

 

Thanks for the help......will let you know how it turns out.....