I'm trying to replace my weather stripping that is on the outside of the window at the bottom where it meets the door. My problem is that I can see it is rivoted on.

Has anyone else replaced this piece before? Do I need to cut the rivots off? Do I need to take the glass out to do this? How do I attach the new piece? I thought this was going to be a quick simple fix, but I guess not.

 

There has been a bunch of threads on this. You have to drill the rivet out and be careful not to drill the door. You don't need to remove the glass or anything, just have the door panel peeled back some. To reattach the new one, you can put new rivets in or use screws. I used screws on mine so it would be easier to change next time. If you go this route, the screw must be very short or it will drill into the door. I have only once changed the drivers side, it took about two hours.

 

Thanks, sounds like I'll have to put it off until tomorrow. And see if I can pick up some screws. Any clue what size?

 

I didn't measure them, I picked them out of a bag of different sized ones that I save in the shop. They must be fat and short though.

 

I recommend you remove the door panel and loosen the felt pads that guide the upper part of window. You will need all the room you can get. I believe i removed the screws on the ends of door weatherstip so I could move them out of the way too. Check the alignment of tabs to holes, my GM part had one tab that would never have a chance of going in, so I cut it off. I also suggest to use rivets as they will not vibrate out like a screw can. If memory serves me correct, I could only rivet 3 of 4 holes due to location of one of the middle ones.

 

I will be doing this soon as well. Both my outers are basically gone.

 

I would recommend that you buy a hand-riveter from Home Depot and do it right. Riveter tool is not very expensive. Take your time both pulling the old weather strip off and clipping the new one on. Not a hard job at all, just time consuming.....2 hours per door sounds about right....

 

Write up in tech tips.............


Date Published: 2003-05-27

Submitter's Name: Bill Ricks
Email Address: wricks@triad.rr.com
Corvetteforum.com Member Alias: Steel Blue 91

I ordered my seals form Eckler’s. Fit was perfect and included six replacement pop rivets but no instructions. I use a combination of previous posts and a little common sense to get the job done. The procedure was done on my 91. Adjustments should be made for other years. Took about 30 min per door (this does not include smoke and refreshment breaks). Put both windows down and disconnect the battery. I removed the door panels completely since I wanted to do some lubing and adjusting. Pretty straightforward, just remove the screws you can see. Don’t forget the one inside the handle and the one by the hatch release. Then pry out the courtesy light using a small flat blade screwdriver – there is one hiding there. Next, pull the lock **** forward (unlocked position), place the same screw driver behind the front edge and pry to you (thanks 65Z01). Push the rod up slightly and remove the screw behind it. Pull up on the panel and hold it in one hand. Reach behind the panel and separate all the electrical connectors. Place the panel on a pre-positioned blanket. Loosen the felt adjusters with a 10mm socket to allow the window some movement. Place a few runs of masking tape along the top edge of the window just in case. The three rivets are visible. You will have to push down on the door weatherstrip to see the end ones. Drill out each rivet. My drill bit was 3 inches long so I cut a piece of fuel hose to 2 ¾ inches and slipped it over the bit for insurance. I used a small putty knife and a hammer to cut the heads off of the rivets. Starting at the front, slip a small flat blade screwdriver between the door and the old seal at the locations of the clips. Pry the clip free of the old seal. The clips will remain attached to the door. Pull the seal free. Use a small pair of needle nose pliers to pull the clips free. Clean off the wax line and wax the area. Fit the replacement seal to the door. Insure that the clips and holes for the pop rivet line up. Push the clips into the slots and install the rivets. Adjust the felt pads and tighten the bolts. Reinstall the door panel. Note that on the PS door there is a bolt behind the power window switch. Use a small amount of RTV in the socket to keep it from dropping inside the door. Remove the tape, reconnect the battery and you are done. Not that bad of a job. Actually took longer to write this up than to do one side. Hope this helps those who haven’t done it but need to. Bill

 

Thanks Steel Blue!

Just replaced the outer seals on my 88 following your instructions and everything worked perfectly.

 

When I did mine I had a heck of a time getting the new ones started back in. So I used a rubber mallet to "encourage" them a bit. Tapping the new seal down with the mallet got them right into place. Drivers side took me about 2 hours, the passenger side I had done in about 25 minutes.

 

See my post at this thread. Has a link to step by step with photos and some things i learned along the way.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=2053697

 

The bottom edge of mine (the edge that touches the paint) never really sat down perfectly. Near the ends of the strip, it sets perfectly- no gap. But in the center of the door, there is probably about a 1/16th of an inch gap where the edge doesn't sit flush. It's hardly noticable and since the felts don't actually keep water out, it wasn't that big of a deal.

Is this edge the part you hit with the rubber mallet? I have one, but never thought of trying this.

 

I had this problem also. As the windows go up a few times, the center of the weather-stripping is pulled up. I tried several times to get the clips to hold and even bought another set of sills and had a professional upholstery shop put them in - still no luck. I could never get the center clips to stay put. You can't rivet it because the center of the window sits up a little and is in the way. To rivet the center of the sill, you have to remove the window.

I solved the problem by squeezing a very small amount of weather-stripping cement under the center of the rubber sill. I used duck tape from the outside of the door over the rubber sill and onto the inner door frame to secure the rubber sill tightly in place. I let the cement set up over night. Once I carefully peeled the tape off of the door, I used 3M Adhesive Remover to get the excess cement and tape glue off of my paint. I did this a while ago and the sills are still in place with NO PROBLEMS. Here is a couple of photos (click to enlarge)...

 

Yup, that's the way I got mine to seat completely.