78 outer beltline weatherstrip install

[Jim R.]

Bought several weather strips for my 78 Pace Car and am having an install issue with the outer door glass beltline weather strip.
The rubber is not "flocked" like the original and the glass wants to pull the clips out of the door when raising. Anyone experience this issue? Looks like several screws would have to be added to make this work. Or could someone recommend a known good part?

[Joe L.]

Re: 78 outer beltline weatherstrip install

Bought several weather strips for my 78 Pace Car and am having an install issue with the outer door glass beltline weather strip.
The rubber is not "flocked" like the original and the glass wants to pull the clips out of the door when raising. Anyone experience this issue? Looks like several screws would have to be added to make this work. Or could someone recommend a known good part?

Jim-------


Your best bet would be if you could find some NOS GM #3966641 and 3966642.

[Jim R.]

Re: 78 outer beltline weatherstrip install

Thanks for the OE part numbers Joe. I'll look into going that route. Just ordered a set from Steele Rubber Products as the one's from
Eckler's are not acceptable. Another "easy" project gone bad! Thanks for your reply and info.

Jim

[Tom R.]

Re: 78 outer beltline weatherstrip install

Jim

Let us know how those work.

[Jim R.]

Re: 78 outer beltline weatherstrip install

New part from Steele arrived today. Same as the Eckler piece. I have another that I ordered thru Rock Auto manufactured by Fairchild Industries
coming now. Am running out of sources. My local Chevy dealer is looking for NOS. I find it hard to believe that these rubber pieces are being made as reproduction rather than a felt/rubber piece. I can't be the only one having this issue?

Jim Raby (61320)
78 Pace Car L82

[Joe L.]

Re: 78 outer beltline weatherstrip install

New part from Steele arrived today. Same as the Eckler piece. I have another that I ordered thru Rock Auto manufactured by Fairchild Industries
coming now. Am running out of sources. My local Chevy dealer is looking for NOS. I find it hard to believe that these rubber pieces are being made as reproduction rather than a felt/rubber piece. I can't be the only one having this issue?

Jim Raby (61320)
78 Pace Car L82

Jim------


While I can't say in the case of these particular pieces, very often reproduction parts like these all originate from the same manufacturing source regardless of what brand they are sold under or what supplier you obtain them from.

[Jim R.]

Re: 78 outer beltline weatherstrip install

Success! Finally got the correct Felt weather strip thru Rock Auto manufactured by Fairchild. Matches the OEM part perfectly!!
FYI also talked to the people at Precision Restoration Parts who manufacture weather stripping and they stated their would be correct as it was a
felt wiper as well. Now to package up the wrong pieces and start the return process. As a side note, Some of the other pieces I bought from
Eckler's were marked "made in India".....fingers crossed, haven't installed them yet. The saga continues...will update when completed.

Jim Raby (61320)

[Jim R.]

Re: 78 outer beltline weatherstrip install

Had to modify the clips to attach the outer weather strip. But the fit was good other than that. Found that made up staples didn't do a good job of retaining the inner felt to the door trim so I alternated with some rivets. Had to modify the rivet (flatten) as it interfered with the lip of the door
trim panel going over the inner lip of the door. The door surround weather strip (made in India) could not be used as the ends were mot even
close as was the a pillar post molding (to short)...! Ordered some from Wilcox....fingers crossed again. This turned out to be over a one month project that should have been a one day job had the parts been right. Saga goes on....

Jim (61320)

[Jim R.]

Re: 78 outer beltline weatherstrip install

Good news on "a" pillar and door surround weather strip. Wilcox came thru!! Both fit like OEM pieces!! Easiest part of this whole project so far!
Now need to make a few door glass adjustments and this project is completed. Would not recommend the beltline weather strips for the novice as
even after you get some that come close to fitting it required pretty extensive modifications and fittings to get them right.

Jim Raby (61320)

[Tom R.]

Re: 78 outer beltline weatherstrip install

Good news on "a" pillar and door surround weather strip. Wilcox came thru!! Both fit like OEM pieces!! Easiest part of this whole project so far!
Now need to make a few door glass adjustments and this project is completed. Would not recommend the beltline weather strips for the novice as
even after you get some that come close to fitting it required pretty extensive modifications and fittings to get them right.

Jim.thanks for keeping us posted on your machinations with finding the right parts and making them work for your application. You know, this is the stuff of great tech articles. The downside is it takes nearly 30 month to get it published in the NCRS Restorer but many chapter newsletter editors look for exactly this type of tech article. If nothing else, I'll host it on my website under 1978 fixes.

I am currently replacing WXstrip on glass t-tops and use that provided through Wilcox, the one side fit well.

[Jim R.]

Re: 78 outer beltline weatherstrip install

My pleasure Tom. Have been on the repair side of the business 30+ years with a major manufacturer (not GM) and am used to ordering parts that fit...Am new to the Corvette side and restoration after acquiring the 78 Pace Car and am finding out that acquiring the correct part is a bigger issue than dealing with technical/repair problems. Guess I need to get a later model that dealers can get OEM parts for! Maybe the forum could help by having a "known good" parts application section. I fully realize that parts vendors do not make most of their parts but in this case I have returned more parts than kept and have spent over $100 in shipping back what I considered "junk" poor quality parts. Have also ordered and received good quality pieces from these same company's. Hard one to figure out....

Jim Raby (61320)

[Joe L.]

Re: 78 outer beltline weatherstrip install

My pleasure Tom. Have been on the repair side of the business 30+ years with a major manufacturer (not GM) and am used to ordering parts that fit...Am new to the Corvette side and restoration after acquiring the 78 Pace Car and am finding out that acquiring the correct part is a bigger issue than dealing with technical/repair problems. Guess I need to get a later model that dealers can get OEM parts for! Maybe the forum could help by having a "known good" parts application section. I fully realize that parts vendors do not make most of their parts but in this case I have returned more parts than kept and have spent over $100 in shipping back what I considered "junk" poor quality parts. Have also ordered and received good quality pieces from these same company's. Hard one to figure out....

Jim Raby (61320)

Jim------


As far as weatherstrip goes and as I previously mentioned, Dr. Rebuild usually has "pre-selected" the best available piece for each application. So, if you buy from him, you don't need to experiment to find the best piece---he's already done that for you. That doesn't mean the piece will be perfect and exactly as-original but it usually means it's the best one out there.

The reproduction parts market-place does present quite a "crap-shoot". There just are no real standards that most of these parts conform to. Even the GM Restoration Parts Program does not exercise any control over licensees to ensure they meet original GM standards for any part. In general, reproduction parts are manufactured from much less expensive tooling than was used to manufacture the original GM parts. It's just not cost-effective to purchase high dollar, production-type tooling for very limited volume reproduction parts.