68 Front Outer Splash Shield Staples

[Dan M.]

The triangular outer splash shields located behind the front wheels have a foam or rubber sealing edge that runs along the long edge of the splash shield and is stapled on. Replacement seals are available but how do you staple this to the metal splash shield? Do you have to "pre-drill" holes in the foam and bend wire (guage?) to make staples to attach it? Looking for some help.

Thanks

[Terry B.]

Re: 68 Front Outer Splash Shield Staples

Hi Dan,

If I remember correctly the staples come with the shields and the foam. I did exactly as you described. I drilled through the shield and foam and then inserted the staple and bent it flat. It is time consuming but that's all I could figure out. I'm sure there is a $$$ tool out there but didn't want to spend the money on such a little project.

Good Luck! Space the staples out too.

[Russ S.]

Re: 68 Front Outer Splash Shield Staples

You don't need to drill new holes-just open up the original holes slightly and either use the original staples or the new one. The original staples are made of a material that is much harder to bend than the repo staples.

[Michael D.]

Re: 68 Front Outer Splash Shield Staples

You don't need to drill new holes-...

I agree. The holes will be in the splash shields after the old weatherstripping is removed.

[Dan M.]

Re: 68 Front Outer Splash Shield Staples

Thanks guys. I don't have new staples (seal came without them; just the seal) and the crimp on the old ones have bent the ends over pretty good. Even dented the metal slightly locally. Must be some stapler they used back then! Not certain if I can recover them or not.

Anyone made staples from wire for this? What gauge (diameter) wire did you use?

[Grant W.]

Re: 68 Front Outer Splash Shield Staples

Thanks guys. I don't have new staples (seal came without them; just the seal) and the crimp on the old ones have bent the ends over pretty good. Even dented the metal slightly locally. Must be some stapler they used back then! Not certain if I can recover them or not.

Anyone made staples from wire for this? What gauge (diameter) wire did you use?

Hi Dan
I just restored mine about 1/2 year ago. Just use the same staples. I cleaned mine up and reused them.
Make sure you sloppy add some yellow adhesive to the rubber so the judges can see the glue.
Also you say new rubber? New rubber(repop?) is thinner and less dense than NOS rubber which is thicker. Big difference especially when fitting you can see if some of the rubber is insulated against the frame.
One other thing is using the correct paint to paint the shields. It is more of a semi gloss paint. The shield is raw steel and then they added the glue to the rubber, then stapled and then repainted. There should be remints of black paint on the rubber and staples. One way for a judge to tell is they can partially peel back the rubber and see the raw steel under the rubber.
Hope this helps.
Grant

[Dan M.]

Re: 68 Front Outer Splash Shield Staples

Thanks Grant. I was going to repaint with semi gloss black but was going to do prior to installing the foam. I am not certain whether the foam I have is original or repo but it seems very close to the original pieces.

I was also going to use some weatherstrip glue to hold the strip on. In fact I was thinking of using only the glue but decided I needed to do the staples as well. So I will try and recover them best I can.

Thanks for the input!

[Patrick N.]

Re: 68 Front Outer Splash Shield Staples

Hi Dan
I just restored mine about 1/2 year ago. Just use the same staples. I cleaned mine up and reused them.
Make sure you sloppy add some yellow adhesive to the rubber so the judges can see the glue.
Also you say new rubber? New rubber(repop?) is thinner and less dense than NOS rubber which is thicker. Big difference especially when fitting you can see if some of the rubber is insulated against the frame.
One other thing is using the correct paint to paint the shields. It is more of a semi gloss paint. The shield is raw steel and then they added the glue to the rubber, then stapled and then repainted. There should be remints of black paint on the rubber and staples. One way for a judge to tell is they can partially peel back the rubber and see the raw steel under the rubber.
Hope this helps.
Grant

Glad you chimed in on this Grant, thanks for the detail info on the process. I am working on my shields as well, following this thread, and allready painted semi prior to installing rubber. Easy fix though at this stage.

You mentioned thicker NOS seals, are they easy to come by or are they a hard item to locate?

Thanks again,
Pat
68 427/400
88

[Troy P.]

Re: 68 Front Outer Splash Shield Staples

I used wire (stainless so the staples would not rust) and the original holes in the metal shields. I don't know the gauge. I just matched the diameter of the original staples.

[Grant W.]

Re: 68 Front Outer Splash Shield Staples

Glad you chimed in on this Grant, thanks for the detail info on the process. I am working on my shields as well, following this thread, and allready painted semi prior to installing rubber. Easy fix though at this stage.

You mentioned thicker NOS seals, are they easy to come by or are they a hard item to locate?

Thanks again,
Pat
68 427/400
88

Hi Pat
I dug up 3 NOS boxes all with part number 3996620

Pic one of all 3 seals. Left is from a 68 box you can see how much denser or fatter it looks.
Center seal is from a 73 box. I think similar shape as repop but less dense.
Far Right is from an 80's box. This seal is not even close but same part number.
I think this seal resembles the seal used in 75 to 78 and up for the inner front fiberglass wheel wells. This seal is in the upper front and back and seals between the upper fiberglass and the top surround.

I may have some extra 73 seals but you will have to PM me. Will not sell the 68 dated boxes.

I had received an email from a Member stating the shields were painted and then glued and stapled.
I collected about 6-8 pairs of originals of 68 shields and some 69's Only with original seals and staples. They all had the bare steel edge(rusty) and glue on it with the foam seal over it. When you peeled back the edge of the foam you can see the bare steel.
I even had some 67 shields with the foam and they were done the same way.
So I am just going by what originals I've collected over the years.
If the staples were stapled length ways following the contour of the seal then it is painted. Some staples stapled verticle half the staple is painted and the other 1/2 bare.

If I can find my files of the original 68 shields before restoration I will post them.
Hope this helps.
Grant

[Dan M.]

Re: 68 Front Outer Splash Shield Staples

Thanks Grant. As they say; One picture worth a thousand words.