Supernaut72

Hey all, just got back from a busy day pulling the car halfway apart to fix some rust issues, lubricate quarter window tracks/regulators, reinstall driver's side vent window regulator, etc. etc. etc.

I figured while I was at it, I'd install some of my new weather seals, as the originals were dried, shrunken, cracked, and were beginning to leak in heavy rains. I followed the seal installation procedures outlined in the 1967 edition of the Fisher Body manual, and used all the correct weather seal parts for my car from Metro Moulded, whose products I've heard many good things about from users here and abroad, but when I finally got the roof rail seal in and the door seal in place, I noticed a couple of problems:

First off, when I went to close the door when I was wrapping everything up for the evening, I found that I had to SLAM it to get it to close-- and even then, it only latched halfway, with the door jutting out a tiny bit (but noticeably) beyond the quarter panel and a visible gap where the driver's window should meet the quarter glass seal. I know new seals can take a little while to settle in before they'll work smoothly, but considering the overly violent slamming required to get the door to shut even partway, which broke the rear roller guide piece of the driver's window mechanism in two yet again, I'm feeling like something is amiss.

Secondly, the roof rail seal (specifically listed for fastback hardtop coupes) is considerably fatter than the original seal that was on there, not sure if this is intentional but it means there is just no way in hell the seal will fit above the black plastic seal retention hook located in the weather seal channel just ahead of and above where the quarter glass meets the driver's door glass. Were the aftermarket seals designed under the assumption that these roof rail seal retention clips are broken and missing on any car that's getting a weather seal job done? Do I need to break mine to get this seal to work? As it is, the still-intact clip is causing the already massive seal to bulge out a little, which may be contributing to or causing these clearance problems.

Besides these issues, everything looks alright to my eye. The door seal doesn't look abnormally thick, the vent window frame seals quite neatly against the roof rail seal at the sharp bend at the A-pillar, and the quarter glass seems to press up against the rear portion of the same seal decently.

Are there any other hardtop fastback owners who have gone through Metro for weather seals, and can maybe shed a little light on why I might be having a little trouble here? I'd appreciate it... I know I could probably adjust the door's striker so as to make closing the door easier, but that would mean that my door glass still wouldn't be sealing against my quarter glass seal. Then, what's the point of replacing all these weather seals?

m371961

Did you replace the door bumpers as well? I had to shorten the new ones until the door closed easier. As for the rest, I have no answers. I know leaving it closed up for a few days tends to give shape to the seals. I also had to readjust windows as well as my vert top frame to get it all to fit. For me it was a long tedious job that I had to make adjustments, walk away from, read manual and repeat many times. But I had all 4 windows and tracks out, top frame apart and doors off. One of the most frustrating things I have done to the car so far.

Supernaut72

Ouch, that does indeed sound frustrating. I don't think I'd have the patience to deal with this sort of thing if I also had to factor in a bunch of 'vert roof seals.
I didn't replace the door bumpers, though I'm planning to sometime soon, as the lower bumpers have hardened into something resembling plastic and the upper bumpers, while sort of soft to the touch, have abraded spots of the paint down to bare metal where they make contact (perhaps the fault of shot door seals and years of hard door closing, though since the bumpers are sold in sets I might as well replace them too).

I went back and checked the door yesterday, and in the warmth of the sun it actually closed all the way, with a little effort. By the time I was finishing up the day's work on the car, it was dark out and had quickly gotten cold, and when I closed the door again it had gone back to being extremely difficult to close. Still, it was a little bit easier than the first day. Guess I'll just have to close it up nice and tight in daylight, then leave it for a few days.

I'm finding that the roof rail seal is sealing quite nicely, though I do have to finish cementing it in next time I'm at the car. Still, there's a lot of superfluous rubber along the bottom of the seal that I'm thinking about trimming away. None of the extra rubber hanging down even makes contact with the glass, and looks a little bit gaudy from the interior of the car where it protrudes from behind the upper chrome sash above the glass. Might even interfere with the operation of the vent window somehow, not sure. I think I'll trim out just enough for it to fit through that retainer clip, then see about doing the rest after I've cleared that hurdle.

I'd sure like to know why the roof rail seal is so much bigger than the originals, especially since it provides absolutely zero extra sealing area over what the originals provided. Oh well. All I can say is that these seals had better be practically air-tight after being so difficult.

Supernaut72

Merry day-after Christmas, everyone.

Well, six days later and the doors are still absolutely unwilling to close properly. Had to tape over the area where the door glass meets the quarter window to prevent rain from getting into the car through the gap between glass and rubber last night. Needless to say, I'm not happy with these seals. The retention clip has now gouged into the roof rail seal pretty good, but not enough to stop it from bulging out and attempting to pull out of the rail channel at every opportunity. I've learned that cutting these seals is inadvisable because doing so will reveal the sponge rubber underneath the outer skin, which will both look like hell and will likely be much more prone to deterioration and general crumbling as it ages.

I think I'm going to pull off these seals and order from Soffseal, despite the fact that I've heard less than stellar things about them in certain circles. I simply don't have the money to buy from Steele Seal or to hunt down old NOS GM seals, and given that some folks over on the Monte Carlo forums have had similar troubles with Metro seals which were remedied by a switch to Soffseal, I guess it couldn't hurt to try. Anything is better if it will allow the doors to actually shut.

I might try selling these seals if I can't get a return on any of them. Maybe someone out there can get them to work better than I have. The passenger side seals are unused and the driver's side door seal is in like-new condition. The driver's side roof rail has had a slight incision made in an attempt to feed the retention clip through the seal around where the original seal ended, it doesn't compromise the actual sealing surface at all but I won't be surprised if I just have to junk that seal.

Also, the lock pillar "u jamb" seals were a bust. They didn't fit right at all. Steele's rendition looks exactly like the originals, so I think I'll be putting aside a little to buy a pair of those from them, but seeing as those alone are around $50 I think that'll be all.

For all the good things I'd heard about Metro, this little misadventure sure has been a nasty surprise. Maybe their products are perfect for A-bodies and other assorted cars, but from what I've seen they should be avoided if you've got a hardtop B-body that needs the area around the doors re-sealed. They're always being praised for the softness of their seals, but who cares how soft the seals are if the damn things don't fit right?

m371961

The lock pillar seals on my 98 needed to be bent and shaped to fit right. The door glass needed adjusting to fit against the quarter glass. Mine hit at the top first and made the door hard to close. Not saying you have the same trouble, but the adjustment of my glass made mine fit together better. It was adjust door glass, adjust quarter window, adjust door glass, etc until it all started falling in place.

rroth01

I replaced all of my door seals as well.I haven't driven the car much .I notice when it sits and I open the doors the seals stick to the door surface and tend to rip..Any suggestions on what to use to lubricate them and keep them from sticking ?Thanks in advance.Ron

Supernaut72

I tried reshaping the lock pillar seals and still wound up with the glass colliding with the edge of the steel-reinforced seal frame. I recall the packaging saying "for 1967-1968 B and C body hardtops and convertibles (not fastback)". I dismissed the "not fastback" note, but am starting to think that there may be some slight difference between the lock pillar on fastbacks and non-fastback hardtops like the Caprice and convertibles.

I did take into consideration what you said before, about adjusting the glass. However, when I tried closing the door with the window rolled down, I got the same results- A really strong resistance, as if a seal is being pinched but won't give. No signs of damage to the seals, but I haven't been able to get my door to close so I'm just guessing the seals they gave me are too fat to work without adjusting hinges and strikers and getting the door all out of alignment.

One trick is to wipe the seals down with silicone spray on a rag. Another trick I've heard of is buffing the seals with non-petroleum based silicone grease, and really cleaning and waxing the surface the weatherstrip seals against. Either way the silicone will also double as a conditioner for the seal to keep it from deteriorating.

m371961

X2 on coating with silicone. Not closing with the windows down sure points to door seal problem, but if the vent window frame is out of adjustment and you have a new pillar seal it will mess you up also. I also left out the door bumpers until I got it to close easier. I still have to close the door harder then I like, but I figure the more it is worked the better it will get.

RROLDSX

I've use the Metro seals and they worked great. Even though I carefully compared the old weatherstripping with the new I installed it backward. It needs to be carefully pushed into the channel and can easily be reversed since it fits both ways. I had to remove my trunk stripping and re-glue it. Fortunately I caught it before the glue set. The main problems I had with the doors required glass adjustment to make up for the new weatherstripping. It takes some finessing between the glass weatherstripping, glass adjustments and door latch position but everything worked great in the end and I'm certain the weatherstripping in my 1969 442 was accurately reproduced.