Tag: soffseal

’32 Update: window channel weatherstrip (article 52)

It’s always a treat trying to figure out which profile of weatherstripping to use.  Typically, the stuff you use for the window channel is “cat whiskers”, and is usually attached with screws or weatherstrip adhesive.  Since the garnish molding is a part of the door, it’s not easy to drive a screw through the inside lip of the door (where you rest your arm while cruising).  So I began to explore the different weatherstrip profiles in the Soffseal sample baggy.


I needed to detach the power window channel from the door so the glass would drop right down inside and give me clearance where I would install the weatherstrip.


If I haven’t been able to explain where I’m putting the weatherstripping, this should do the job.


With this style of seal, it’s important not to make the fit too tight between the glass and weatherstrip, or the glass won’t want to slide up and down – it will get stuck.  You may have to combine two different thicknesses to get the spacing right.


The inside door panels which hide the power window motors are attached with machine screws, but there isn’t a seal preventing them from rattling.  I took some sample pieces from the Soffseal sample bag and filet’d the side with the adhesive to the thickness I needed.  After sticking a few of these skinny pieces around the perimeter of the panel, it keeps it away just far enough that it won’t rattle.


This is the profile I used for the window seal.  I took this picture to show there is a good side and a not so good side to this piece.  This profile is manufactured as two strips side by side, connected by a thin bridge.  Afterwards, they are seperated.  This process leaves a tiny ridge along one side (in this picture, the left side).  I chose to install it with the ridge facing down.

’32 Update: Weatherstripping (article 32)

Weatherstripping
All gaps are not created equal.  Having said that, once I decided which weatherstrip profile to use, the job itself was rather simple.

You’ll have to start with your doors hung and latched.  To determine the size of the gap, I used what I’ve been telling people to use for years, but never had the opportunity to do it myself: playdough.  Do I have to put a letter C in a circle after that word?  Actually, I didn’t use playdough.  I used Sticky Tack.  Man, what’s the generic word for stuff that’s pliable and somewhat sticky and holds posters to the wall?  From now on, it shall be called “Silly Putty”.  Oh, never mind.

Roll the Nameless Wonder-Goop Door Gap Replicator (don’t worry, I don’t require a Registered Trademark symbol) into a ball, and set it in the place you want to measure.

Close the door all the way.

When you open the door, you’ll be left with a positive mold of the door gap that you can use to see which weatherstrip profile will work best.

I got one of Soffseal’s sample packs and compared each sample with my Nameless Wonder-Goop Door Gap Replicator.

It turns out I was able to use one of their smallest profiles on both the door and the body.  I like this, because I have weatherstrip sealing against weatherstrip.  This profile fit the edge around the door opening perfectly.

In this picture, you’re also able to see the courtesy light I installed in the bottom of the door.  At night, it will illuminate the ground as you’re getting out of the car.  You never know what will be waiting in the hotel parking lot.