Cool, probably an amazingly agile and fuel efficient car. And I bet one drives very defensively in them.

 

That is the OEM style as on the stock truck . Use plenty of silcone spray & they will slide in .

 

Mine did not as you can see from the pictures of the old channels. I would guess being a Minnesota truck that as it was used as a work truck and ice, snow, frozen mud, etc. built up on that lower seal area and then the strips were crushed closed as the doors were opened and closed. The doors are also bent inward in that area (yet another repair job not yet completed). There were only vestiges of the seal left and even they would not come out of the channels.

 

Just to update this, I am finishing up the last few details on my truck #2 build, including the lower door seals. I have found as others did that no way will the new seal fit my original seal channel. So I will be replacing both channels instead of just the one side. The new seals fit the new channels fine, still a good tight fit but doable. I found the quickest way to install them was to slide the seal up into the upper edge of the channel first and then compress the bottom of the seal lip up into the channel. I had to lay on my back to do it but I had no luck putting them in bottom edge first.

 

It all depends upon how crushed the channels are. Mine were bad to the point where even the inner door panels are stove in. Haven't gotten to that chore yet.

 

I think you are supposed to knock the flanges over the seal after putting them in. If you look at Pete's picture on p. 1, the steel runs the risk of contacting the door if they aren't bent over.

 

Not sure is that is needed or not, my seals stick out past the channel and look to be sealing ok against the door. They do fit tight enough in the channel that they will not move. I am going to try and pry open my one original channel, but if it doesnt work I will just replace it.

 

You may have better luck or skill than I did as I could not get them spread. My rocker panels we not in good shape either so a bigger hammer wouldn't work. The new ones are quite nice and Ross may be correct about the crimp but my thought was that if you ever wanted to replace the seal again you would have to replace the channel again. If the uncrimped channel does not hit the door I though of perhaps just holding the ends in place with 3M weatherstrip cement.

 

Agreed on crimping making the channels one time use. The seals I installed will stay in place with no adhesive or crimping, once in place you cannot get them to slide or move in the channel at all. Very tight fit.

 

You are using the original channels not new ones?

 

This truck had one good channel and one rusted out, so I replaced the one so far. New seal fits that new channel nicely and I did not crimp it over, seal touches the door ok.
Drivers side has the original channel, right now the new seal will not fit that channel. I am going to try and pry it open, but I do not expect it to work. If it doesnt I will replace that channel with new today.
Another option if you had two good original channels would be to use a razor and a straight edge to cut a little off the seal to get it to fit the original channels.

 

Updating this for future searches..

I was able to get the new seal to fit the original channel pretty easily.


Opened upper and lower edges a little with an adjustable wrench



And I was able to install the seal the same was as the other side, slid up into the upper part first and then compressed up into the lower edge. I put some WD40 on the seal first to make it easier to slip into position. Fit fine, just as good as the other side with the new channel.

 

Thanks for updating this thread with your final post in 2016. The other day I decided to slip the new seals into the original channels but gave up quickly since there was no way they were going to go in. I did a search and found the thread which has really been helpful, especially the last two pictures.

 

Another lube that works great on these and cleans up is syl-glyde

 

Thanks for the tip. I'll see if I can find some.