I bought a "anti-rattle" set-up about 4 years ago from (I believe) Dennis Carpenter, it was so long ago I don't remember. I just am to the point of installing the felts at the beltline and find that they do not have the clips installed on them, you get a bag of crimp-on clips and have to figure out where they go, are very hard to properly crimp, and the metal clip is perilously close to the glass. I will not say publicly what I think of this arrangement!!!

Has anyone bought any of these felts lately for a 48-52 that have these clips already installed at the factory?

While I'm at it, I'll ask also if anyone has recently bought DC's vent window rubber and what results? They look excellent, fit the vent frame perfectly, but are BARELY sealing to the vent window frame, all the way around. The vent window frame is uniformly 1/4" away from where I would like it to be for a weather-tight seal.

Thanks in advance!

 

4 years ago hugh? Seems we are on the same schedule. I also was less then pleased with the crimp on attachment pieces and struggled mightly with them. I will say though that once I got them in they did NOT rub on the glass. Just make sure the mounting flange is straight inside the door before you put them on. I actually straigtened mine right off the bat once I determined what I was working with. Also, I had to widen some of the snaps that go into the flange to get a nice tight fit. I even toyed with the idea of removing the old snaps and putting them on the new felt but those puppies are on there permanent. To align the snaps on the felt, I held them on the top of the door sill and eye balled down into the door and marked the flange hole on the bottom of the felt piece with a silver Sharpie so it wouldn't show on the top. Once I got both pieces on they kinda moved around somewhat UNTIL I got the glass in between. That seemed to firm things up a bunch.

I also look forward to comments on the vent window rubbers. Mine also do not seal worth a flip and is a "whistle" waiting to happen once I get Big Red on the road.

Tim

 

I don't know whether to feel good or bad about your having the same problems as me! At least I'm not doing something wrong, but we both have unsatisfactory results for the vent windows. Mine are far more than a whistle waiting to happen, I can stick my pinkie in between the rubber and the glass -- in a good rain water is going to pour thru there!

 

You certainly aren't doing anything wrong. We are, shall we say, "repop challenged"!

On the felts--if you have what came off, try marking the location for the new snaps (centers) using the old ones as a template. Unfortunately, I took off the old snaps thinking I could use those on my new felts. Didn't work.

On the vent window rubbers--Mine is much tighter than yours. A pinky size gap is not even close! Who made the rubbers? Did you get new division bars also? Can you adjust the division bar toward the vent window to close the gap? There was a little "slop" in mine I assume just for that purpose.

Tim

 

I would have to go thru my huge box of receipts to confirm, but I am sure I bought the "complete anti-rattle kit" from Dennis C. It includes the division bar, the beltline felts, and the track channels. The rubber for the vent window came from someone else.

There is some adjustment on the upper pivot of the vent, and I've used it all up. It is mainly to get the vent straight. The rubber is excellent quality, it is just too far away! I could fill the vent frame with silicone to space it out but that wouldn't be right. I'm going to compare the OEM rubber to the new, see if there is an obvious difference.

My original felts were totally desert-burned, nothing but a few wisps of cotton left and the metal was rusted enough that they split into pieces on removal.

 

I purchased the one-piece door glass Kit from John's F-Fun Hundreds in Buena Park Ca. about 2 years ago now. The bottom door glass strips came with the clips installed on them I just snaped them in. If you had a set of those strips I believe you could just snip off the extra length that goes in place of the wing window. I just looked and it looks as though the strips they show for the stock setup have the clips in them. http://www.johnsf100.com/

Hope this helps
Rod 51F1

 

Thanks for the tip, I'll give them a call! The picture I see is a reprint of the Ford manual tho, I don't think that means anything. I can't believe the price, either!! $55 a door!! It might be worth it if I don't scratch my paint trying to get the snaps set up right.

BTW I checked and the vent window rubber seal is made by Dennis C. I compared it to the originals and the cross-section is identical. It doesn't appear that the problem is with the rubber.

 

My F1 always had vent window sealing problems, this time around I swore I'd make it right. Putting it all back together, I figured out the frame the rubber mounts into was not quite bent right, I'm guessing they were bent (very slightly mind you) while in storage or just prying them out. It took me no less than a dozen install and remove and bend/tweak tries on each vent frame to get it closer than it has ever been. I can't believe it was that difficult. It looks like they seal 99.9% now, with just a tiny bit of light coming through near the lower pivot on one door. I called it "good enough" and left it.

 

Scott, the frame being out of whack occured to me too, but what appears to be my problem is that the pivot hole (hole in bottom where the window pivot goes thru) can't be changed. If I could slide that forward 1/4", it would fit perfectly all around. I guess you could accomplish that by re-bending the whole front section (where the curve starts), is that what you did? That must have been a lot of work if so!