OK, I'm having a really bad day!

Do you guys (and gals) have any experience installing the fuzzy strips and channel in a '56 door? I am on my fourth set of strips and it looks like I'm going to have to buy all new parts and start from scratch! There goes another $100...

I have made a cool tool to get the strips in at the back clip. That little clip is a (P13) to snap into place. So, I figure I've got that hammered. The channel is proving to be bad though.

Anyway, all suggestions would be appreciated so I don't waste anymore of my hard-earned bucks

 

Craig

Please post a picture of your fuzzie clip tool. The rear clip on the fuzzies is definitely tough. What's up with your channels? I did not think they were too bad to install.

'fenders

 

My webcam is severely quality challenged and doesn't give much detail, but the tool is very simple.

I couldn't just push the fuzzy strip with my fingers and get that last clip in place like I could the other ones. They just snapped right in. I thought maybe an $4.95 ice pick would do the trick. I like to search for cheap ideas just because I'm my father's son so, I ended up buying a set of long steel skewers from the local hardware store (OSH) for $1.69. The cross section of the skewer is approximately oval and .140" X .082". It has a flattened blade at the pointy end that I thought would catch the loop end of the clip and allow me to pull the clip through the hole. It turned out to be too wide and the length of the skewer was too long to be useable. I cut it to about 12" long and filed the end off at about a 60 degree angle, not a pencil point, just a simple angle. First time inside the door it caught the clip and with a little persuasion pulled it right into place.

I think I've just mangled the channel by trying to force the many strips I've destroyed into place. I put the glass in and can hardly move it due to the channel being collapsed in a couple of places. Getting all of the snap studs on the back side of the channel is hard too. All but one seem to go in and that lst one just doesn't want to line up to the hole.

I'd be willing to bet the techs in the assembly plants had a roll away full of custom made tools for the job!

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 26-Oct-02 AT 09:06 AM (EST)]Craig

Thanks for the info on the fuzzie clip tool. Do you think it would work with the glass in the door but laying in the very bottom?

The antirattle parts are difficult for sure but I think a lot of the problem lies in the quality of the kits. There is definitely a difference and I got what I paid for when I bought my first kit for $79. If the clips don't line up right, you are not going to move them and still have strength. Everything is just too flimsy for "do overs". I have learned one way to tell a good kit from a cheap one. The rear of vent seal should be a straight stiff piece that is reinforced by a copper/brass strip the rubber is bonded to. The seal is not a one foot section of rolled rubber V seal that I see in the cheap kits, as if $80 is cheap The Dennis C. Ford Repro guy from North Carolina makes the real deal. I like to save money as much as the next guy and this is what happens to me now and then. As much as I hate it, I am going to hire mine out if I ruin anymore parts.

'fenders

 

Hey 'fenders

I don't think there's enough room to get up inside with the glass installed. Most of my arm was in there too! It take a fair amount of levering to get the clip in place also.

I got mine from Sac Vintage. The quality seems right up there to me. Also bought a couple of sets of strips from Bob's Fun100s, same quality. I guess I'm doomed to repeat it until I get it right. Ho hum

Craig

 

Craig

It could very well be the quality of your kits is just fine. I guess my only point is I have seen some $80 kits that are not. The job is tough enough with parts that fit. I am giving mine a rest while I attempt to get this beast running.

'fenders

 

Been there, done that.

I put this off for a few months until I realized that it's starting to get cold around here. If I want to drive this winter, I gotta have windows and heat. I also looking for a good radiator rebuilder in town to rework my heater core. That is, if it isn't cheaper to just go get a new one...

There's that money thing again!