Door weatherstip troubles???

[wv 57s forever]

 

if someone told me that my door wasnt aligned corectly, they had better be a good friend or they should show me something that they did themselves better. as in where is your 54 year old car that is nicer ?

[Frankenstein57]

Rich, when we repainted the ranchero we spent hours adjusting body lines. I had installed the seals in the spring, then my body guy took them off to get the door lines right. After paint I reinstalled them, worked out ok. Hard to close at first, but a day in the hot sun settled them pretty good. I agree that the horizontal fat part below the wing window is a bugger to squish. This is why I was questioning you guys painting a disassembeld car.   Mark

[RICH MUISE]

Not sure I can figure that reasoning...I assume you wouldn't paint a car completly assembled with the new weatherstripping in place, so at some point you have to get the seal to conform anyways..in other words, no different than if I had painted the car with the door on or off, the only difference being whether or not I should have installed the seal before I hung and adjusted the door. Anyways, with a soft face clamp at the wing window post, and a strap ratcheting the door in, it's pretty darn close now...I'll just need to tweek it a little after the seals compressed a little.
I am going to leave the seal off the other door until I get it in place and adjusted.
Also as far as painting the car assembled...I think if I were single staging a paint job, that would work fine, but for me to try to color seal,basecoat and clearcoat...there's just no way blend it all in..at least with my skills.

[Frankenstein57]

Rich, you have to go with what works for you, my point was I would have damaged the paint for sure,given the hours we spent getting the lines good.  Mark

[Ford Blue blood]

3M (and others I'm sure) have a foam rope with sticky on one side that allows you to completely jamb out the car with most of the seals in place and paint it in one shot.  I have used it on a couple and it is great stuff.  I get all the body work, blocking and 400 final blocking done.  Then turn my attention to the jambs, under hood and trunk, the doors, the lip of the wheel wells and the underside of the rockers.  All of that gets finish paint.  Hang the doors, fenders, hood and trunk all with the seals in place, touch up any scars then 600 the whole car, blow it clean, tach it, mask, put the rope foam on the gaps and tach again.  Seal, base coat and clear coat.  The foam leaves a really easy edge that rubs out by hand and no over spray in the jamb. Pull the rope off with the rest of the mask.

As Mark says, go with what works for you.  I have had good luck with my system and thought I would share....

[suede57ford]

The 3M tape is called Soft-Edge Foam Masking Tape(SEFT). It is a foam with a hollow core and has adhesive on one side to anchor it.   With the new Blue/White version you attach the tape to the moving part(door, decklid, trunk) and then tuck it the depth you want with a plastic bondo spreader.   Leave it close to the edge when you seal , then tuck it in another 1/16 - 1/18 of an inch in to help cover the Sealer Creap with the base and clear.  I am my regional 3M rep, so I can help with masking products and tricks.

I usually assemble a '57, fit everything( without weatherstrips) and then disassemble the major panels and pain teverthing apart.  This way I have no tape lines and can clear over the two -tone lines.   Tehn we glue the weatherstrip on and reassemble.   The doors and deck are going to be springy for quite a while.   Keep those doors and deck closed all the time when it is parked and it will eventually seat.

[RICH MUISE]

Pat...I finally got my door to grasp the 2nd catch on the striker plate, but I can see daylight in the area above the wing window to the front corner ( probasbily* the area you were talking about being too thin). My question is..you being a 3M expert...does 3M make a rubber product than be applied to the weatherstripping to build it up and close the gap?? I'm guessing the answer is gonna be "no" since you didn't mention that approach in your above posts.
*probasbily: a word to use when your not sure whether to use posibly, or probably. LOL

[suede57ford]

I was going to buy some that has a similar shape but is larger from JC Whitneys.  They have a little diagrams of the shapes they offer.   I planned to trim the thicker unirversal section to replace that section by the vent window area.   Super glue or Q-bond glues weatherstrip to itself very well, then the super weatherstrip adhesive to hold it to the door. I'm unsure of the Whitney's part number, as I has some left from a previous order I plan to use.