The 300

[gasman826]

I've used 3M Weatherstrip Adhesive for 50 years.  It is very easy to make a mess.  I typically use it as per 3M directions.  The original was only available in yellow.  In very critical applications, I have applied to one surface, let it tack and then touch the weatherstrip to the final location, pull away, touch and pull away until it starts to grab...final adjustment and tape.  Great stuff.  In a pinch, I've used it to hold engine gaskets in place.

[RICH MUISE]

I can take a pic of my bottom bumper, but like yours, new rockers, so not necessarily in the correct location exactly if someone were to check it with calipers. Just make sure where you put it is not going to hit the door seal.
Just my 2 cents, and it's your $ and car, but I always look at a primer car like it's unfinished, or the body work wasn't good enough for shiney finish paint. I've been driving mine for 3 years since last paint, and not a whole lot of nicks and scratches. So, if I were you I'd go for a nice, but not show quality paint and not worry about it.
You mentioned aligning the striker plate.........have fun, lol. Keep in mind there is a roller behind the starwheel on the latch. That roller is suppose to ride up on the small countersunk plate that holds the 2 tooth catch plate. It should ride up about 1/16" or so lifting the door when you close it.
Make sure everything is adjusted so it catches both teeth. When correct, you should be able to close the door lightly and have it catch on the first tooth, holding the door from flying open even though not closed tight. Lifting the door 1/16 keeps weight on the door latch to striker plate and reduces rattling and the door bouncing up and down.
Before you assemble the striker plate onto the jamb, make sure the cage nuts encapsulated in the jamb are free and floating because that's where your adjustment is. No adjustment in the door latch, it's all in the striker.
You sure you want to put the striker/latch/bumpers on before you decide on paint???

[djfordmanjack]

Rich, Jeff at some point mentioned a very high C$ figure for a full repaint. I respect your opinion about primered cars not being finished, but honestly, many thsds of $ can be well spent in driving an FE equipped 57 around for years. rather than waiting for years until one can afford a halfway decent paintjob these days.
personally I am a strong believer in doing looooong shakedown runs of a freshly built car before ever thinking about paint.
IF you had an og survivor car, that you disassembled for paint. it would be great to paint the door jambs before assembling the striker plates to the car. With a car like Jeffs, that needed quite some work done. I would highly suggest to give it a thorough, long, good shakedown before going into quality paint coating. there WILL be many discrepancies in alignment and fitment in such a huge project.
imho, Jeffs thoughts of getting the 300 on the road first, are spot on. what do you think, do we have to agree , to disagree ?

[djfordmanjack]

Jeff this is of course, 4 dr wgn. maybe it can give you a hint of where the rubber has to go.

[djfordmanjack]

this is my Del Rio. I believe 2dr wgn doors are the same as Custom/300 sdn.

[RICH MUISE]

We can agree to agree, DJ..........as long as there is paint somewhere down the road. Nothing wrong with shakedown miles, and for sure making everything fits the way you want. Only thing I'm not to sure about is how many things you're gonna run into on shakedown miles that are going to affect the paint, unless it's necessitating the front end sheetmetal removal.
I looked at my bottom bumper location, and it's exactly where the hole is above that little recessed area in the Del Rio pic

[djfordmanjack]

interesting thought Rich. what was going to move in a shakedown run. I can imagine that like you say, a new frontend rubber will let the fenders settle and also change door gaps. I believe with the amount of metalwork that Jeffs car got, it would need an initial door alignment like in the factory, where they would bounce back and forth with knees, heels, rubber mallets, wooden blocks and whatnot. talking about a black paint job, on a factory 57, ..... not the best combination maybe. I never saw a brandnew black 57  in the flesh unfortunatley, but I can just picture, that today a pro paint shop would even put more efforts than they did on an average car back in 1957. I am not sure about that though. I believe  we all have seen og paint survivor cars at one point and it's sometimes amazing how nice these were/are. I guess we all have seen og paint orange peel, runs and what not as well.
As we all know aligning doors in a 57 can be difficult. to say the least. many options to move things around, heavy doors, especially with a 2 door. that nice life guard safety latches. which put a lot of options on our to do list, and those aftermarket door seals we can never be sure of about foam density and fit.
all of that make sit difficult for door alignment, even more so with a high gloss black car.
it is great that your new door seals turned out nicely and not being an issue. I am sweating to replace the door seals on the 4dr wgn.

[RICH MUISE]

Jeff.....one more door seal suggestion. Do not use adhesive in the area of the clip that holds the door lock in place. Should you ever need to get the door lock out, you don't want to destroy the seal trying to get to it. On mine I stop applying the adhesive about an inch above and an inch below the clip. The seal will still stay tight in that area. Where DC ends the top portion of the seal is just above the clip, so On the new seal I just installed, I cut off a few inches of the top end of the seal to insure I had enough seal to glue the "bottom end" adequately above the clip without getting adhesive in the area mentioned. If that doesn't make sense, I think it will when you start fitting the seal.
I'm not sure why they didn't seam the seal at the bottom where the seam wouldn't be seen. Parlez vous Francais?

[Tom S]

Jeff.....one more door seal suggestion. Do not use adhesive in the area of the clip that holds the door lock in place. ...

Yeah. This door seal was glued on good.  At first I was 'Where the hell is that clip?'. 
I did not re-glue that door seal. 

[Jeff Norwell]

Great suggestions guys and thanks!
Gunther,.. tha solves my issue ..... More in the future guys.. work is very heavy at the moment

[Jeff Norwell]

Hey Guys..... been a while since I have done any updates... With the world upside down... it's been a struggle... work completely died in mid March(picking up now....) So as like everyone else... you need to adjust and stay calm.. new adjustments in life.Since I work alone(for the last 30 years...It really wasn't an issue.. but socially.. it's been a strange one.

Anyhow.. Been working on the 57.. slowly plugging away.

The rear spare tire well was a mess(like many)... there must have been 1 inch in bondo and a mesh material holding it together.... and as I was under the car(which seemed to be an eternity) I needed to replace it.I found that on a 57 Meteor( that i grabbed parts from) it's spare tire well was perfect!!!
This in its self was a miracle!
So I cut it out, removed the excess Flange,drilled out the spot weld and cleaned it up.
I then attacked the one on my car.. it was truly ugly.... but it came out and I then cleaned its flange area.....
The plan was to bond it in... so thats what I did.
The old exhaust was still in place so I cut all that out as well.... made it much easier to scrap,grind and attack the underside.This is the WORST job ever.
My other 57 is not even close to the mess that was under this 57.... so much undercoating... in some places 2 inches think.I would curse the person who applied it in the past... but in hindsight.... it save the car in critical areas..... still.. a nightmare to remove.

The donor unit.

[Jeff Norwell]

The old one coming out in pieces..... and then cleaning, straightening the flange and mating ares...

[Jeff Norwell]

Test fit......

[Jeff Norwell]

Bonded in and fitted tight..(now dry and I will clean a bit more and use some seam sealer.)

[Jeff Norwell]

The underside is now done. all in a semi gloss black(satin)..... As I was under I removed all the Factory fuel and brake lines.... kept them as templates and made the lines.... installing those now.
I really did not feel good about using 60 year old lines..... fresh and new is better... used that Ni-copp stuff.. for the brake lines.. really like it....