True Connections

Through out the year we attend many car shows and cruise nights in order to talk with our customers, see their cars, and just have fun. While viewing the many Chevelles and El Caminos at the shows, we have noticed a few common errors that owners make and need to be addressed. One of the items that are consistently installed incorrectly is the door jamb quarter window seal on 1964-1967 2 door Hardtop Chevelles. This is the small U shaped seal located in the door jamb at the bottom of the quarter window. The problem is that we constantly see these seals screwed to the outside of the door jamb. To correctly install this seal, first roll the quarter window down, then slip the seal inside the slot and hold it from the back. Drive two phillips panhead screws through the existing holes in the door jamb and then into the seal. People must be confusing them with the 1968-1972 Chevelles, since the door jamb seals in those years are mounted to the outside of the body. They have the standard U shape but also have an extra portion of rubber extending out at a 90 degree angle to meet the door seal when the door closes. These seals use four phillips panhead screws, three driven through the seal then into the body toward the back of the car and one into the body toward the interior.

Another item many Chevelle and El Camino owners have trouble installing is window felts. These are sometimes called the window scrapers and are the rubber and felt lined weather-strips that form the seal between the side windows and the door & body. We constantly see cars at shows where the window felts are so bent up, that they look like a wash board. They are held in place by barbed clips that are part of the strip, small phillips head screws, and sometimes with stainless steel staples. We usually recommend the customer take the window felts to a reputable shop for installation since the clips can be difficult to snap into place. There is no trick to it, if the installer simply doesn’t take their time, it is very easy to end up bending the strip and then it will never be straight again.

Every now and then we get calls with customers asking which way the door seals face when you install them. All manufacturers mark their seals. If yours are gone and you have nothing to go by, then look at the seal, on some models Soffseal and Metro marks theirs with a red and green pin. Red is the drivers side, green is the passengers. Trunk seals are also constantly installed backwards. Remember you’re keeping water out, so you want the lip curving toward the outside so it makes a C shaped barrier. Next month, before we dive into the Z-16, we will go over the installation of a Vintage Air unit.