Guest OldAussie Posted June 26, 2015 Share Posted June 26, 2015 Can anyone please advise me if the rear half of the roof rail seals for a 1969 Riviera are available? I have purchased new roof rail seals but they only extend to the rear of the door windows. I have looked online but I cannot see any reference to this section of the seals that are above the rear quarter vent windows. I have not as yet removed the old ones but they appear to be two separate lengths of rubber with a metal strip between them. The quarter window glass then closes between these two lengths of rubber. Are these seals available, or does anyone know what can be used as a replacement? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JZRIV Posted June 26, 2015 Share Posted June 26, 2015 (edited) Sorry - Not available as far as I know unless just recently re-poped. This is a SPECIAL piece. A harder rubber volcanized to the steel frame. Best bet is to find good used. These typically survive well in north eastern humid rust-belt parts areas of the country. This piece is also a royal pain in the butt to remove. If yours isn't real bad, you may want to leave as-is Edited June 26, 2015 by JZRIV (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68RIVGS Posted June 26, 2015 Share Posted June 26, 2015 The '68 rear roof rail is identical, and just as hard to replace, as it's two piece also. As Jason advised, if yours are not that bad,, it might be best to consider refurbishing the old ones, and butt joint new front pieces to them. They usually don't require replacement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest OldAussie Posted June 27, 2015 Share Posted June 27, 2015 (edited) Thank you Jason and Randy for confirming what I thought to be the case. My car is in Western Australia now and spent the first 40 years in California both having hot dry climates that are very hard on rubber.The existing seals are very hard and crumbly and have “crazy pave” type cracks all over the surface. I do have a donor car from Washington in which the seals are a little better but as Jason pointed out I baulked at the amount of work required to remove the seals from the donor car without damaging them and then refitting them to my car. Unfortunately the enthusiastic helper I have did not realize that there were two separate seals and the start of the rear section is slightly damaged. The new front rail seals are longer than necessary however so I think I will try cutting the rear section so they are square and then butt the front section up to them as Randy suggested. This will mean that the leading edge of the rear quarter window will have to seal against the end of the front section. Only trying this will show if it works. If it doesn’t I can always re-cut the front section shorter and replace the rear section with the other second-hand set. Again thank you for your expedient replies. Edited June 27, 2015 by OldAussie (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68RIVGS Posted June 28, 2015 Share Posted June 28, 2015 (edited) If you have access to a '68, or '69 Chassis Manual, there is some info on how the front roof rail weather strip is butted to the rear portion. The rear roof rail piece is only held in place with sheet metal screws inside the upper channel portion, and are fairly easy to remove, after all the trim pieces are off the car. Edited June 28, 2015 by 68RIVGS (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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