highcking Posted June 22, 2016 Share Posted June 22, 2016 Trying to finish my 1958 Roadmaster in time for the July show. I installed the roof rail weatherstrip the other day and it looked fine ... until I closed the rear doors and found that both doors are not set properly on the hinges. This causes the full windows to dig into the weatherstrip at the front edge and the vent window assemblies to squeeze the weatherstrip out of position. Solution seems to be re-setting these doors. The Body Manual warns about the weatherstripping so Buick knew about the problem. But I recall this adjustment procedure as a nightmare from a 1959 Fleetwood I owned years back. My memory was correct. There are two sets of three bolts at the top hinge and two at the bottom hinge, and in the Roadmaster one lower bolt on each door is covered by the door skin! The Buick shop manual helpfully suggests using a 90 degree screwdriver. These Phillips-head bolts take a ton of torque to turn without stripping. In short, the suggestion is ridiculous. The Buick mechanics must have had a bitter laugh over that one. In any event, after many hours of struggle I've managed to improve the situation somewhat on the left rear, and not at all on the right. Loosening that 12th bolt on each side seems all but impossible without taking the whole door off. (Reluctant to do this as I work alone and only have so many hands.) Anyone else faced this problem? I wouldn't care much about a slight misalignment of the rear doors ... but I can't buy into wrecking fresh weatherstrip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caballero2 Posted June 22, 2016 Share Posted June 22, 2016 In '57, the factory bonded a strip (6" long) piece of drill cloth in the area where the window scrubbed the weather strip. This provided good bearing surface for the window to rub against. Dan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ttotired Posted June 22, 2016 Share Posted June 22, 2016 My 58 special 2 door also has that material (cloth) along the top rubber I wondered if it was factory, I assume it used to be black, but its a bit faded now (whats left of it) its looks like canvas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
highcking Posted June 22, 2016 Author Share Posted June 22, 2016 Great piece of information! That will save my weatherstrip if I can find the right material. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caballero2 Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 I believe drill cloth is available from your local fabric store. If not, I have enough to do your job. All I need is to remember where I put it. PM me with a mailing address. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1957buickjim Posted June 24, 2016 Share Posted June 24, 2016 Just for details, where is this drill cloth supposed to be located on the windows? and is it supported by any rubber materials underneath? I am trying to get a mental picture of this to make sure that when I get my Estate Wagon back together, I can put the material in the right spot. Any info Dan would be very helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caballero2 Posted June 25, 2016 Share Posted June 25, 2016 (edited) The six inch long piece is bonded to the roof rail with about 3 inches fore and 3 inches aft the point of the rear door window frame. Photo shows the loose drill cloth not bonded to the roof rail weather strip.. Oh, by the way the vertical weather strip mounted in the leading edge of the back window when up is supposed to be fully covered. I have not seen a two door where either piece was covered. The Convertible roof rail strips were fully covered. It would require special tooling to do this to the convertibles. I have never seen this detail on any restorations including mine. Dan Edited June 25, 2016 by Caballero2 Added Photo (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ttotired Posted June 25, 2016 Share Posted June 25, 2016 I just had a look at mine, the cloth covers the full length of the top rubber and also the one between the front and rear windows Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caballero2 Posted June 26, 2016 Share Posted June 26, 2016 2 hours ago, Ttotired said: I just had a look at mine, the cloth covers the full length of the top rubber and also the one between the front and rear windows I personally feel that is the way all of them should have been, '57s as well as '58s. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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