62 roof rail seals at rubber the right way

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Solid
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62 roof rail seals at rubber the right way

Post by Solid »

Am I hallucinating? Has anyone tried these yet? I badly need new ones.
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Re: 62 roof rail seals at rubber the right way

Post by Solid »

Well, I am sufficiently desperate that I decided to go ahead and order it. Should have them next week.
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Re: 62 roof rail seals at rubber the right way

Post by Solid »

They arrived a short while ago. They look pretty good, molded ends are solid, There is little to no excess flashing from the molds on the mold lines. The material feels pliable even though the seals are fairly cold. I did a quick dry fit since I don't have time to install them for real, and the front and rear both seem to fit well. The packaging says Steele Rubber, so I guess that is who is making the new reproductions. I'll try to install at least one tonight.
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Re: 62 roof rail seals at rubber the right way

Post by Solid »

Does anyone know what the correct or close-enough screws are for this? What I have are clearly random stuff the incompetent hot rod shop used. I'd like to order something less random.
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Re: 62 roof rail seals at rubber the right way

Post by Solid »

Finally got to actually install one of the roof rail seals. Fitment is pretty good. The molding is not perfect for the flat part of the B pillar vertical but the ends are quite good. It's pretty obvious that Ford put the screw holes for the top of the seal into the body by hand so it was interesting to see that the roof rail seal has some tolerance in it by design. I haven't done a front one yet because I need my windshield R&R'd to replace the gasket and get the top stainless trim in, but no one around DC seems to want to touch that job.

Here are a few photos:
IMG_2129.jpg
IMG_2130.jpg
IMG_2131.jpg
Mike
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Re: 62 roof rail seals at rubber the right way

Post by Mike »

Cool. I'm not sure if I need that one or not but it's good to know it's available. Did you figure out the screws? I can check what they are.
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Re: 62 roof rail seals at rubber the right way

Post by Solid »

Mike wrote:Cool. I'm not sure if I need that one or not but it's good to know it's available. Did you figure out the screws? I can check what they are.
Well, yes... It looks like mr Wobbly Pants has been through this part of the car so what I suspect were originally #6 screws in most places the car now requires #8's. I changed my mind about waiting on the windshield and just finished putting in the driver side front one. I have not been using adhesive and the A pillar trim just won't be hard to remove even with the weather stripping in place, so I wanted to get them fitted and maybe have some time to adjust the windows to meet the seals while I have time to work on the car this week (as it will likely be months before I can work on it again). On Driver side front I think maybe the screw holes for the B pillar section should be about 1/4" higher than they are, and there was a bit of rubber mold flashing at the roof rail to B pillar section seam. I'd still call them well made though - the cleanly molded in Ford part number on the end of the B pillar section is particularly impressive for a reproduction. It is going to be a tight fit for the chromed pillar cap over the molded ends.

I believe along the roof rails, at the end of the A pillar, and down the C pillar they should be pan head, and the B pillar screws are oval or flat head (but still phillips drive, just flat topology... stupid slot screws should be banned from the earth) I think generally speaking you want 1/2" screws but you can get away with 5/8"
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Re: 62 roof rail seals at rubber the right way

Post by Solid »

I did the passenger side since I was kind of on a roll. Fitment is effectively identical there - pretty good but B pillar holes in the rubber for screws should probably be about 1/4" higher. This is irrelevant in practice. The molded ends on the B pillar make for a good but very tight fit with the chromed cap. I have no idea how it was from the factory since I have never had the complete ends before. One of the factory screw holes for the roof rail seal on the passenger rear was pretty far off.
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Re: 62 roof rail seals at rubber the right way

Post by George W »

We’re you able to simply drill a new screw hole on the proper location in the body or did you make a new hole in the weatherstrip ? Any other figment issues ?
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Re: 62 roof rail seals at rubber the right way

Post by Newchapters »

I wish someone made all the seals for these cars that didn't cost an arm and a leg but I have learned that restoring a Lincoln is not cheap.
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Re: 62 roof rail seals at rubber the right way

Post by Solid »

George W wrote:We’re you able to simply drill a new screw hole on the proper location in the body or did you make a new hole in the weatherstrip ? Any other figment issues ?
I did not need to make new holes in the rubber, there was enough stretch in the material to use the holes. I did drill a hole in the body at the correct location for the missing screw hole. When you look at them closely you can see some artifacts of the molds these were made from - I'm assuming NOS - but the finish is pretty decent. There were times when I wondered if these reproductions were maybe a couple % bigger than original, but they may well have been that way originally, my car didn't come with anything at all so I have no point of comparison on fitment. I have found numerous manufacturing defects in the car over the years, so the screw hole for passenger rear roof rail being off did not surprise me at all and was not an issue with the reproduction seal.

Yes the prices are high but I think this is about half what it used to cost for stuff that was complete garbage.
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