Keeping Water Out

[Joe Flanagan]

Is there any way to reproduce the gasket that once went around the door jambs at the A-pillars? On my 49 Plymouth, these were a pretty complicated shaped piece of metal with a rubber gasket attached. It was screwed into the jamb in several places. There was some discussion on the forum a long time ago about them but I don't really recall the gist of it except that you can't get them anymore. I have my cars out on the street under car covers. That's the best I can do right now. Last night we got the remnants of Hurricane Bill and I notice that there is a small amount of water sitting inside the hinge pockets. It looks to me like the only way the water could have gotten in there is by running between the door and the jamb and then flowing down through the hinges. I'm wondering if there's a way to fabricate some kind of gasket on the door itself (where it's not so visible), like out of an adhesive cut to follow the contour of the door. Has anyone tried this? 

I've put off a long trip I was going to take (Virginia to Massachusetts) because of leaks. I've been eliminating them one by one but this is something new I discovered. 

[casper50]

Joe I bought mine new off of Ebay about 5 months ago.  He had them listed at $120 I offered $85 and he bit.  1946 -48 MOPAR DODGE DESOTO CHRYSLER DOOR HINGE PILLAR WEATHER STRIPPING MOPAR is how he had them listed.

Edited June 21, 2015 by casper50

[casper50]

here's a set included in the door weatherstripping.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Door-Weatherstrip-Set-for-1946-1948-Dodge-DeSoto-Chrysler-2-Door-/221363140991?hash=item338a45797f

 

for a 49

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Door-WeatherStrip-Set-for-1949-1950-Dodge-DeSoto-Chrysler-/321035474883?fits=Make%3ADodge%7CModel%3AWayfarer

Edited June 21, 2015 by casper50

[JerseyHarold]

The former webmaster at oldplymouths.com approached Lynne Steele about tooling up for repro's, but they didn't think the market warranted it at that time.  Blueskies (Pete) mentioned several years ago that he used some sort of GM weatherstrip on his A-pillars that worked pretty well.  

[Joe Flanagan]

That's what I'm thinking about: some kind of weatherstrip on the A-pillars. Casper50, thanks for posting the ebay link. Those don't resemble what was originally on my car, though. For what it's worth, I did save the metal pieces that held the original weather strip but I doubt I can make them work with new rubber.

[DJ194950]

Joe check out on the oldplymouths.com website-- In the "body" forum the first post that is pinned, there are several methods/sources of other brand of parts and how they get installed.

 

Good luck,

 

DJ

[Joe Flanagan]

When I got my 49 Plymouth, the only weather strip around the doors was the piece that screws to the jamb and the piece that attaches through slots in the bottom of the door. Does anyone know if that was the original arrangement for a second series 49 Plymouth? There was no weather strip on the tops or sides of the doors, but I don't know what had been done to the car when I first got it. I'm wondering if it originally had weather strip glued to the top and sides of the doors, though it didn't look like any had been there when I got the car. 

I found the rubber that Pete Anderson used to seal the door posts on his 50 Plymouth but it looks like the only way to install it is to do it either before the front clip goes on or before the doors are attached. Trying to do it with the doors and fenders in place looks like it's going to be pretty much impossible. I'm not removing any doors or fenders, so I'll have to figure out another way to do this. 

[Young Ed]

Yes I believe you should have something around your doors

[suntennis]

Lots of good fixes for this area. I am doing a 52 car and have yet another approach. There is a metal strip that the original rubber seal was attached to that is secured with 5 screws. Using this metal all the old rubber was removed and new rubber will be attached. Found in catalog from Restoration Specialties in the street rod weatherstrip section a part called Solid Rubber Hoodlace with part number 990003. The shape is like the original rubber for the door seal but is not as thick. I used two different thicknesses of stick back rubber tape to attach the molded rubber to the metal and as a spacer between the body and the metal. Looks like it will work fine. Can take a photo if desired. I have attached all the rubber to the metal, but maybe the metal strip is not needed.

Edited June 25, 2015 by suntennis

[Joe Flanagan]

Thanks, suntennis. Unfortunately, my metal pieces are rotted into several pieces. 

[suntennis]

Take a look via online catalog of the rubber mentioned and see if it would work without the metal by attaching the rubber to maybe a 1/4 inch thick piece of adheasive backed rubber tape.

[Joe Flanagan]

OK, thanks. I'll check it out.

[Joe Flanagan]

Today I discovered that water is actually not collecting in the hinge pockets of my car. I pulled the kick panels on both sides so I'd have a better view. Using a pen light, I found that it is actually dry in both places. There's even some dry sand from sandblasting sitting at the bottoms of both hinge pockets. I believe it was the angle I used the first time and the way the light was that made me think it was wet in there. So that is good news. I could see that a small amount of water is seeping past the fender bolts, so I put 3M glass bedding tape beneath the washers and bolted them back down. With my head under the dash I could see a few places where light was coming through from the outside and I sealed all those holes. One was something I never considered: The place where the brace for the dashboard passes through the firewall. It doesn't seem like any water is getting in around the wiper posts, but I'll be testing that soon. Still struggling with small leaks around the bolts that hold the belt trim on beneath the rear window. I didn't actually use bolts there but ribbed plastic anchors for modern interior door panels. 

[Joe Flanagan]

So I finally managed to do this. As I said, the metal backers for my weatherstrip were rusted into pieces. I was able to salvage the most important part of each side: The top, which has a curve in it. Then I just cut a pair of strips out of 18 gauge sheet metal, each one 3/8" wide. I welded these to the original pieces to get a full length metal backer. I fabricated tabs(where the screws go) out of sheet metal and welded those on, too. Then I used contact cement to attach some rubber to each metal strip. Very close to factory and they work very well. 

[casper50]

photo's Joe.  lol

[Joe Flanagan]

Here's how it turned out. The rubber is from Advance Auto Parts, a generic, adhesive backed weatherstrip. I used contact cement to affix it to the metal strip:

 

[casper50]

Looks pretty good.