At some point in our lives we've all had an old car or truck whose window felt and weatherstrip caused us much consternation. While we cruise the boulevards at speed, there's a constant wind whistle, varying in pitch according to how fast we're traveling. When rainwater leaks around the window frames, that's another troublesome feature of a worn-out ride's weatherstrip. Having to use Bengay on the elbows every time we crank the windows up or down gets to be a drag. We'd rather get tennis elbow from playing the sport than from cranking on our windows.
CCT associate publisher John Barkley purchased a '74 Chevy C10 Stepside from a Texas rancher in early 2005. The pickup had the original straight-six in it and was a solid driver, so much so that John and his son drove it home, from Texas to California. Since John's astute purchase, he has accomplished much in making the Chevy a reliable daily driver. Another article in this issue details how he lined the cab with QuietRide AcoustiShield insulation. In this story, we'll show you how easy it is to replace your truck's window felt and weatherstrip. Despite the fact that John had never performed such an installation before, he accomplished the work in a little over four hours' time. This isn't difficult, but like most hobby hauler tasks, it requires patience and perseverance. Watch Mr. Barkley show off his handiwork with his emerging hot rod hauler. We'll testify here and now, John didn't throw one tool or curse at all--a testament to his patience and perseverance.
John's '74 Chevy Stepside has a street-credible stance--and lots of oomph from the 355ci Chevy V-8, to the tune of 440 horses--but it needs some serious attention in the cab. The next photo will reveal his challenge. |
The interior is a prime target for customization. We'll attack the door panels today, in an effort to renew the window felt and doorframe weather-strip. |
By following his Haynes Repair Manual for Chevy and GMC '67-87 pickups (PN 24064), he began by removing the armest. |
After taking off the window crank, John detached the door-trim panel. One can use a door-trim removal tool or a flat-blade screwdriver for this simple step. |
With a Phillips screwdriver, he removed the three-window vent retaining screws, after rolling the window down the entire way. |
John judiciously consulted his Haynes Repair Manual to figure out how to proceed. |
Once he had loosened the inner and outer panel screws, which are accessible through the hole at the rear of the lower vent pivot, he began to turn the vent-window assembly 90 degrees. Doing so should allow him to guide the assembly up and out of the door. |
By using his trusty flashlight to ensure the vent assembly wasn't catching on anything, he continued to coax the assembly out of the door. |
Success! With the vent-window assembly removed, John inspected it. Though worn, the channel rubber was still serviceable. Since he had the new rubber weatherstrip from LMC Truck, he'll replace the crusty old stuff with new a bit later in the story. |
Brimming with confidence after making such quick work of the vent window, John attacked the windowpane. |
Almost out, the pane proved to be quite a pain to remove. The bottom scissor roller was interfering with the window channel. John painstakingly persevered and removed the glass. |
He uninstalled the inner door handle next. |
In preparation for removing the rear window channel, John loosened the lower window-channel bolt. |
The upper window channel retaining bolt is located in the doorframe's jamb. John removed it. |
Removing the rear window channel revealed that the lower bracket of the window channel had broken free from the channel. Originally it was fastened to the channel with pop rivets. John had wondered what caused that window rattle. It would need to be repaired. |
The lower bracket is supposed to fit to the rear window channel as such. Rather than pop-rivet the bracket back to the channel, John opted to weld it. |
Jason Scudellari, the Primedia Tech Center manager, kindly agreed to weld the bracket back together. By sanding the bracket and the window channel, he prepared the to-be-MIG-welded surfaces for the weld material. |