Outer door weatherstrip/fuzzies

[Knucklehead]

1970 Norwood car. Have owned it 52 years, so I know it's original. Got it painted last fall and have been slowly re-attaching/replacing parts. I bought a set of #9612536/37 door outer window weatherstrips/fuzzies about 25 years ago. At that time, the parts book showed them fitting all 70-81 Camaros without the wide the chrome edge. Unsurprisingly, they are not identical to the old ones.

They have a wider rubber flap against the glass (not a problem), but they each also have two extra fuzzy-covered rubber pads, a few inches long each, riveted to inside of the unit. These push the glass quite far toward the inside of the door to the point that that the window won't clear the two fuzzy-covered guides (that also hold the upper door trim in place) on the inner side of the door. The glass binds so badly between the new pad and the old guide that I'm afraid I will break it.

In the photo, the original strip is on the right, and the new one, with one of the extra pads showing, is on the left. Has anyone encountered this before? My inclination is to remove the extra pads. After all, the originals didn't have anything there.

 

[Knucklehead]

Nobody responded, so I am assuming that no one has run into this problem before. So I will offer some speculation as to why the genuine GM replacement outer door weatherseals won't fit my 70.

To review: my 70 has three "plates" (GM speak) bolted to the inner top of each door. The front one is just a hanger for the top door trim, but the back two also have a fuzzy guide for the window. The original outer door weather seals are plain as shown in the above photo, but the replacements have extra pads that push the glass toward the inside of the door so far that they bind badly against the rear fuzzy guide.

The 1965-1972 Chevy parts book partly correctly described my car: Two #8762078 hangers, and four #9826685 fuzzy guides. BUT it says that the plain hangers go on the rear of each door, and the fuzzy guides go on the front. My unmodified car is the reverse. Either the parts book is wrong (not unprecedented) or my car was assembled incorrectly.

The 1965-75 Chevy parts book lists them somewhat differently. It only shows two of each type for each car for 70-72 models (if so, was it the middle one that got eliminated?), but then only lists two 9826685 guides for the front (and none for the rear) for 73-75 models.

My speculation is that the outer window weather seals for the 73-75 models were modified by adding padding, and that at least one of the inner guides had to be eliminated to prevent the glass from binding. The parts book should have continued to list a plain hanger for the rear for 73-75 models, but errors in the parts books are not unknown.

Would be glad to get feedback, corrections, and/or suggestions about how to reassembly my 70.

 

[70-camaro]

Having the same issue but haven’t been home to check but I think my outer sweeps have the same 2 or 3 inch long fuzzy on them. Windows are to tight to roll up.

 

[RickM]

My new ones came with those fuzzies. My original (or at least what was on there when I got the car) had the same fuzzies. If yours were never there then you will probably need to adjust the window to compensate for the new part. Mine was an 81 so maybe things changed over the years and yours never had them.
You know how aftermarket parts are they say they fit 70-81 ......... yeah right.
I would try to adjust the window if you want to keep the new part as is, its not such a bad procedure.

 

[Knucklehead]

RickM-
Thanks. The replacement sweeps I have are GM-made, bought back around 1990 when they were still available. But as you said, they're listed for 70-81. I can't adjust the window to solve the problem, as the wider sweeps push the glass so far to the inside that the inside guides can't be adjusted far enough back to compensate. The glass literally won't fit between the two.

The solution seems to be to either replace one of the inner guides (probably the back one) with a non-fuzzy hanger, or remove the thick fuzzies riveted to the replacement outer sweeps. It's possible that there's a Chevy service letter or service bulletin article that describes what has to be done to fit the thicker sweeps to the earlier cars, but I haven't tried to find it.

 

[Twisted_Metal]

I’m pretty sure the inside hangers, for the door panel, should only have the “fuzzies” on the rear two.

 

[Knucklehead]

Thanks. But did they always have two with fuzz? I'm gonna hafta replace the back one with a plain hanger and/or trim the replacement sweeps to get them to fit my 70.

 

[kenny77]

The front hanger is just there to locate the upper panel. The middle and rear one have the fuzzies.

 

[Knucklehead]

The front hanger is just there to locate the upper panel. The middle and rear one have the fuzzies.

Yes, that is the way my car was built. But the wider GM replacement outer window sweeps push the glass so far inboard that they won't squeeze past the rear fuzzies.

 

[kenny77]

I had to bend those bracket things that hold the fuzzies I think I gave mine a couple hamner whacks to bend them to the right angle. Off the car of course.
It's all part of adjusting the window. They have some inward and outward adjustment to them, but not enough.
You could drill out the adjusting slots on them or the door.
That back one is critical to your window adjusting. Without the velcro fuzzy on there you'll scratch the glass