Car is at my buddy's body shop getting painted, and most of the non-paint work falls to me. ....my A and B pillar weatherstrip channels are 30 years old, covered in old fading, cracking powdercoat, old adhesive from the original rubber, and new adhesive from the "new" rubber over 10 years ago. Thankfully no rust as they are some sort of ferrous metal.

My first thought was depending on price, I could just pick up new ones. No one makes em, and those who have NOS want a pretty penny. I found just the A pillars for $200. ...and it was only 1 set, so while I could buy 'em (I'm not) they probably wouldn't be an option for you if you're reading this as they're probably gone. I found a few sets used, and in similar condition to mine, although not quite as bad. Still, if I am gonna get messy, I'm gonna refurb the ones that are already mine, at no cost!

I was talking to Drew in another thread and he mentioned Aircraft stripper, which absolutely was the way to go. Buy the brush on. Spray stuff was worthless.

Basically I got as much of the big chunks off as I could before using the stripper. I did them in pairs and let one sit while I worked on the other. I used various sharp point things and metal brushes! Went through 2 sets of brass and steel brushes. They get so gummed up! That "Dr. Hook" tool was the money maker. It got the brunt of the work. That and the steel wire brush.

Basically just soak 'em in stripper, let em sit, and then go to town. Brushes for the flat spots, hook tool for the "J" channel where the rubber slides in. Dull pocket knife (dull is important) to get the stubborn spots. Start to finish I have about 45 minutes per piece of trim, working on two at a time. Brush the stripper on one, work on the other. Each took about 4 coats of stripper.

For clean up, Rinse to get rid of any active stripper. Goo Gone with a toothbrush gets rid of the "sticky", then dish soap cleans em up real nice! Don't use your current toothbrush as it'll destroy it. I used my kid's since she eats nothing but candy anyway. She won't notice.

I plan coat 'em with POR 15, but at the moment I haven't done it yet. I'll post pics when they're ready to go back on.

Thanks to drew for the parts list. I photochopped em together. ....OH, and 91/92 ARE DIFFERENT!!!!!!! not sure how, but they are. If you're shopping using part numbers...do NOT use these.

 

...I did the "T" bar top piece too...

 

...and don't forget chemical resistant gloves. That aircraft stripper is NASTY!!!!!!!

 

Wow! Those came out nice! I'm really shocked at how clean you got them. The set I have on my project Bird are flaking really bad, and I've got a spare T-bar I need to do too. I wasn't really looking forward to it, but seeing that it's possible I feel a lot better about it now.

Thanks for following up with the results! Hope you'll post pics of them after they're recoated.

Are you going to top coat them with another paint over the POR15? I have heard the POR doesn't like UV exposure. I also wonder since they appear to be stainless? or Aluminum? The POR might not stick! I used POR15 on a few trouble areas on my dirty bird, and while it stuck great to the pitted nasties (battery tray), any areas where I zipped the surface rust off, then applied the POR15 it just peeled right off. Seems like it needs some tooth, or explicit prep to bond to shiny metal.

 

Ya know....I had that thought too. ....the channels are some ferrous metal, and the T bar is aluminum. I've had great success with using duplicolor's self etching primer on bare metal, then following up with rustoleum's professional paint in the silver can. Since I don't actually have rust....I may do this.

 

I still haven't gotten around to doing the weatherstrip retainers around the door, but I did tackle a peeling T-bar. It had shed some rather large chips, but the coating was holding tight in other areas. Didn't really plan ahead far enough to buy Aircraft Stripper. Did have most of a can of "Death in a Can" on the shelf.



Slathered some of this stuff on the stuck areas with a cheap acid brush, and let it sit. When an area started to look like the stripper was evaporating, or soaking in, I applied more. It wasn't especially fast acting, but after about 15-20 minutes the coating started bubbling, and peeling off the aluminum underneath. Things were complicated a bit by old weatherstrip adhesive. The Death in a Can, liquified the weatherstrip adhesive, but in those areas the stripper didn't lift the coating underneath. Wiping the melted weatherstrip gunk off, then applying more stripper, did the trick. Probably had about an hour in stripping the center strip of the T-bar. Would have been easier except the coating under the rivets didn't want to separate.

Since I mentioned trying the Premium Stripper in the other thread (https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/body...-channels.html) I figured I'd report back that it does work.

FWIW.

 

This thread( I know little old) is what I was looking for my 87 needs this done and new door and glass weatherstripping
I thought POR was good with UV rays - what did you do and pics afterwards?

 

POR 15 doesn't like UV without a topcoat. To be completely honest, I'm not 100% sure what I did on these, it's been a few years now. Pretty sure I used POR15, then topcoated with Duplicolor or SEM trim black. I've used both so often I tend for forget. The finish does look like SEM though.

 

Thanks Abubaca they look very nice!! now I've opened the door, now time to get it done. I think the vertical one on B-pillar is the bad on mine will have to take a close look I have new seals for doors and glass

 

What did you use for the foam on the back side of the weatherstripping channel