Rear Weather strip help

[scottfab]

Originally Posted by mike100

I gave up on having a perfect glued edge on the rear hatch weather strip and just broke down and used higher density ultra-black rtv to bond the piece into one loop permanently.

fill the voids/ joints with the rtv and then put a piece of ptfe or mold-release soaked saran wrap over the glue right before you close the glass hatch back over it. You can also use the bags that newspapers come in.

I did something very similar but used a tube of bumper repair stuff.
Comes in a tube like RTV but isn't. It's more durable than RTV.
I then cut an "L" shaped piece of bicycle tire (not inner tube) to insert into both ends of the corner. This give internal support to the corner but is still flexible.
I filled each corner with the black stuff then inserted the "L" shaped piece.
I covered it with a small piece of wax paper before closing the hatch.
When it cured I cut the excess off with a razor blade.
So far it's held up for 6mo and matches the weather stripping. Time will tell if if lasts.

[Blue Flame Restorations]

Loctite makes a w-strip mender. It's a chemical reaction that bonds the two together.

[Corbusa]

where'd ya get the Wilcox from ? $65.00 might be worth my while to shelf one( mine is starting to wear..)

[USAFPILOT]

I got it off the Wilcox website. Also, it went on fairly easy, they make it slightly bigger than the factory one to help it stay tucked down in the corners and to relieve the stress on the corners. I forgot how messy that white goop is under the factory strip...made a bit of a mess but got it cleaned up. so far it seems like 65,00 well spent. Hatch closes easy btw, especially with a light application of dielectric silicon grease.

[rhipsher]

Water just seems to pool up down in the left and right corners were t he weather stripping is. I thought I remember reading a thread somewhere that somebody drilled a small hole down in each corner to allow the water to drain out. Not sure whats right below that. I wouldn't want it to drain on anything electrical

[Scrrem]

Originally Posted by rhipsher

Water just seems to pool up down in the left and right corners were t he weather stripping is. I thought I remember reading a thread somewhere that somebody drilled a small hole down in each corner to allow the water to drain out. Not sure whats right below that. I wouldn't want it to drain on anything electrical

Corvette America sells a rear window hatch drain kit complete with hoses that allow water to drain out of this area. Couldn't get a good link but the part # is: 29812

Rich

[WARP TEN]

Originally Posted by rhipsher

Water just seems to pool up down in the left and right corners were t he weather stripping is. I thought I remember reading a thread somewhere that somebody drilled a small hole down in each corner to allow the water to drain out. Not sure whats right below that. I wouldn't want it to drain on anything electrical

Mid America sells a drain kit but CAUTION! The instructions with it just say drill down through the outside layer of fiberglass then another, about an inch lower. If you follow the instructions there are two risks. 1) you will only drill far enough down to have the drains drain into the interior and 2) you will drill through a wiring harness on the passenger side. I added drains to my 93 many years ago and had no problems; I made sure the drains emptied into the wheel wells. But I think I got lucky back then.
With my 95, I followed the instructions but when the car was washed it didn't drain. Pulled them out and they were bent over and full of the white adhesive used for the weather strip. Turns out they hadn't gone through to the wheel wells. So I tried to drill further. As I was drilling down on the passenger side my parking lights suddenly flashed and the waring bell in the cockpit went off. I had drilled in the wiring loom and scraped a couple of wires. Since the car was going to Marc's a few days later he took the inner carpet off and did them right and repaired the wiring harness which fortunately just scraped the insulation off a couple wires. But now the drains work fine. – Bob

[USAFPILOT]

since it is a fiber glass car I think water pooling in that area is just a nuisance not a problem.