I need the "beltline" stripping for the Electra. It's the strip that sits against the window to keep moisture out of the doors. I called Steele and asked about their $150 kit. It is only the outers and is only the glue on rubber. I refuse to pay that much for some rubber strips that won't even finish the job. That brings me to my question. Does anyone know of a generic rubber strip that will work in place of the original window sweeper strips? I have the chrome and the glue so the rubber strips are all I need. Factory correct doesn't matter to me as long as it keeps the moisture out.
Nobody has made their own window sweepers yet? I know someone out there has otherwise they wouldn't sell the stuff.
Here's what I'm dealing with at the moment. As you can see from the white residue it's been taped up for a year now.
For the skylark I bought PUI's from Steele (i think) and they where junk...I asked for help on the Board and JW send me a set of REPOPS, which fit excellent.... Someone has to supply the right window felts for your car as i have seen them on the bigger cars such as wildcats. etc? Gord
Back at it. I ordered from Steele just to get it done and they are backordered with no eta available. So does anyone have any window sweeps from a 71-76 C-body available? The fronts are also the same for the B-body so I'll take those too if that's what someone has. I need all 4 windows but I'll take what I can get at this point. They'll be from a Buick Electra, Olds 98, Pontiac Grand Ville, Cadillac something or other, or a partial set can come from the Buick Lesabre, Chevy Impala, Pontiac Bonneville, Olds 88. For anyone who's used the generic window sweep rubber and cut it to fit please let me know which size/pattern you used.
Years ago before internet was popular, you could get 'generic' sweep material and door seal ''stock footage' (the material used for the main straight areas; no ends) and some cars entire weatherstrip sets through JC Whitney. Don't know about current availability.
They still have it. As does amazon.com and even some of the local parts stores. Problem is that it comes in different thickness and height and width and if you guess wrong you wasted time and money. I'm almost tempted to just get the rubber strips that lowes sells for mounting under doors.
Still at it. Had to cancel the overpriced order from Steele since they don't seem to make it anymore (the manufacturer says they can't get the materials) JC whitney sells the Fairchild brand which comes with a steel core. That means I wont be able to make it curve at the rear of the back doors like I need it to. Does anyone happen to know of a parts car with good sweeps? Does anyone happen to know where to get some universal sweeps without the steel core in it? Worst case I'll see if Steele has any universal stuff without the steel core, but I think I've dealt with them enough for a little while.
Are you 2 or 4 door? When I did my 75 lesabre convertible, It was a pain to find these, especially the rear quarters, nobody makes the inners for those! From my research there are two types, one with a stainless bead that runs the length (outers and visible) and one with no stainless bead, just rubber that stainless trim goes over top. I have a bunch of these left over from restoring my 2 lesabres but shipping would be a bugger!
It's a 4 door hardtop. The B-body stuff (Impala, Delta 88, Lesabre) will work on the front doors but the rear doors wont be long enough. Also the 4 door sedan that generally comes up for the Impala parts is a post car so I don't think any of the pieces will work right
How severe of a bend is it at the back window? You MAY be able to take a good sharp set of tin snips and cut several slits, about 3/8 inch apart, almost to the lip seal area in the area where the arc would be, and carefully bend it an arc using a can or hard round tube slighly bigger than the arc, and PULL both ends like in a tug of war to keep it under tension. Put a little weatherstrip adhesive on the cut areas, and back it with vinyl electrical tape on both sides. The area is covered inside the panel an never seen.
Still at it. The measurements I took from the originals appears to be an odd size which is hard to track down. I'm still on the lookout but it's beyond frustrating. Anyone have any info they could share as to who steele outsources to? According to them I'm more than welcome to place another order and at that point they'll have some made up for me within 3 weeks or so. Of course if you look at the dates on this thread you'll see that they're liars when it comes to what they have and when they have it. If I can track down the company that's doing the actual production I can try to get it from them directly.
