Vent window weatherstrip

[Raymond Compton]

Yesterday morning I started with the project of installing the new weather strip for the wind wings (forward vent window). I had pried all of the old, hard rubber out of the molding and drilled out the rivets holding the rear vertical strip. It looks to me that it is best to install the large rubber piece that covers the bottom, front, and top of the opening first and then install the rear strip. The first question that I have is: is that the best strategy? The large rubber piece fits in to a channel riveted in to the frame. Well, it actually does not fit easily and that channel piece is riveted to the frame similar to the rear vertical strip. Should I drill out those rivets, remove the channel, and insert the rubber in to the channel and then rivet the assembly back in to the frame? Adam DeRosa had mentioned that he had used Pop rivets to attach the rear strip. Careful examination seems to show that the factory also used Pop rivets and then either ground them down or used a rivet set to flatten them so that they do not hit the vent glass. Another option might be “flush on both sides” Pop rivets. I see that I will have to grind the shape of some of the heads to fit in the rivet recess in the window channel if I install the rivets from the channel side, which appears to be how Avanti did it. The larger "holes" in the channel for the rivet heads, which go against the frame piece are not all centered on the frame holes. How about installing from the seal side? The Avanti manual calls for 3/32x1/8 rivets which I would guess are normal steel "tinner's rivets." If using Pop rivets, exactly what size and type of Pop rivet should I? There is a fastener specialty shop on the way to the body shop that is working on the Avanti and I should be able to get whatever I need from them. Since I would like to avoid reinventing the wheel and am new to this type of project, there is no detail too small when it comes to help and suggestions.

As always, any and all help is greatly appreciated.