Wind wing reseal

[chuck]

I replaced the wind wing seals on my Avanti yesterday.  The ones I got from SI three years ago and had to take the doors apart to install failed after 2 years.  I tried the Dan Booth solution this time.  It didn't require pulling the door apart but was still a bit of work.  The finished product looks good-I hope they last for a while-he claims they will.

chuck

RQB-3553

[WayneC]

How about elaborating with some words that describe what the Dan Booth method is, as compared to what the SI approach is? I know a picture is supposed to be worth a thousand words, but some words of comparison/elaboration would be helpful to help those of us who haven't investigated to understand why the SI approach failed and why you expect this method to be better.

[chuck]

The Studebaker International wing window dividers are duplicates of the original design with rubber cast over a metal bar.  They must be riveted in place just like the original divider seals.  This requires disassembling the door and pulling out the wing window assembly, drilling out the rivets, placing the new seals in place and then riveting them in place.  I have about 85 of the rivets left since I had to buy a box of 100.  I did this about 3 years ago-it was an all day job.  They looked good and sealed the wind wings but did not last because the rubber is too soft (not the right durometer hardness).  You can see the lip that seals against the wind wing completely broke off the rest of the divider in one of the photos of my initial post.  Dan Booth (owner of Nostalgic Motors) has come up with a replacement that doesn't require disassembly of the door.  One of them is shown in the pictures below.  They appear to be a harder rubber compound than the SI seals-he claims they are the same as the originals and are the correct durometer hardness.  To apply them you have to cut the old rubber off of the metal bar that is riveted to the wing widow frame-in my case now the SI metal bar.  This took a couple of hours with a razor blade-tedious but not hard.  You then glue the seals onto the metal bar with Gorilla Glue and clamp them until it sets-24 hours.  The seals look correct and the wing windows seal nicely against them.  

chuck

RQB-3553

Edited January 14, 2019 by chuck

[mfg]

Deteriorating  front vent window seals are certainly a problem on these Avantis.....especially those cars that are actually still driven!

Thanks for sharing and posting the photos Chuck.....really excellent information!