Tailgate glass guides weather-strip. - Warning: The following is extremely boring - only of interest to wagon owners in middle of a rebuild:
I have not installed these on the car or tailgate yet, but they are ready to go.
1) The material used:
Rigid Channel Division Bar - This is the same material used for the front door glass - snaps into the stainless channel behind vent window. These are sold in "pairs" and are 30" long. You will want to buy the less expensive "generic" divider bar that is not pre-machined with slots and holes for the door application. One "pair" will do the entire tailgate area with 3" to spare.
5/32 (qty 16) rivet. I could not easily find the OEM type so I used some stainless pop-rivets with 1/4" grab. These were a bit too long to allow a nice peen - I trimmed them a bit.
2) The pair of guides inside the tailgate was straight forward. These guides consist of only the Division bar (14-1/2") and two brackets.
3) The upper guides mount to the body and guide/hold the glass in its "UP" position. These were installed in much the same way with the following notes:
- Cut the new Division Bar (Mine was 14-1/2" but use your old one as a guide) - set aside.
- Drill out the rivets (4) from your existing piece and remove the two brackets.
- Carefully mark and drill the holes (4) in your new 14-1/2" Division Bar. I inserted a thin piece of wood into the channel to support the glued on felt during drilling.
- Install the two brackets using your rivets. I didn't have a rivet gun narrow enough to get down into the channel so I used a rod held in my bench vice as the anvil and started the peen using a punch, then graduated to a small peen hammer.
- The felt didn't appear to be glued very well to the U-Channel. I took the extra step and used epoxy to glue the last 1/2" of the felt back onto the metal channel. I didn't want this felt to peel off during use.
These may be confusing instructions - I'm guessing the below pictures are all you need. Good luck.
- These uppers do not have brackets, they mount to metal strips that screw to the upper body. Paint these your interior color before assembly (not the Division Bar).
- Division Bar was cut to 14" (NOTE: my original bars had evidence of the felt being longer, folded and glued to the back of the metal channel. I'm assuming this was intended to keep the glass from peeling the felt off of the backing U-channel as the glass enters from below. I did the same by taking a small screwdriver and carefully loosening some of the felt from the end of the metal channel, cutting the metal bar with care, then using epoxy to adhere the felt to the inside and where it folds to the outside. I temporarily pressed in a piece of wood to hold the felt to the inside while the glue cured.
- Snap the reworked Division Bar into the holder strip. I used a razor and shaved the felt/epoxy fold to allow easier installation. The holder bar is actually slotted which allows this thicker end to insert with ease.
- Drill holes for rivets (4) in each Division Bar using wood strip and a backer.
- Rivet (4 per side) - peen these guys very flat. When installing, there is a rubber strip with clearance holes used to back these. If the rivet sits proud of the rubber strip, clearance issues.
Mine wagon is an early 1963 - this may not be the same as earlier or later models. I believe some models use regular glass run for the uppers. As with any project, check your application before plowing forward.
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