Door fit

[Tom P]

My 62 Ranchero leaks water in from the door seals. In checking the problem out it seems the door jamb itself is the issue. Door seals are original, and still soft and not torn. But there is a gap at the top corner where the seal rounds the back edge of the window frame and the body upright pillar and top horizontal rail makes a square edge. I tried welding a blob of filler to give something to seal against but this should not ever be needed. It still leaks and it appears another 1/4" of fill is needed! Or raise the door up making the back edge body lines a bunch higher than the quarter panel. Anyone else have issues like this? And yes i know the seal bends inwards , it has nothing to snub against. IMG_1205.jpgIMG_1204.jpg

[Luva65wagon]

This is actually an issue with the doors. These sedan/Ranchero/tudor wagon doors are not flat across the top, but actually start to flow downwards at the back. Have not studied a sedan, but maybe it was to accommodate the sedan roofline and they were OK with it on the wagon/Ranchero. The rear of the upper part of the door seals were made to extend a bit taller back there to fill that gap. Very obvious on new seals. As the hinges sag and the rubber dries out and shrinks (though it may not yet be brittle) it pulls away. New seals and checking the hinge sag, if any, on the door hinges will resolve this.

Edit: I missed the photos. These are not factory seals. They have molded front edge and this corner, as shown in the image. Yours looks to be some generic "door seal" replacement.

[Tom P]

These are not factory seals. They have molded front edge and this corner, as shown in the image. Yours looks to be some generic "door seal" replacement.

I think my picture isn't very clear because the seal is bent inwards. The corner is more square than it appears. I have a spare door and it has the same seal. It looks like original but maybe not, car/truck had been repainted even though the jambs aren't. Sedan doors getting used for the low volume Rancheros and wagons makes sense. Another problem is the level of the body posts in the door jamb. On the passenger side. the upper horizontal pillar is a good 3/16" deeper inset ... and all have original paint on them. It hasn't been hit, just not exactly put together by swiss watchmakers.

[Luva65wagon]

Tom, the factory (and reproduction) seals have a pre-molded rear-upper corner. It raises the sealing surface above the door frame upper/rear to cover this gap, which is the way all sedan/2-door wagon/Ranchero Falcon doors fit. I've put about a dozen of these on so far and all are like this - and need this molded piece to seal correctly.

Also, there should also be a pre-molded piece that goes across the front edge of the door as well. This piece transitions from the window frame section downward to the front door-skin pinch-edge section.

[Tom P]

I will have to get new seals. Need the beltline ones anyways... ones i got are actually for an Aussie Ute which has shorter 4 door doors.

[Tom P]

Met a guy I used to work for 45 years ago on the weekend. I worked for him restoring cars, and he tells me that in the 70's aftermarket weatherstrip came like that, not molded . He'd have to cut them and miter the corners because that's all that was available after Ford obsoleted them.
It was fun swapping stories like about the time the three carb 57 Olds J2 convertible "got away from me" when the steering wheel came off. I was driving it to the walnut shell blasters in bare metal, no doors, no top, no glass, no front sheetmetal, no trunk lid or bumpers... or nut holding the steering wheel (other than me). I gave it a bit of throttle at a light and the steering wheel pulled off sending me and the Dairyland crate i was sitting on flying againgst the top well. In traffic!

[Luva65wagon]

Oh for sure Tom, I remember those days. I'm sure there are lots of older cars on the road today that have no re-pop parts made for them and you gotta make due with what you can find. The downside is often issues like you have where Ford knew of a problem and designed the part to fit. The "universal fit" stuff was all you used to get; when I had my 56 F100 Panel I installed and reinstalled a couple sets of that type (they never fit right and would eventually peel away. get pinched, tear) until someone, like Dennis Carpenter, finally molded the correct stuff. I think those seals were on it when I finally decided, after 28 years of ownership, to move it onto a new home.

On the driving on a crate, when I built this truck (the 4th time) I drove it around a lot on a milk crate... but never in traffic!

[Tom P]

Not only in traffic but with an RCMP car coming the other direction (right in front of the old Oakalla Prison). I assumed i'd be going into that prison and for some odd reasson the cop never even stopped me even as the Olds went vering towards the curb with me crawling up the floor to push the brake pedal by hand! I stopped the car and pulled the milk crate back up front and when I sat up the fuzz was 50 feet ahead and two cops staring at me. Fun times for sure. I doubt kids nowadays get such breaks.