IROC Wagon Project

[ssbrewskyaz]

Sometimes I really only look as far as my back yard to get the answers I need. That’s the nice thing about having a spare car for reference. Not real popular with the blonde but my memory thanks me for it weekly.

So, round bead is the OE style for the sealing strips/belt line/dew sweeps. Now the only question is who has the nicest reproduction?



The shame of it is, the bead is in great shape, the actual wiper part, not so much.



So what do you think a five gallon bucket of all G-Body hardware is worth?



Yeah, I don’t know either but it was damned sure worth what I paid for it. This bucket has two and three of everything. I bought it from a guy that’s parted out El Caminos for the last couple of years. Hunting for the correct bolt/nut/screw just got a lot easier.

 

[Longroof79]

Scott,
The way I look at it, you can never have enough spare hardware...nuts, bolts, speed nuts, etc.

As for the window sweeps, or whatever you choose to call them, our cars take the round bead type. The ones that I purchased a while back were from Repops, which I believe come from Fairchild Industries. The only thing I dislike about them is, that they're obviously cut from a length of stripping, and the ends are not finished off, or rounded like the OE parts...otherwise it's not that noticeable.
I know what you mean about the original sweeps. The old ones that I have, the metal strips are in perfect condition, it's just the actual rubber sweeps that became compromised.

This is the set that I saw on Dixie's site It consists of inner and outer seals.
http://www.dixierestorationdepot.co...id=d74ba7cb-aa3c-4ccf-a9dc-bf318b8f94e1&sz=50

 

[liquidh8]

You've got some great attention to detail my friend, and I (along with others) appreciate the quality pics and the research as you are getting this together. It is certainly helping me since I am a bit behind and will be buying all the same weather stripping and the like for my BOP wagon.

 

[liquidh8]

Did you ever figure out what manufacturer you were going with for the door sweeps? I am in the process right now of getting my order list together so I can get these and the door weatherstripping.

So many choices, I am slightly hesitant to order the ones from eBay.

 

[mikester]

Did you ever figure out what manufacturer you were going with for the door sweeps? I am in the process right now of getting my order list together so I can get these and the door weatherstripping.

So many choices, I am slightly hesitant to order the ones from eBay.

Im following this as well. My wagons supposed to go to the body shop the first week of December.

 

[ssbrewskyaz]

Sorry Guys,

Been busy helping a friend of mine with a wildass truck he's building. 33 Chevy, no bed, rear engine big block Chevy, aircraft themed and somewhere in between a very technical hot rod and a dolled up rat rod.

At any rate, and to Jacks earlier point, the pieces I bought I'm not happy with. As he stated, the bead is fine and the quality is fair enough but they don't finish the ends. So basically, you're left with an open hole about the size of a BB, a piece that looks like it was just cut off the roll (because it was). I'll get some photos, I may very well use a BB to shmooze this because frankly, even as anal as I am, at some point, a point I passed a long time ago, the effort and the worth of the car isn't worth what the cars worth. That's todays voice talking. Next time I work on the car will be a different voice I'm sure. I can still always here the old man sayin "if you ain't gonna do it right, do me a favor and don't do it at all". Well then, I guess that resets things.

The stuff I got is from Repops. Everybody holds their brand close to the vest so a guy can't shop around or compare. I would have gladly paid more money to get a better product but I'm not sure that's even an option. Honestly, I think there's really only a couple different makers or variations of these parts. Or, you have to be patient and hunt down OE. I found a couple but at eighty bucks a piece, and I still don't know if I'll ever find the other two, I don't think so.

So there you go, an update, some tongue in cheek and some veiled sarcasm wrapped up in a neat little four paragraphs! Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone, God Bless Our Troops and God Bless America. ...

Stay Thirsty My Friends. ...Scott. ...

 

[liquidh8]

I think I'll just order what I seen on ebay, since I'll be painting the beading black anyway, for me it doesn't matter.

Thanks for the info Scott!

 

[Longroof79]

I agree with Jim on this one. I was a little disappointed at first when I noticed that the replacement sweeps were just chopped off, and didn't have a finished bead at the ends, but I also painted mine black and it's really not that noticeable.

I appreciate your attention to detail, Scott, but you can't be too anal about it. It's still better than having worn out, brittle, and cracked sweeps. It still serves its function and purpose.

 

[ssbrewskyaz]

I don’t know what it is about this new format but I’ve lost so many posts before they were posted I actually dislike posting any more. Never once had this issue posting on this site previously. I’m sure it’s just me but it does seem odd.

Thought I’d better get something in print before my post sinks out of sight or maybe even out of site. Been working on a friends rod while on vacation and just got it out of my shop. Have since switched back to the finishing touches on the 63 SS. Not sure what the plan is for the 63 but I’m sure it will come to me soon. I’ll post photos of the rod too but I don’t want to torpedo his reveal so it will have to wait.

Honsetly, I’m disgusted with the glass sweeps so the less I work on the car, the less I’ll have to tear apart when correct parts are available. This is so typical of companies that repop parts. First a big company that’s fast to market gets an almost correct part out in commerce and they sell a ton. At some point, a slower to market, smaller, quality focused company releases a part that replicates the original. Yep, it costs a little more but is less than NOS and at least is a reproduction of the part as opposed to a close enough knock off. I’m not painting my parts black so in the mean time I can either pay an exorbitant price for NOS pieces if I can find them or, I can purchase parts clearly made by individuals that aspire every day to be almost correct. In my opinion, if it isn’t the exactly same as the original part, it really isn’t a reproduction now is it?

That all said, that tends to be one of the issues with building a “tweener” car. A car that’s between being able to purchase parts from the manufacturer (dealer) and a majority of parts not being currently reproduced to a high level. I can tell you with certainty that every car genre that’s worthy of restoration has gone through this. Camaros, Mustangs, Cudas and etc, and now you can purchase every blasted part, even an entire new body tub if you choose.


Well enough of all that, I hope everyone has a safe and prosperous New Year. My New Years resolution is going to be to look at every red light as a reason to burn rubber and bang gears again. Hope you alls resolutions are meaningful as well. …

Scott. …

 

[clean8485]

I understand what you're saying Scott. You're quite right about working on the "tweener" cars.
Happy New Year to you. I hope it brings you some good replacement parts for your wagon. I look forward to the updates.