Let's talk about door glass rubber

[Marlonius]

Hi All,

I don't purport to be the last word by any means on the installation of Ghia coupe doorglass and popout rubber, but I have a bit of experience and some thoughts. I'm going to put them down here and invite others to expand on them as well as offering better ideas and pictures too. The idea is to capture some learnings here for future Ghia restorers to look at.

So I'll begin with "how I would do it all over again".

1) Install doors and get them aligned.
This means up and down/in and out at the hinges, as well as the striker plate and door wedge guide at the latching side. To avoid scratching the paint, have a helper, and also place masking tape or electrical tape on the edges of the door and its opening.

2) Get door glass aligned to car body.
There are 4 adjustments that can be made on the glass:
• Track Bottom in and out - this pushes the bottom of the track into the space of the door or pulls it closer to the edge.
• Track Bottom front to back - the same adjustment point as above also can pivot front to back and affect the vertical travel angle of the glass.
• Glass Front to back - the 4 bolts that hold the glass assembly to the track assembly go through slotted holes in the traveller and can be adjusted front and rearward.
• Top of glass travel limiter - a single bolt on the forward part of the assembly limits travel of the glass in the upward direction.

Suggestions- make several blocks of wood approx 7/16" (1 cm) thick. These will go between the roof of the car and the glass while performing the alignment. I'd suggest temporarily taping them around the upper perimeter of the opening - the A pillar and roof. These blocks of wood represent the space that will be taken up when the rubber is installed.
Also note the screw hole locations that hold the Aluminum channel against the A pillar and ceiling - the centerline of the glass should go approximately 5/8" - 3/4" outboard of the screw centerlines. It may even be worthwhile to install the blocks in the same screw holes that the channel will use, and mark the 5/8" line on them.

3) With the blocks of wood in place, use the 4 adjustments points until the glass touches them when rolled up. This will require lots of trial and error. If you've marked the lines as mentioned, aim the glass at them.

4) With this completed, it's time to move on to the B-pillar. Install the upper and lower screws, but don't tighten them all the way. The bottom ones can be made reasonably snug, but the upper point can be slid and adjusted against the door glass.

5) With the door glass rolled up, move the top of the B-pillar until it is equidistant from the vertical rear edge of the glass. Tighten the B-pillar screws.

6) Install the Aluminum Channel up the A-pillar and across the roof.


7)Rubber installation - You're going to be tempted to cut the rear of the long A-pillar/roof rubber and the top of the vertical B-pillar rubber at 45degrees. Don't do it! The long piece is thicker than the B pillar piece and a 45 degree cut on each will cause a triangular gap to form. The angles are more like 30 degrees on the vertical and 60 degrees on the thicker horizontal piece. This will require careful observation. Each piece is a little long, so you will get a few attempts. A tip for fine tuning the cut rubber edges is to use a sanding block and approx 150 grit paper.

Once the angles look good at the rubber intersection, the bottom of the B-pillar piece is a square cut so that it goes across the top of the door. The bottom of the A pillar piece should be lined up with the upper edge of the door. The temptation will be to cut the rubber parallel with the bottom of the aluminum channel. Don't do it! The rubber will actually need to be slightly longer than the Aluminum channel, about 3/16".

On rubber: Measure twice, cut once. Duh!

9) Now it's quarter window time. They are fairly straight forward, and can be installed to the car with all the other stuff in place. The vertical rubber on the door glass side of the B-pillar is only slid into place after the quarter windows are done.

[John Moxon]

Great Marlon...pleased you set the ball rolling as it's often asked about and seldom satisfactorily answered. I'm sure others have useful experiences to add to the topic.
_________________
John.
Judson Supercharger Information on The Samba
My 1958 Shorrock Supercharged Karmann Ghia
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[exciter]

very very nice thread and info you did a great job explaing . We are just finiching up a full 66 ghia resto and willbe assembling the car in the next few weeks. Thank you.

[sputnick60]

Oooh and its '66. Perfect for me . Has anyone noticed how the quality of posts have improved of late?
_________________
'66 Karmann Ghia Cabriolet...
'65 Porsche 356C Coupe...
2005 Mecedes Benz C180 Kompressor Estate
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[Ghiaddict]

[runamoc]

I'm doing my first rehab of a Ghia, a '72 sedan, and I'm finding the doors, glass, and rubber seals thru the years of production to be the most complicated thing on the car. This thread, and some others with search, have helped alot even if it's not '72 specific. Now I'm the 'mailing list' for new post on this one.
_________________
Daily driver: '69 Baja owned 44 yrs - Plan B: '81 Rabbit Diesel LS Deluxe - Plan C: '72 Ghia
Yard Art: 2 Sandrails
Outback: '69 Ghia - '68,'69,'70,'72 Beetle - '84 Scirocco, GTI - Pair of '02 Golfs-
VW Wiring = It's just wires

[RossR]

You saved my life ! This is exacly what I needed as it's been nearly 3 years since I took the old rubber off my '71. Please let me know of anything more on quarter windows.
I feel like I need adhesive between the body metal and the thin 'c' rubber on back of the aluminum channel, but it is not mentioned here. what do you recommend?
-Ross

[Ian Godfrey]

Ross, i glue the rubber to the back of the channel, 'cos sometimes you need to move the channel side to side a little to get the window to seal well. Many of the channels have a small slot, not a hole. So window rubber, out loosen screws, tap channel accross with a wooden block (gently), tighten screws, window rubber in, check. Very slow work.
this is when the B pillar is right but the point where the roof meets the A pillar is not.

[Marlonius]

Hey, good to see this thread still around.

If I recall correctly, I contact cemented the rubber to the underside of the Aluminum, but only the lower section. On the '66 the aluminum that goes around the rear perimeter of the vent glass is in 2 sections. I'm not sure about the later cars.

I also used a leather punch kit to punch elongated holes in the rubber under the same holes in the aluminum. It made adjustments much easier, plus I was able to see the screw holes in the body of course.

I should have taken more photos along the way. Next time I guess.

[KarmannMarco]

thanks for bumping this thread guys. I missed it when it was originally posted and this is going to help greatly soon!

Mod edit: It's one of the "How tos" in the Stickies. Always check them first.

[The65ghia]

Thankyou for the insight!

[RossR]

Well there was definately something sticky there that I had to scrape off. I have been assuming a butyl or silicone from origional installation.

[Ian Godfrey]

Ross, I've seen Ghia's 3 ways, ali moulding and butyl, ali moulding and seal, ali moulding and butyl and seal. I wouldn't use silicone though, as it will stick and make adjustment impossible. I don't use butyl 'cos water won't really get in between the body and moulding.

[RossR]

well, thank you. I would have been sure that water would find it's way under. Since there is no 'lip' and the few screws in the flimsy aluminum moulding do not compress the seal. Once I get the adjustments right, I may be tempted to put alittle sealer under the chrome peice that goes on the outside lower sill at the bottom of the quarter window. Here in the Pacific NW we have to battle the moisture constantly.

[RossR]

Yay! I'm done and it works great!
Thank you for this great info. NOW, I have one piece of ruber left, The HINGE PILLAR RUBBER and I cn't figure out how it goes. I cant find a pic that shows it installed. Does it get glued on and lay right across the hinges??!!?
Please help
-Ross

[Marlonius]

Here's a couple of pics of my car. Please excuse the contact cement. Ugh, what a mess. It shows up way better in the pictures than in person!


Upper part with detail of "leg" over top hinge.

Lower part with detail of sill plate.

When you go to glue yours in, start at the bottom and work your way up, doing sections at a time. You'll need to trim the upper part to line up with the bottom of the A-pillar rubber.

Cheers.

M.

[aeschor]

Hey there - can anyone post some pictures of the rubber gasket installation along the rear end of the door, where the door jamb is? My car is currently without any gaskets there and although I have them to install, I'd like to make sure I've got them set correctly.

Thanks muchly, guys.

[1badghia69]

Can some one post a pic of the upper door seal .I'm missing the channel on my 69 an wanna see if I can make it my self on my sheetmetal brake an aluminium coil stock... Has any one tried universal seals from autozone or such an just glued it on with out any channels ?.

[c.j.]

whats the best adhesive to use for this? I used the black 3m weather strip adhesive with no success.

[gotitforfree70]

if you put the 3m glue on the car, make sure you clean the rubber first, put some on the rubber, let it dry a little bit, stick it on the car, hold it down with some 3m painters tape till it dries, no more than 1/2 hour...it will stick. Just did it this week. I scrubbed the rubber with a tooth brush and soap to get the "release" powder off of it so the glue would stick,,,,but it is hard to put it on in stages without making a mess and doing a neat job of it.....