'53 Hornet Sedan Door seals and Weatherstripping

ShaneStone1964

Hello again, Gentlemen.

We've come to the realization that a portion of our weatherstripping around the doors either aren't correctly installed, or maybe need to be totally replaced. The copious volumes of water gathering in each floor pan was our big tip-off. We are looking to replace it all, but the manual diagrams and few photo's that I've found don't make the proper configuration as clear as I had hoped. I found a forum conversation from back in 2011, but some of the referenced photos weren't visible any longer. If any of you have illustrations or photos of a correct set-up that you could share, we would be very appreciative of any help you can give.

Thanks in advance!

shane

kamzack

If your front floors are taking on water,  there is a drain tube under the dash way up in the very corner of each side. If those aren't there you will get water under your feet. I discovered these tubes when I had f

all of the front sheet metal off.  It's a metal tube coming out of the lower outside corner of windshield opening into the cab. There needs to be a rubber hose connected to it and goes out through the side of the cowl.

   Hope this helps,

    Kim

 

Jon B

Are you sure you have all the correct seals around the doors?  Wildrick's should have all of this for sale.

Also, Hudson offered thin metal plates that were screwed to the front edge of the front doors, which "bridged" the indentation that occurs where the hinge leaves are bolted to the door.  This provided a nice flat surface against which the vertical seal could mate.  This is the vertical rubber that runs up the front jamb (where the hinges are).  I think the area under the plates was filled in with a sealant.  This was one place where rain got into the car after the rain ran along the tops of the fenders and down through the joint between the fenders and front door.  That used to cause a lot of rain getting on the floor, and also behind the door upholstery, where it discolored the fabric.  Do you have those plates on the door?

ShaneStone1964

Thank you, Gentlemen! 

Kim, the tubes are intact and in place. I'll try them out to make sure they are actually open and flowing soon.Thanks for the heads up.

Jon, I do not have the thin metal plates and have witnessed water seeping through the hinge plate seams. So automatically there is a problem.

I also noticed that one cowl-door seal is missing and the other is loose. So that's another issue I'll need to address. It looks like the door-to-door jamb weatherstripping is not what I've seen on Wildrick's site and other places. That is why I was looking for photos of the correct weatherstripping configuration. So I can verify that it is or isn't correct.

Thanks for all your sage advise.