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Fox Body Mustang Sunroof Weatherstrip: How To Install (1979-1993)
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Published on 2013-07-05
A leaky sunroof is a major problem and headache! It can ruin your Mustang upholstery, carpet and many other interior components. Lucky for you we carry everything you need to fix your leaky sunroof. In the video Jmac even shows you how to clean out the Mustang Sunroof Drains to ensure you don't have any draining issues for years to come. Pick up all your Mustang sunroof parts from LatemodelRestoration.com and get free shipping on all parts!!!
While replacing your Mustang Sunroof Weatherstripping and seals you will want to consider replacing the following parts to ensure a long lasting leak free sunroof:
Transcript
Jmac: latemodelrestoration.com is your one-stop shop for all things Fox Mustang sunroof-related. We've got everything from brand-new replacement latches, trim pieces, hardware, stainless clips, to our most popular, the 5.0 Resto Sunroof Weatherstrip kit. Now, this kit includes both the body weatherstrip and the glass weatherstrip. Both of these are cut to fit, and we'll show you exactly where and how later on in the installation.
One thing you're going to want to grab is some Permatex Ultra Black. And that way, you can seal up this glass weatherstrip at the butted ends. While you have your weatherstrip off the sunroof glass, it's a great time to go ahead and tape it up, scuff it, and touch it up with some trim black paint. Let's go ahead and get the sunroof out of the car and get this weatherstrip install going.
Now, to remove your sunroof, all you have to do is start out inside the vehicle. Release your latch. And then squeeze together the two retaining tabs that hold the latch half to the vehicle. Now, with your latch released, you can come outside the vehicle, take one hand, push up on the back of the sunroof, and then wiggle it back and forth to release the forward tabs. And then fully remove the sunroof glass from the vehicle.
Now, this drip channel has all kind of dirt debris and old weatherstrip remnants lying in there. We need to go ahead and clean all that out. I'm going to use a vacuum cleaner and some compressed air to get all of it out of there. Now, on all four corners, you have a drip tube where water builds up and runs down those tubes. Sometimes they like to get plugged up with debris.
And I like to use an old speedometer cable because it's flexible and long enough to get all the way down the tube to force anything out the other end. Now, you just simply take your end of the cable, stick it down into the tube, and run it down until it just simply won't go anymore. Then you can pull it out, and we'll use compressed air to blow out anything that's left.
To remove the body weatherstrip, simply grab it at the seam, pick up, and remove it from around the pinch weld. It should come up pretty easy. Now, you don't want this much overhang on your headliner material, so if your car's in the same situation, go ahead and trim off the excess back to just the edge of the pinch weld.
Now, to install your new sunroof body weatherstrip, you want to start out putting your seam right here at the back. The weatherstrip has a lip on the top. You'll want the lip facing outward, away from the opening for the sunroof.
Now you just slide the weatherstrip onto to the pinch weld. Stretch slightly as you're going around. And just fully seat the weatherstrip onto the pinch weld.
Now that you've got most of the weatherstrip installed, you're going to come down to the end that needs to be cut. Now, a pair of diagonal cutters will get that job done. Just kind of eyeball where the cut needs to be made. And you want to err on the side of being just a shade too long, because you really want these two seams to butt together tightly.
OK. Now here's where the Ultra Black comes into play. Just take a little dab of it, and put it on the face of the weatherstrip where it's going to touch at the seam. That way that seam seals itself off. Butt that seam together, and finish putting weatherstrip on the pinch weld. Any of the excess of silicone that pushed out, you can just dab it around, and smooth off that surface.
All right. You want to place your sunroof on a flat working surface. And grab either a small flat-blade screwdriver or a pick, something like this cotter pin extractor. Me, this is my favorite because it works a little bit easier. You want to come up to the seam of the original weatherstrip, slide it in behind, and then start prying out. And then work your way around the glass until you get the old weatherstrip removed.
All right. With your old weatherstrip removed from the sunroof glass, go ahead and clean everything up. And it's a great opportunity to scuff and repaint the metal trim around the glass with some exterior trim paint. Now take your new sunroof weatherstrip. And with the end that has the overhang over the seam, you want to start at the seam in the metal.
You'll want the flat side of the weatherstrip to be down and the beaded part of the weatherstrip to be up. And with the overhang going past the seam, start pushing the weatherstrip in, and work your way all the way around.
All right. When you get back around to the front here, we want to get our diagonal cutters or something similar. That way you can go ahead and cut the weatherstrip and butt those seams together. First one you're going to want to make a cut on is right there where the top beaded part lines up. And once again, you want to err on the side of being just a little bit long. Come up to the seam and measure out where that cut needs to be.
Go ahead and make that cut. Cut away that excess beaded part. All right. Now you want to go ahead and grab your Permatex Ultra Black, because we want to seal up where these seams meet together. Take a little bead and apply it anywhere the weatherstrip is going to touch at that seam. Be careful what you touch.
Then you can go ahead and slide the weatherstrip into the channel together and finish seating it into place. Go ahead and smooth over any of the silicone that came out. And just let it dry.
Go ahead and slide your sunroof back into the vehicle. Reconnect your latch from the inside. And you're done.
Now, this is a super easy install. It's not going to take you very much time at all. It can be done in your driveway with common hand tools. Not only will it improve the appearance of your Mustang, it's going to seal it off and keep all the water on the outside. Now, for more sunroof restoration parts, check out latemodelrestoration.com.
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