[MARTINSR]

Today I was putting the hood bumpers on my American. I had a few fenders and the parts car I was able to get the 8 that I needed from. They reproduce them and I will order them but in the mean time I wanted to get something in there. These rubbers were VERY hard from age, I mean like plastic hard. A number of them busted like glass when I was very carefully removing them. Before I put them back in after painting I washed them with very hot water and dish soap. I let them soak in that hot water a while before and after washing them. I then poured out the water and put boiling water right out of the tea kettle in the bowl and left them in there a while. When I installed them they popped right in like they were brand new, they had gotten that pliable in that hot water.

This trick works for any rubber part, window rubbers, mouldings, anything that needs to be bent around or perfectly formed to something, it works miracles! We are talking new parts too! Wing windows rubbers for instance, it REALLY helps in the installation.

Brian

[richard stewart 3rd]

Hi Brian

Rich

[timothale]

In the old Mustang factory they made a lot of heat lamp stands that they could slide a bin of rubber parts under to heat and be easier to install, grommets, seals, hood bumpers, windshield and backglass weatherstrips etc.

[tomget]

Good tip Brian. Thanks

Tom

[MARTINSR]

Originally Posted by timothale

In the old Mustang factory they made a lot of heat lamp stands that they could slide a bin of rubber parts under to heat and be easier to install, grommets, seals, hood bumpers, windshield and backglass weatherstrips etc.

Makes sense, interesting. I learned of this years ago in the seventies when I worked at my sisters detail shop. We did a lot of cars for a few nearby dealers and one of the services was those rivet on mouldings that were so populer. Yes, I am one of those jerks who drilled holes down the side of cars that you guys are no restoring! Anyway, these mouldings had a rubber insert. After the aluminum was riveted on you cut the rubber to length and slid it onto the aluminum mouldings. You could easily see the ones that were done wrong, after a few months they would shrink and the rubber would be too short for the moulding leaving a little gap at the end.

We had a hot water heater that was turned up real HIGH and we half filled a five gallon bucket with this hot water. After cutting the rubbers an inch or so longer than the aluminum moulding we put them in the hot water for a while. You could pull that baby out of the hot water and stuff it on the aluminum mashing the too long rubber in to fit. It was very easy being it was so pliable. When it shrank a little with age it still fit well.

But putting these rubbers in without the hot water......it was a MUTHA.

Brian