Now that I'm stuck at home with not much to do, I'm going to tell you how I renewed my T-Top seals. No OEM parts are needed for this. (Please excuse the pollen on the other T-Top.) Note: My T-Tops are non-CJB. I'm not sure of what differences there are in CJB T-Tops.
To do this repair, you will need the following:
Precision Parts Weatherstrip Seal UWS 135-25 from JCWhitney. Direct link to the product is
here.
Metro Supersoft Camper Shell seal or something similar. This will be used for "P-seals", and it's important that it have a sealed edge. I first tried making P-seals out of some kind of weatherstrip with exposed foam on the edges -- it deteriorated in the hot sun in about a year.
Black edge trim (as used on car doors, etc.).
Black RTV and flowable "runny" window seal RTV.
This picture shows where the seals and edge trim will be used.
To begin the job, park your car where it won't get rained on. This will take a while.
Remove ALL the old weatherstipping and seals, including the P-seals.
I didn't do the P-seals until after I did the weatherstrip, but it may be easier to do them first. Cut the camper shell to an appropriate width, peal off the protective paper on the adhesive side, and press it in place.
Cut one end of the weatherstip seal so that it looks like this. There is metal in the lower part, but you can cut between the metal pieces.
Press the weather strip seal into the channel by the roof opening, starting with the prepared end. This drawing shows the right way to install the weatherstrip. The prepared end needs to be glued in place with black RTV, bent as shown in the previous picture labeling the seals, and held in place with tape until the RTV dries. When you get to the other side, cut and prepare the other end and glue it in place.
When the weatherstrip is pressed into place, it will look like this from above. (And yes, I stood on my seat.)
When the RTV holding the ends is dry, apply a bead of the flowable RTV as shown in this diagram.
Press the edge trim in place as shown in the picture above labeling the seals. Put your T-Top back on, and let it rain. It shouldn't leak. You will have to push down on the T-Top to compress the new weatherstrip, in order to latch it down.
A final tip: If you live in a hot climate, coat the top of the weatherstrip with a very thin layer of powdered graphite. The weatherstrip may stick to the glass when it gets very hot in the sun.
