so this was the part of my comet i was most worried about when i bought it, and after a heat gun and scraper, i was right the guy had the rails almost filled with bondo. Behind them is some of the worst rust on the car, they're patchable... but im starting to wonder, could i just cut them off? It would be less work, and while I do like them... I wouldnt be distraught to not have to deal with them when painting and future care. I do have pics, waiting to use another comp that has the camera cables on it.
A few people have removed them but I would think your metal working skills need to be up there. There is at least 3 layers of metal at that seam. You would have to cut out and weld a small section at a time.
thats about the same condition my comet is in as well. the rails are just packed, top and bottom with calk. if you decide to fix them or remove them all together it will probably be the same amount of work.
Mine were repaired by using Rust Bullet. had a few, small rusted through places. The man who painted my car saw what a good job it did on my trunk and decided to experiment. He carefully wire brushed and ground down to bare metal, completely removing all the factory seam sealer and trying to keep as much of the original metal as attached as possible. He placed duct tape on the underside of the rail and applied Rust Bullet. Two coats were applied. The duct tape was removed and two more coats of Rust Bullet were applied to the underside. He sanded smooth and even. He also applied some bondo on the underside to be able to shape it to match up with the rest of the rail. He applied seam sealer and they were painted with the rest of the car. He also used Rust Bullet to fill unused trim holes in the fenders and doors and well. He tried to knock the filled holes out with a hammer and chisel and couldn't. The Rust Bullet is there to stay. Let me add that if I was doing this repair now, I would small pieces of fiberglass in the Rust Bullet and saturate it. Here's a couple of pics before the paint was applied...
results look pretty good. Ill have to think about it think there would be any ill effects from removing the rail?
Some have shaved the drip rails. I chose not to. If you drive it in the rain, you will get soaked when open the door. The water is not redirected away from the door. There have been some threads on shaving or removing the drip rails. Do a search. It is not an easy job. You better have good metal skills.
There was a caulk (or sealer) material in the seam from the factory, so it's possible it wasn't the work of a prior owner. Even so, if the rust is going crazy in the seam I would vote to remove the rail to properly fix the rust. Not a lot of people have done it but I think it looks pretty good.
as of right now... i get soaked when i drive in the rain anyway, without opening a door... lots to fix....
I cut my drip rails off, and parking the two cars together the wifes and mine it is worth the work. If you do decide to remove them there is some things you should know. There are a couple of directions you can go. the drip rail is basiclly a U channel, if you remove all of the U there will be a huge gap from the roof line to the window frame. You can just remove the outer and lower edge of the U this will give you the look and not create the gap. This also drects the water from rain or washing to the glass. The other way directs the water to the seal. In my opinion you do not need to weld the seam because the drip rail is still there just the outer and lower edge have been removed. Once the filler has been added the seam will be sealed. Now if you have a rust problem at the seam (roof, drip rail, and door framing) then you should cut it out and weld in the repair. My 2 cents As for rain.........well it doesn't rain much here and I will probably get wet anyway............um well becuase it is raining and I don't have an umbrella. I do want to test the two cars just to see how much more I will get.
OK I got to drive the car in the rain yesterday, well it sucked. Since I don't have A/C or even vents hooked up yet I got wet. The window rolled up and slowly making a small opening the water comes thru off the A pillar. It would spray me on the face partially because the mirror deflect air and the other from not having a drip rail to redirect the water. Would I still remove them..............yes
i found a junk yard maverick with perfectly good rails, i may see if they'll let me cut them out and patch them in... either way im cutting mine out
Tom that is pretty funny, not that that happened but the way you tell it. I would have thought the door seals would have kept the water out. I wonder if the way Travis is doing his mirrors would work alot better. I have had a set of mopar mirrors forever that I was going to do the same thing with but those S-10 mirrors look alot better.
That was at freeway speeds and it was funny. I was thinking that dam hawko was right. Without the rain I like the position of the mirror, kinda like having a vent window. with the window all the way up nothing comes thru but, it was 104 degrees that day and well I needed air flow. Once the A/C is working it won't be an issue.
