Paint and Body T-top weatherstrip problems, what's right what's wrong

LX Dave

5 Year Member
Jul 2, 2017
239
181
53
1987 T-top LX is what I'm working on.

I ordered the weatherstrip kit for '87 and '88 Mustangs from CJ Pony (300 bucks) and am having some serious problems with it. It's looking like this car is supposed to have the older kit ( I'll explain that more throughout this).
On the A pillars, the aluminum seems to be too short towards the bottom as the weatherstrip is molded to accept that piece another six inches..and there's three more holes below the aluminum strip. Pic below, holes circled in red.
20180520_144429.webp


Or are these holes for the plastic pins that go through the weatherstrip and into the body? There are no holes for doing this in the weatherstrip I currently have.

I went to the scrap yard yesterday and pulled all of the t-top related trim and retainers off two cars (one was a '84 and I think the other was a '82, there were no '87 or '88 t-top cars there). The older cars had the three retaining pins in this location. I'm wondering if I have an early '87 and they used up the older weatherstrip before going to the new style.

Also, where the rear top weatherstrip meets the lower, I can't get it to line up at all.

Here's the front retainer I am currently trying to use. The only reason for trying this one is it was on the car when I got it. Problem is, this car was apart so many times by previous owners, I really don't know what is correct for it.
20180520_145730.webp


Here is one of the '84 retainers with the plastic shim that goes behind it
20180520_145744.webp



*** Would any body know if I can use the early weatherstripping on this car because judging by the three extra holes on the A-pillar, that's what it needs.

Here's a couple pics of the older weatherstrip on one of the cars
20180519_125508.webp
20180519_125517.webp


Right now I'm stuck on what to do. Do I order the old weatherstrip and take the chance of not being able to use it or keep fighting with the newer style that seems completely wrong? I believe the car had the newer style on it when I got it, but nothing lined up at all. Again, don't know if it was replaced with the wrong stuff once before. Another thing, the correct glass stops I had to hunt down for the door glass were the ones that looked like angled brackets, not the complex cast style like the verts had.
 
I'm wondering if the trim didn't get mixed up with convertible trim/rubber. the vert got two different doors, ones like yours and ones with the mirrors mounted to the door skin, they all started out as regular doors.
 
Anything is possible with this car. It's put up a good fight so far trying to get everything factory correct again.

Did some more investigating and found out the older style retainers with the plastic spacers and the newer style are basically identical. The newer style has the spacer built in. When comparing, they are the same. Still wondering just what style of weatherstrip this car is supposed to have.