Last night I did a test fit of the new front windshield weatherstrip on my restored 74 Dart Sport. A piece of advice for anyone looking to do this. Get a second set of hands!

As I was pushing the lower section of the rubber into the weatherstrip channel, I noticed two tabs on either side of the channel. What are those tabs for? Do I push the weatherstrip under the tabs? Those tabs are part of the cowl yet are peeled back to allow you to look in the cowl area. It seems like water could enter in these tab areas.

As I was pushing the rubber along the sides of the windshield opening and the top of the roof rail, I noticed the new vinyl top comes to the edge of this (descriptive term in the body service manual). The shop that did the restoration/painting glued the new vinyl top in place. I know that sealer in the fence area of the weatherstrip needs to be applied to install the weatherstrip. Will the location of the vinyl to the edge of the fence area interfere with the weatherstrip sealing? The vinyl completely cover any metal on the fence and common sense dictates the weatherstrip would seal better to the metal than to the vinyl. Should I trim back the vinyl? All the new reveal molding clips are screw through the vinyl into the body.

Last question. apparently the restoration shop did not know how to remove the lockstrip and the old weatherstrip. He must have ripped the old reveal molding clips/screws out of the weatherstrip channel. All the screw holes have been widened out so that the new clips/screws will not fit (hole is bigger than the new screws). Anybody handled this problem before? Do I just use larger screws to install the new clips or do I need to have somebody do more body work to repair the larger screw holes?

Anybody out there with windshield weatherstripping experience? I really need to know how this new weatherstrip should be installed before I allow a glass shop to install it and not know what they are doing. Thanks for your help.