1970 Mustang interior trim question

[machoneman]

I need to replace the inner window beltline weatherstrip on my Mach 1. You know, the glass wiper that's stapled to the removable inner door panel. On all the OEM's I've seen, the staples appear to be much larger than anything that would fit in my staple gun. In fact, they appear to be longer than the norm and made of round wire as opposed the flat wire. Does anyone know if these are special staples and requires a special gun?

[jayb]

If I were you I'd forget about the staples and just put the strip on with some flat head Phillips sheet metal screws.  That's what I did on my Mach 1 and my Shelby clone, and it worked out great.  The screws I used came from McMaster Carr:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#tapping-screws/=ejnugo

[sixty9cobra]

I used aluminum pop rivits

[machoneman]

Thanks Jay and Sixty9. Good ideas as I'm not a slave to the OEM installation method....especially since I could not image how to easily duplicate the factory method     

[thatdarncat]

I haven't tried it on the window strips, but similar staples are used elsewere and I've found if you're carefull removing them they can be reused. They may be available new from somewhere like McMaster-Carr and you can install them by hand - drilling tiny pre-holes. Ford probably used a special tool with a backing plate ( like a desk stapler ) where a regular staple gun doesn't have anything to form the bend. And yes, this is tedious to do.

[machoneman]

Thanks thatdarnedcat. I'm still mulling over which fastner to use, although I am leaning towards the aluminum pop rivets as I have the tool and heck, if I live long enough (hah!) I may need to drill them out for another set of panels someday!