Who has used TopCat Whiskers? bonus if 71-74

[YY1]

So they are supposed to be THE quality piece.

What were your experiences?

The quality of the materials looks great.

Here's the but-

The outside edge (there is a groove in the middle of the horizontal surface) nerest the glass is wider that the stock part that came off.
this puts more pressure on the glass and bows the rubber up more also causing a bit more friction when rolling the window down.

Also the screw hole spacing leaves a little to be desired.

The factory skipped every other screw.
If you do that with these it is horribly bowed in both the vertical and horizontal planes.
If you put in all the screws (#6x1/8 black treated pan heads that I have yet to find replacements for) it helps but is still not smooth like the factory look.

Some holes, even the elongated ones, are not in the right places.
I can probably further elongate them, but come on.
Others appear to be too high or too low.
Due to the small size, the risk of making them too large is there if I try to fix the location by enlarging them. Not sure there is any other way, though.

If I can get them installed 'correctly", I think they will look good.

Middle pic is all screw used.
Bottom pic is factory screw install.

Pics really don't capture the up and down issues.

 

[hanks73340]

I just bought a set of Tomcats for my 73. I bought the SE set which are better. All of the holes did line up for me on the rubber side. The felt side I ended up using adhesive since there are no holes in the felt. I have seen where guys would drill holes anyways so they could screw the felts in but you also notice the holes in the felt side of the glass. Here are the pics after I installed them.

 

[Thrashingcows]

YY1...those look horrible! I feel your pain.

I have done a few sets of sweeps on 1st Gen cummins trucks and there are some horrible products out there. 1st Gen's use a spring clip to hold the sweeps in place and a number of manufacturers have decided to use cheap tin instead of the proper spring steel and when you install them the clips bend and stay bent causing the sweeps to pull out every time you roll the window up or down.

 

[YY1]

Those SE parts look totally different.

Interesting.

 

[SureGrip]

I bought a set for my '74 but haven't put them in. I installed a set I got from Classic, and they fit like yours did (all over the place), so I bought the Top Cat ones.

 

[Chargerjase]

Wow, they look terrible. I have some in my parts that I have yet to install. They look beautiful in the box, but fitting them might tell a different story.

 

[dadsbee]

Come out of a sealed bag?? Did my '69 Bee and '70 Bird, both fit like a glove.

 

[hanks73340]

YY1....here is a pic of the package product number for the Topcat Whiskers I bought. These are for the SE models which I found to be much better than the base models.

 

[fatecaptured]

I used a window seal kit from Classic Industries. They worked out pretty well. Idk the manufacturer, but made in the USA was on the box.

 

[YY1]

Ordered from Detroit Muscle tech.

I trust those guys.

I just noticed today, that they put so much pressure on the window from the outside that when rolling it up, the window ends up inside the quarter glass seal and then binds.

 

[69bfan]

What type of car are you working with and which felts application did you order?

 

[YY1]

73 Satellite and ordered the 73/74 Satellite kit.

 

[69bfan]

Thank you.