I got a set of cat whiskers and it appears that they are stapled in.
has anyone tried this or have a tried method?
Are you saying the cat whiskers you "got" are regarding your original parts or they are new re-pops?
Not sure how the 68 cat whiskers attach, but the new cat whiskers I received from Van's did not have any staples in them like original had in them.
Since the re-pops don't have the staples, what I did to make the new re-pops work was first, gently pull the staples out of the door card.
Besides the staples not being on the re-pops for the 71, there are other noticeable differences when seeing them side-by-side.
FWIW, I have heard some have riveted the new cat whiskers in place.
Not wanting to rivet anything into my door panel in fear of wrecking it, and without any other way to attach the new whiskers securely with the staples or press-in clips seen in the picture above, after cleaning the aera of the door panel, I used the shoe repair adhesive, Shoe Goo. (an old trick recommended by
@Xenon )
The new whiskers turned out to be a nice fit, and the Shoe Goo is still working fine.