 Smokey
Senior Site Adminstrator
Posts: 17447
Age: 75
Loc: "Small town USA"
Reg: 12-06-99
|
01-17-06 04:46 AM - Post#854951
Thought this would help a lot of people on this as it's one of the most asked questions.I want to thank Steve (67SS427) and Mike Domoracki (55Redragtop) for this well written
FRONT AND REAR WINDOW AND TRIM REMOVEL
Here's some more detail on the trim and windshield and back glass removal. First remove the wipers, then the wiper bezels. Get under the dash and with a flashlight, look in the side curve area on each side and you will see a nut on each side. Remove the nuts, which releases clips that are holding the lower stainless down on the side curves. Then back outside, grab the lower stainless in the outer curved area and carefully pull it up. It will bow somewhat and will pull from under the edge of the corner moldings. Once it is free of the corner molding, pull the molding outward toward you and it will slide off. Once you have both lower moldings off, you can remove the corner moldings, because now you can get to the screws on the corner molding clips. They will be rusty no doubt, but you can get them out somehow. Remove the rear screws of the corner molding, and pull the molding down and off the car. That will reveal a screw that holds the side of the upper molding to car's windshield pillar. Remove that screw on each side. The upper stainless remains in the windshield rubber until you remove the windshield. Now from inside the car, after removing the interior garnish moldings, use a razor knife and cut the rubber lip along the top and sides. You can carefully push the windshield out at this point and should be able to avoid breaking it. Then the upper stainless can be easily removed from the rubber. On the backglass, remove the corner moldings first by getting inside the car and pulling back the corners of the windshield rubber and looking for a small nut. Use a 5/16" nutdriver or socket to remove the nut on each side. Push on the stud from inside which will push the corner out so you can grab it on the outside and pull it off. After both corners are removed, use a clip removal tool to remove the long stainless. You can get a clip removal tool at the parts store. It is shaped like an arrowhead on the end and slips between the stainless and the rubber. You slide it along till you hit one of the clips that holds the stainless on. The point on the side of the arrowhead slides under the side edge of the clip. You lever the tool to the side a little which pulls up the clip and releases the stainless at that clip so you can pull the stainless loose. Once loose at that clip, slide the tool to the next clip and do the same until that molding is free and can be removed. That's the proper way to do it but, often the clips are rusty or weak and the stainless will pull off before you have to release all the clips. Sometimes you can even pull the stainless off without the tool, but you have to be very careful not to bend the stainless or it won't fit good when you want to reinstall it. Now that all the stainless is off, you can cut around the rubber lip and lift out the backglass.
THE INSTALLATION PROCESS.
FRONT GLASS
Warm up the gasket by putting it in the sun or in a heated room. Works better when warm, since it's more flexible. Put the rubber on the windshield. There is an extra groove in the rubber gasket that is where the upper stainless molding is inserted. This groove originally does not go all the way around the rubber. It should be just along the top and the sides(only on top on a convertible). T&N gaskets are made properly like that. However some other repro gaskets I've seen have a groove all the way around. They'll work, but avoid them if you can. That groove needs to be centered at the top when putting the rubber on the glass, so the groove winds up the same length on each side.
Now install the upper stainless and center connector into the groove in the rubber. Some WD40 applied to the groove helps the stainless fit in the groove easier, so open the groove and spray some in there. The stainless has a flange that has a lip on it. When installed properly, you can feel the lip pop over a ledge that is made inside the rubber groove. The stainless should fit flush with the rubber and not stick out. It needs to be centered, so it is the same length on the sides.
Now, lay the face of the windshield on a CLEAN, soft surface, like a thick blanket or carpet. Install a rope, like 1/4" clothesline or drapery cord, in the rope groove. The rope needs to be longer than the groove so you can leave several inches hanging out on both ends where they meet, after the rope is installed. I like to have the ends of the rope on the bottom of the windshield and tape them up to the inside of the glass with masking tape.
Now sit your windshield assembled unit upright.
Now put your caulking around the body opening. I like to use 3M #08509 Bedding/Glazing compound that comes in a tube to be used with a common caulking gun. PTI E-708 is another of the same kind of product, if you can't find the 3M. Run a good bead, about 3/8" diameter, around the body opening, close to the corner where the body flange turns up. Or you can use 3M strip caulk, laying several strips wide down around the opening, which is similar to the original way. If doing it this way, warm up the caulk, since cold caulk makes it harder, just like a cold gasket is hard to do.
Sit the windshield in the opening, sitting the bottom so the rope groove sits on the body flange in the middle. Center the windshield side to side as best you can tell, since at this point, it is not close to being in. With someone inside pulling the rope, the person on the outside holds the windshield down in place. As the inside person begins to pull one end of the rope and the rubber lip is pulled over the body flange, the outside person pats on the glass with his clean open hand. The outside person follows the rope as it is pulled and patting the glass down. When the rope gets around to the stainless along the sides and top, the outside person needs to pay special attention to keeping the stainless embedded in its groove by holding and patting on the stainless, so it doesn't pop out while the rope is pulled. Pull one side of the rope up to the side and then go over and pull the other side up to the same point on that side. This will keep the windshield more centered during rope pulling. Then continue pulling the rope up one side and then the other, and across the top to the center, and finally, the other end of the rope to the center. The inside person needs to have a hook type of tool available to help the rubber lip go over the body flange if the rope doesn't pull it over. The outside person has been pounding on the glass during this and the glass should sit in well, with the upper stainless fitting nice, even and flush. The inside person pushes the rubber lip over the flange good all around the w/s on the inside.
The ends of the stainless trim should be close to lining up with the holes in the windshield post(a-pillar). The holes can be lined up by putting an awl through the hole in the end of the stainless and then into the hole in the a-pillar and pulling them together to line up. The WD40 in the stainless groove will help it slide a little. Now you can screw down the ends of the stainless with the proper short small flathead sheet metal screws. Don't screw the ends of the stainless down all the way tight to the body though. The corner stainless has to slip over them, and you can't do that if the upper stainless ends are screw down too tightly. The stainless corners with their extended clips are installed next. The forward extensions on the clips are screwed to the body. Then install the lower stainless, being sure to use some caulking to seal the clip holes, especially the 2 where the clip studs go thru the body cowl, or it will leak there.
You may need further instruction about the lower stainless and wiper bezels, but that is enough to get your windshield in the car.
REAR GLASS
The first thing you will need to do is locate all the stainless retainer clips that are crimped to the pinchweld lip the back glass rubber channel slips over. There should be about 20 of them. They will go where the very inner most metal has a notch. You can find the notches by running you finger along the inside of this lip. Take hammer and drive the clip down over the lip so the long part is pointed out. Make sure the little teeth on the underside of the clip are nice and sharp. These clips hold the outside stainless trim on the body. If you don't have them then you can not hold the stainless in place. So they are a must. Clean all the old sealer around the lip and put new strip caulk just like we did the front winshield.
Take the gasket and place it around the back window in the same manner we did the front. Inatall the rope and all so that the rope goes all around the seal. Overlap the rope on the bottom of the glass. Now set the back window and gasket and rope into place making sure it is equally spaced all the way around. As we did on the front pull the rope out and make sure the gasket is pulled over the lip all the way around. The stainless will now be installed by aligning it up to the body and gently push it under the clips. The bottom two have a small center connecting clip that must be slid onto one of the moulding first and then the other slid into it. After the bottom two are installed do the top long one the same way. The last items are the 2, 90 degree, corner clips. They just push thru the hole and a small nut is attached on the inside. I like to have someone hold the corner clips in place as I tighten the nut so they will pull the trim down and fit into the body corner just right. I also like to put extra sealer around the clip stud to keep it from leaking.
Again, Thanks goes out to Michael Domoracki (55RedRagtop) and Steve F (67SS427) for there time and effort on this
'67 427 Chevy C-10
'79 454 surburban
'89 454 1 ton dually
'03 V-Star 1100
In Memory of CT's Mike McVeigh and Ron Schrapp (aka rons56) |
|
Gain extra benefits by becoming a Supporting Member 
