I am having some windshield weatherstrip issues. The weather strip seems to be sinking into and out of the top channel of my '61 towards the inside of the car. I am not sure when it was last replaced but certainly not in the last 6 years that I have owned the car. I recently moved from Virginia to Miami and it certainly is hotter down here. Could the heat have something to do with it? I know nothing about this topic. Is it possible to pull it back through the channel and apply some sort of adhesive to keep it in place?

I have heard stories about the difficulties of taking out the windshield. I am not sure I can or want to tackle that, partially because I only have a one car garage and not much work space. I appreciate any input or suggestions.

 

I am a C2 guy but I believe there are some threads on here about window frame flex on C1's. I am sure some one with this problem will chime in soon.

 

Ttt

 

Maybe this is a optical illusion. But if this is a signal that your upper frame is pulling from the glass, it could be caused by a soft top that is too tight.





As a experiment. place masking tape along the glass at the edge of the rubber. Attach your soft top loosely, then latch the rear decklid latches.

While viewing the masking tape on the glass, begin to latch the header latches......slowly. See if the frame begins to pull from the glass. If it does, you will see the separation between the tape and the frame. If it does this, stop latching.

Rich

 

I have the same problem ,,, no soft top installed yet . but does it every time with the hard top,, ive even tried to adjust the latch to just snug up,, with no luck
I have no idea what causes it,,, just a guess though,,, maybe broken tabs ??

 

Although it's been six years since I had a new canvas top installed I was warned by the upholsterer not latch my new top at the rear for a while and actually had my glass installer run a little sealer at the edge of the weather seal so it wouldn't come out and it has worked great with no issues.

 

Different car but has the same issue - when I fit the soft top to my Cobra replica, it's tight enough that it pulls the upper windshield frame and glass bedding tape up on the glass a little bit. It's not as bad once it sits out in the sun for awhile and warms up and stretches. I do suspect you are dealing with something similar.

 

Both front and rear softtop latches are adjustable. Do as rich suggests and see if too tight a top setup is displacing the frame; if so maybe you can reach a compromise by adjusting the latches to where the top seal is good but the frame isn't moving around.

IIRC - that car is very original and may have the old pot metal windshield pillar tabs; don't know if those are broken if it would cause this particular issue - but worth checking. If you can "rock" the windshield frame fore and aft without the soft top up then that could be contributing. Also, IIRC the vinyl top on there was new when you bought the car. You really, really want to give that top time to stretch out in the Florida sun before you latch everything up if its been in the storage well for a time (they shrink). Usually, its best to put the top up and latch the front (leave the rear unlatched); let things cook in the sun for a day and then lightly latch the rear latches (just hook them; don't snap 'em all the way down) and after another few hours in the sun you can fully latch the rear. It shouldn't be super hard to do so. If it is, then you could be well be displacing the frame up front.

Worst case - now that you are down here with the rest of us; you have a world class restorer a couple of hours north of you in forum member 'rich5962'....

 

Thanks for the input! I haven't had the soft top up since I have been in Miami. The car got here about about a month ago. I did notice that the top was up when it came off the auto shipping truck, but I didn't notice any problems at that time (the car was in VA for the winter and it was a very cold winter). As I said, I am not sure how old the weatherstripping is but it's not cracking. It is fairly hard, though.

 

Well, as much as I dreaded taking off the windshield, I had no choice. When I did, I found both windshield post tabs broken (no surprise). I have had a frequent passenger as of late (of the female variety ), and I suspect when she goes to get out of the car, her left hand is grabbing the windshield frame and pulling. I first noticed the weatherstrip issue and the frame pulling away from the glass on the passenger side, so I am thinking this is the root of the issue.

I used Rich's guide (http://home.comcast.net/~richmz/site...llation_Part_1) for this project, and it was a huge help! I have everything disassembled, and have sent the windshield posts and door posts to Virginia Vettes to be re-chromed and I am going to have the stainless polished. Unfortunately, it's a waiting game now for the posts to be completed. Dick said 2-3 weeks after the tabs are repaired.

The channel's were a mess, filled with a ton of silicone or something similar. You can see in the pic below that Bubba caked-on the silicone over the broken tab in the bottom channel to help support it. It took me forever to clean all the crap off the channels. I decided to paint them to protect them from rust.

 

I was afraid of broken tabs, but join the club. Many of us had broken tabs.

How yours happened is interesting. But don't tell her that.

After the new machined tabs are installed it'll be much stronger and she won't break them anymore!!!

 

I suspected it was the tabs back in post #8. I can honestly say, I've never had a passenger grab the windshield header bar to get out of my car -- and my top is down a lot. I usually give a short 15 second lecture on mounting/dismounting my cars.

Basically, you sit in the seat with your thighs pointing out the side of the car; you swivel into the seat to face forward one leg at a time (you can do both legs if you are a female wearing a skirt - or not, I prefer the girls do the latter) lifting your shoes well clear of the sill plates. Getting out is the reverse. Use of the grab bar is permitted in both maneuvers.

Nothing, but NOTHING, goes in the package tray to dent the molecule thin aluminum dash insert

 

Frankie, we gotta talk! I didn't know you were Scottish?

 

I could just say you weren't looking hard enough...
but, yeah, OK, ya got me dammit, I've edited my post

 

Back on topic - you REALLY need to assess the health of your dash pad now that you've gone this far. If you even think its a bit tatty now is the perfect time to deal with it.

One windshield pull every 10 years or so is plenty !