roju1985

I finished Installing my Al Knock Dash pad and doing and replacing my windshield posts and windshield gasket, for a first time attempt and the highly regarded difficulty of these jobs I am pleased with how they came out. However there is one section where the windshield gasket sits on top of the dash pad where the gasket would not sit flat and created a gap that drove me crazy. The picture is far from great but hopefully it shows it well enough to make you understand what I was working with.


After some investigation it was apparent that the dash pad was sitting just slightly higher than the gasket was on causing it not to sit flat. I tried to heat the gasket slightly and see if I could stretch it up in the frame enough to make it sit flush but got nowhere. While doing that I noticed there was an air gap between the lower windshield gasket and the dashpad, and I had the idea that if I could fill the gap that would help push the lip of the gasket enough to close the gap. I carefully stuffed some foam caulk rope in the void ( )
And that fixed the problem!


My question is has anyone else seen this before? My fear is I went wrong somewhere during installation to cause the gap, or was the pad just too thick? Everything else fits
well and on the exterior the lower windshield frame sits nicely on the body.

reno stallion

How much trimming did you have to do? Going to do my 58 soon just wondering how tough it was. Any helpful advice. Thanks

wmf62

the vinyl of the dash pad front edge, without the foam, should go under the lower gasket so that the windshield frame holds the edge in place.

Bill

58horse

On my install, there was enough vinyl, with no foam, that was glued down into the valley that the windshield sits in. If you did not have that extra strip of vinyl, then it looks like the foam was too thick at the edge. Whose pad did you use?

roju1985

I believe it still does. I think the gap is smaller than the amount of vinyl I glued down in the bottom of the valley the lower gasket sits in, if that makes sense...

roju1985

It was an Al Knoch pad, I had about 1" of vinyl around the entire edge that had no foam and I used contact cement to glue it down in the valley the windshield sits in.

On the edge of the pad that follows the contour of the windshield channel the foam was 1/4" - 5/16" thick in the section where the gasket will not sit flat. I thought it was odd during install but never read about anyone having that issue before so I left it as it and moved forward.

wmf62

i'm sorry, I can't picture what you are trying to describe.... all I can say for sure is that the rear lip of the windshield gasket/weatherstrip should not be holding anything down.

however, in looking at my new Al Knoch uninstalled pad I see the front edge is curled upward and I can see it is going to be a bitch to prevent what you are experiencing...

Bill

wmf62

there is the problem...and, unfortunately, there is nothing you can do about it without taking the windshield off and trimming out the foam,,,,

Bill

roju1985

The rear lip of the windshield gasket is not holding anything down, it is just sitting on top of the dash pad.

The vinyl lip on my pad was curled upward as well. Hitting it with a heat gun and working in 16" sections it flipped down without a ton of effort. I was worried about this as well.

roju1985

So on your pad the foam tappers to almost nothing along that edge? Wish I had asked at the time... Well everything installed fine and I'm fairly confident that I have enough of the bare vinyl lip glued down in the bottom of the channel that it should still hold from pulling back. It was just the cosmetic issue with the windshield gasket not sitting flat which I was able to remedy with the foam. Live and learn I suppose as I have no intention of taking everything apart in the near future.

Thanks for the insight.

wmf62

just a comment... and my memory is fuzzy, but I had one of the very first AK dash pads back in 1980, I waited for over a year for him to work out the forming problems he was having with the vinyl stretching out the grain.

I remember the form and the fit to be much better than this new pad, there was no curling around the front edges and it fit perfectly down in the recess without any heating, etc...

I guess that's the problem with getting older.... one remembers the 'good old days'...

Bill

wmf62

i'm sorry for your problem, but your post was not wasted, it has hopefully saved others from the same dilemma, AND, you confirmed that the front edge is curled but fixable...

thank you...

Bill

MOXIE62

Of all the upholstery jobs on a C1 this one is the biggest PITA. The last one I installed was from Corvette America and I thought it fit a lot better then AK. Only problem is the grain on the CA pad was not as deep and rich looking as the AK.

roju1985

Well I'm a glutton for punishment and can't leave well enough alone. Started after work and one hour and a half later the windshield was off. I didn't remove any of the foam but I spent a lot of time repositioning the lower gasket and was able to make the windshield sit a little better and improve the fit a bit, not perfect due to the thick foam on the pad but as good as I'm going to get it. Four hours later it was back together and I can sleep at night.

wmf62

congratulations....

now, come do mine...

Bill

ps: what did you use as a heat gun? is a hair dryer sufficient?

ragtop00

Sounds like you know how to do it efficiently. Going to do my 60 soon. Did you have any special tools that made the job easier? Thanks

Frankie the Fink

Other than a ratchet extension with a wobble joint on it to get the nuts loose on the far end of the windshield on each end nothing special is required.

Now i I have heard of people tying strong thread around the T-bolt threads to pull them through the body holes when installing the windshield frame. I didn't do it though.

roju1985

Biggest thing this time around is just having done it before that sped the process up a lot.

I use a set of these:

I find them to get into weird places much more easily than just a regular socket on an universal adapter.

ragtop00

Thanks
I have a set of swivel sockets and a wobble joint. But... I am not looking forward to this project! I'm not as flexible as I once was and also fatter than I once was!!

Frankie the Fink

sweet !