I dare you...
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 3,789
Likes: 1,694
From: Summerville SC
I dare you...
I dare anyone to come up with a worse project in a '78. Replacing the cheap plastic rear window trim clips. Whoever that engineer was should have to do this job 3 or 4 times. Car is a project and I am finally getting some serious things finished up. I needed to replace some of the clips around the rear window and after much searching, and thinking, and waking up at 3 in the morning I admitted the fact that you have to pull the window. Pull a potentially $1400 window to replace $30 worth of lips. I had an guy... really, had a guy who installed a front windshield at my house for $250 a few months ago. I asked him to come and pull the rear window so I could do the new clips and then put it back in. I was practically begging him but no go. I guess he was afraid he might break the window. I told him I expected that to happen and it would be on me, but he still wouldn't do it. SO today I pulled it out and began the cleanup. !/3 finished. Now I just have to clean the glass and put it back in without breaking it. Where is that engineer...
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 3,789
Likes: 1,694
From: Summerville SC
Agree with that project. When I did mine the motor AND dash were out. Not too difficult doing it that way. I just can’t understand why another design wasn’t considered. But I guess this is only a problem from 78 to 81 so no one worried about it. 
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 3,789
Likes: 1,694
From: Summerville SC
I could have done a few of them with the glass in place. Some of them I could get out but could not put the new ones in place. I thought about mixing u.p some epoxy but didn’t want to take a chance of it not holding. This has been a long time project and I am about to start putting carpet in and my experience has been that there is always time to do it right (any job) the SECOND time. And now I can put the carpet and the rest of the back together with the window out, which will make my old aching back happy.
Race Director
Joined: Mar 2016
Posts: 14,302
Likes: 8,106
From: Napa Valley California
Try getting the rear window defroster motor out of a 73.
Lots of four letter words go flying around with that one.
I might have even come up with some really bad five letter words!
Lots of four letter words go flying around with that one.
I might have even come up with some really bad five letter words!
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jul 2019
Posts: 2,261
Likes: 1,981
From: MA/NH Seacoast
I pulled the rear glass off my 78 to install new clips, then re-installed with butyl tape. Wasn't that difficult. The glass is much stronger than you think. The delicate glass is the windshield.
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Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 3,789
Likes: 1,694
From: Summerville SC
The rear glass is pretty stout. I have the butyl tape coming next week. I am.actually lookin* forward o putting the sunshade back in and getting some speaker brackets made up while standing up before I lay down the carpet and then getting a helper to help me lift it up.
Pro
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 721
Likes: 105
From: hernando fl
the window does not need to be removed to change the clips , on the two bubblebacks i painted all the clips were changed with the window in place. over the years i have changed broken clips on several others. it can be a challenge but its doable. early on i decided hell would freeze before i would pull the window to change them and figured out a way to do it. i put a how to video on my old facebook page. the page is long gone but if the video survived a computer crash i'll put it up here
Thread Starter
Safety Car
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 3,789
Likes: 1,694
From: Summerville SC
Thanks for all your support. The clips broke because they were old and brittle. Tries a few different types of tools but by, th time I got the trim off bout a third of them had snapped. And I did manage to get a few out but on the bottom edge ( where most of them had broken) there was only about 1/4” clearance between the window and the car. On the top edge there was about 1/2”. Rather than spend a lot of time replacing the broken ones, while all the time worrying about breaking the rest when putting the trim back ( after a paint job) I thought it would be best to tackle it all at once. And Lou, thanks, I need all the luck I can get. Butyl tape scheduled to arrive tomorrow, got to finish making up some speaker enclosures ( this is so easy being able to actually stand upwhile making a template) then we go for the glass. 