I have been obtaining quotes over the phone. Most a little over $200 for windshield and labor. About half told me I will need the very expensive side molding and have not even offered to quote. Who do I believe here? I have a '74 roadster.

 

The rubber molding along the windshield piller will have to be removed. It is bonded to the piller but can sometimes be removed without damaging it. The windshield can be installed and if the molding comes off without damage then just reinstall it with 3M weather strip adhesive. If it is damaged then order the replacements and install later.

 

You can remove the windshield moldings out first if you are careful enough! It just takes a little patience and a couple of trim tools plus a small phillips screwdriver. You may even save your weatherstripping along the side window if you use a razor blade, but I would suggest you go ahead and get new weatherstripping anyway. It only took me about an hour to get the trim on three sides of the windshield, but remember that the side mouldings are in two pieces..!

The person who responded about damaging the trim molding was either an idiot, or just didn't give a damn about inflicting damage...

Bizzy77

 

It took me about an hour to remove the "very expensive" trim on the front window. After that I painted it and now it looks like new. It's pretty sturdy stuff so as long as you don't just try to yank it off you shouldn't have any problems.

Bill

 

Thanks everyone. Anyone my plan was not to touch it myself. Let the pro's handle the installation. They said a couple of hours. I just did not want any surprises. I have a better understanding now and will be able to voice my concerns to them.

 

http://www.speakeasy.org/~pws/Corvette.htm

 

Majic 84, a big THANK YOU! for that link, I'm getting my 72 roadster back from the paint shop next week and now know how the job needs to be done properly on a windshield installation.

 

No problem man.. I'm in the same boat as you guys - I'm about to undertake this project on my 71 this weekend after I'm done with finals!

 

Guys,

That's my space on Speakeasy and I put that presentation together when I did my windshield so others could see that it is not THAT difficult an undertaking if you are patient and have some help. If you have any questions about it, feel free to ask.

Paul

 

Just be sure whoever does the job understands how deep to set the glass. Just urethane sealer will not get it high enough, you need the spacers. The side and top trim will never sit right if the windshield is not high enough. Don't ask me how I know.

 

You are absolutely correct. I have seen many side molding pieces with multiple sets of holes drilled in them so they can be "adjusted" to compensate for setting the glass too deep. Very bubba! I do go over that in detail in the writeup.

 

Keep calling around. I eventually found a place near me that sold me a PPG tinted windshield cash and carry for $129. It's not that difficult of an installation if you have a friend to help lower the glass in place.

..Or you could trust a "professional" like my father in law did with his Buick a few years ago where the "professional" scraped the paint off the front of the roof along the entire length of the windshield near the molding. It was obvious that he drug the wire used to cut the old seal across the paint. The shop never did own up to the damage they caused and my father-in-law ended up paying for the repair out of his pocket.

Those rubber weather strips will peel off with care. Mine did after nearly 40 years and they were old and brittle. A new pair will run about $50 if you do damage the old ones.

Excellent write-up, PWS69! Very detailed--Nice car too. I'll throw in one more tip that I used which was to use a metallic aluminum tinted silcone sealer (permatex makes it) to fill the small gap between the header trim and the windshield trim. Mine didn't completely snug up flush, with about 1/16" gap in places; probably not noticeable to a non-**** retentive, but it bugged me. I used the silicone to fill the gap and wiped away the excess. Now the header trim and windshield molding look like they are one piece.

 

Paul:
Very nice piece on C3 windshield replacement ... Thank You!

 

You (and anyone who finds it useful) are very welcome. Happy to help where I can.

LemansBlue68 - thanks for the kind words. I too can be a tad ****, but I don't remember having the gap you reference. One thing I feel compelled to state - I learned a very hard lesson about silicone and vehicles - keep them away from each other. Anywhere you use Silcone that contacts steel (painted or otherwise) and it gets exposed to the weather, I guarantee it will rust - starting where you can't see it. By the time you do see it, it's probably just a big chunk of rust....

So, go buy yourself a nice pece of tinted glass for about 100-150 and have fun!

 

Where'd you buy the rubber spacers? Also, could someone take a closer picture of the two trim moulding pieces glued to the pillar posts and how they fit together.

Ex:
A different angle on this picture (maybe standing in front of the car)


I'm curious to see how the Inner (windshield reveal) molding attaches, and am also curious as to how many windsheild molding clips there are that need to be screwed into the frame, and the measurements between each one.

Alright.. so I just found the answer to my clip question:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1253821
but I guess the spacing is whatever the width of the windshield is / 8 ?