While washing the car yesterday, I decided to do a windshield leak test by directing the hose at full force all around the windshield frame. Doing this showed that there is a leak between the windshield glass and windshield frame on the drivers side just above the sun visor. This leak along with the discovery last week that there are gaps in the sealant at the bottom of my windshield (https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ield-seal.html) have me wondering what to do. As you can see from the picture I took after taking the inside trim off, the water had been coming in and running under the windshield trim. Fortunately, I don’t see and rust through in this area. I'm surprised that the rust in this area isn't worse than is appears. I’m just going to wire brush that area and top coat it with Permatex Rust Treatment to slow any future rust formation.

Here are my questions for the form members to address the leak. Should I remove the windshield so I can seal it completely? I've read that removing a windshield without breaking it is not a sure thing. The quickest and easiest option is to run a bead of sealant along the top of the windshield frame from the INSIDE the car. My concern with this approach is that I would be trapping water at the top of the windshield frame. The 2nd easiest option would be to remove the stainless steel exterior trim and seal around the windshield from the outside. Thanks for taking the time to read this and giving my your opinions.

Thanks,
Rick

 

Hi Rick,
Here'a a drawing I did when I was working on the damming strip used in sealing original windows.
The problem with doing what you suggest is that you're stopping the water from entering the interior by sealing at the point it's exiting the frame… you're likely not stopping the water at the point it's first getting under the glass.
So what you're doing is a stop-gap-measure and will probably force the water to seek a new way into the interior, or to just lay under the glass.
The first class repair is to remove the glass and re-seal it.
Anything else is a patch. It may work or it may just force the water elsewhere.
You may be able to stop the entrance of water by trying to make a new seal between the outer edge of the glass and the frame. That's what's been done when we see pictures of cars that have very thick sealer along the upper header surface. If that seal fails the water lays under the seal and rusts the header.
So?
Regards,
Alan

 

Thank you Alan. To say that you drawing is useful is an huge understatement. It illustrated what I had suspected -- sealing from the inside will trap moisture next to the frame and promote rust. I'm going to remove the stainless steel trim to see how it looks under there before deciding what to do. Now my question is what is the procedure for removing the stainless steel trim without damaging it? Are is there a special tool that is used to slide between the trim and glass to release the trim?

Thanks,
Rick

 

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Hi Rick,
The 2 a-pillar ss trim pieces are screwed in place. They need to come off first.
First the weather strip retainer needs to be unscrewed. Look at your AIM to get an idea where the screws are. You reach them THROUGH the weatherstrip itself. Once the retainer is off you can unscrew the ss windshield trim.
This releases the ends of the long thin piece of trim at the top edge of the glass. I use a plastic paint scraper to gently pry up the long thin piece in order to release the tabs on the back of it from the clips screwed to the windshield header. Some people use the y-shaped trim tool to release the tasks from the clips but I've not had much success using it.
In any case you must be very gentle and proceed cautiously so the trim piece isn't bent, kinked. or damaged.
Once the 2 ao-pillar pieces and the long thin piece is off you should have a pretty good view of what the windshield sealing presently is…. or isn't.
Regards,
Alan

Here's the retainer coming off first, the trim is still in place. You can see the screws.


Retainer removed ready to remove the trim piece.


Here's the windshield frame cleaned up and ready to have the glass installed.




The 3 clips near the a-pillar ready for the tabs on the long piece of trim.

 

20 years ago, when I bought my '72 vert, I noted the top leaked, and the interior header trim was rusted out but the p/o's had the WS header/A pillars fixed/painted same as the car, no rust showing anywhere.....so new interior trim/seats/door panels carpet/dash all ordered.....I also noted that I had a '73 Grandville convertible that had rain/snow flowing over the WS header into the car, it too had a SS header trim on top.....but my '70 Lemans/GTO convertible had the header top wrapped in vinyl from the factory....it never leaked a drop.....

So I removed all the SS trim and went ape with filling ALL the gaps between the glass and frame all around, in fact the stainless is glued in place mainly by the black RTV that filled up all the gaps before the top bead was put in place a length of black vinyl was sealed into the top gap, and wrapped up/over the SS top trim ALL the gaps are filled with RTV black this project took about 4 caulking gun tubes of RTV Black.....I even sealed around the fenders, took off the wiper door, and sealed in areas you can't imagine.....

drove the car through a hurry-CAINE a couple years later, not one drop......at 70 mph....can't bitch about THAT.....

 

Thanks Alan and MrVette for your input. I'll pop off the trim to see what I'm up against. Hopefully this isn't another one of those "can of worms" situations that seems to occur all too frequently with our beloved C3s.

 

w/s can be removed by a glass installer if it is chip free. l took off the upper trim and found the header was swiss cheese. sides and bottom were fine. the old butyl dries up over the years and rust creeps in. do it right and get a pro to pull it and reseal it.

 

Probably looks like this or more likely worse under the trim pieces.




The fix weld in a new corner:

 

IMHO, you did the right thing to pull the windshield and repair it. You can silicone seal outside, inside or both, but all that is temporary repair and then the extent of the required repair will likely only get larger and delayed. All Good Advice above. I had the same problem in my 68 and 72. I removed the glass myself, broke both in the process; both were old glass. Some say you can get a glass guy to remove without breakage. In my view, you can check ebay and get a new PGW windshield for a little over $100 with a local pickup, forgot the vendor's name, do an ebay search if you are not worried about a date coded correct windshield I think this is a good way to go. I do not know what a glass guy charges, but the dollars for the new ebay glass might be fairly close and then you have new glass. However a lot of new windshields I see, seem to have a small gap in both upper corners between the top ss trim and the glass. You might could fit this out, but you might create other problems getting your top ss trim to fit. I chose to live with the gap. Also, IMHO, a fiberglass repair will probably last a good while, but I think the best way to go is to cut patches and weld or if really bad, weld replace sections, POR15, and then you have the best repair. While you have the glass out anyway, I would think there is not a big difference between welding and fiberglass. I would also wonder if there is a differential expansion between the original metal and the fiberglass repair that might shorten the life of the fiberglass repair. My truck was 120 degrees inside, all locked up, all day in the sun today. That would not bode well for a fiberglass repair, me thinks! Anyway, hope this helps and good luck to you. Common C3 problem! BTW, Both my 68 and 72 had bigger rust repair areas and more of them than yours. My buddy welded in patches, I POR15'd everywhere and then wife and I installed the ebay glass; maybe good for another 40 years?? LOL's!!

 

good idea. T

 

Hi AH,
I just came back to your thread.
Since you have the option to do a traditional metal/welded repair I believe that's the wise thing to do.
The windshield frame continues to be subject to flexing which would make me a bit concerned about the longevity of the fiberglass to steel bond if that method were to be done.
Regards,
Alan