Was it the first windsheild replacement you had ever done?
Where did you get your glass?
Are there instructions anywhere for doing this?
How hard is it?


I already have mine out since I had to replace part of the frame. Just wandering if this is a do it yourself or farm out job.

 

Ive done this several times with varrying sucess. The one time I muffed up was when I pushed too hard down on the edge of the glass to get it to seal and cracked the glass.

An auto glass place can sell you the pinch weld and some pinch weld primer. The pinch weld comes in a roll and its this square like tacky stuff. When you have the frame and glass all cleaned up you brush on some of the pinch weld primer and let it dry. Put the primer on both the edge of the glass and the frame. Then you take the pinch weld and peel it off the roll as you stick it to the frame over the primed area. Lay it down straight the first time cause it sticks pretty good once it makes contact with the primed area. The backing can stay on untill just before your ready to put the glass on. This allows you to apply a little bit of even pressure to the pinch weld to get it to seal without messing it up by touching it directly with your fingers. I keep calling it pinch weld but in the auto glass buissness I think they call it butal tape. So now that the butal tape is installed on the window frame its time to pull off the backing. After thats done its just a matter of placing the glass on. Highly recomended to have two steady handed individuals to do this. You only get one shot. Once you press it down onto the seal its pretty much stuck. If it goes on ther crooked it will have to be removed and the process repeated. Once you have it stuck in place apply some moderate even presure, pushing down on the edge of the glass to form a tight seal. But not too hard as you could wind up like I did one time and crack tha glass. It sounds really tricky but its not all that bad to do really. Sometimes you can see on the frame exactly where the old seal was so it give you a line to follow when applying the primer and butal tape. If your not really sure exactly where to place the butal on the frame, you could always put it on the glass first then place the glass with butal onto the frame. If you stick it to the glass first, stick it on just inside the edge. Maybe about a 1/8" inside the edge.

 

I did it on the 81', and it was my first windshield install, and I screwed up the first time, broke the glass getting it back out, and did it again, so i guess you could say I did it twice in 3 days. :D I used the urethane adhesive in the caulk gun tube and the first time I didn't have the windshield spaced far enough off of the frame and the trim didn't touch the glass when i got done. I had to make some spacers to go under the glass to get it right so the trim would fit. I think if you go with the tape you don't have this problem, plus it's not quite as messy. You should still dry fit the glass, then put the trim back on to see how much gap is between the glass and trim just to make sure that the tape you use is thick enough to bring the glass up to the right level, or make some spacers the right thickness if you use urethane (I think that's what it is anyway). It's not that bad of a job. I got my glass from the local glass shop. If you decide to do it we can talk you through it OK.


-Justin

 

I took my old windshield out myself (breaking it in the process) and cleaned up the frame. I then had a glass shop come out to my place and install the new one. I figured for $200 it was the way to go. At the time a mailorder windshield was $130+shipping, probably $150-$160 with shipping. Then add a few bucks for the polyurethane. I installed the moldings myself, though.

 

Haven't done it on the vet but have done on a truck, to put the new one in have two people and lay some small rope in the window frame (once the old one is out, put the rope where the windshield is going to set)

Then set the windshield on top and pull the rope (this peels the rubber back) and put the windshield in as your pulling the rubber out. It's a slow process but works.

 

I called around to a few places to get the glass intown so I didn't have to worry about what would happen to it in shipping and found that installed from a local mom and pop glass installer was cheaper than me trying to just purchase and ship the glass, and its better to let someone who does this everyday install it. They actaully sent a guy that had been installing glass for over 30 years and his apprentice. I wouldn't do my own windshields ever again. I've completed one myself in my cutlass but it was a mess and not worth the effort for how cheap it was to have it installed.

 

I agree in part with 442olds.

I had a glass company remove my old cracked windshield and take it away. Then I told them to come back in 3 days. I cleaned the frame, installed new trim clips, painted and basically got everything ready for new glass. Then I called them to come back and install the glass. I stood by and when they were ready I loose fit the pillar and top trim before the adhesive set and they moved the glass around to fit. I figured if they broke it I would not have to pay for more glass..... Big savings over have it shipped to my home! Glass is not date coded, I did not care.



[Modified by KenSny, 5:05 PM 9/15/2003]