Does anybody have a write up on how to replace the windshield/A pillar weatherstrip?

Thanks!

 

Working on it.

 

There is a lot of information on this so be sure to so a search and get all of the different views. When I did mine, I decided that my leak may have been coming from in between the w/s retainer and the reveal molding or between the reveal molding and the car, so I took all of the retainers off and cleaned and repainted them. The piece across the top of the windshield is actually two pieces, the reveal molding and the w/s retainer are riveted together with a piece of foam tape in between. The foam tape on mine was falling out, so I drilled the rivets out and put black RTV in there and riveted them back together. I used the 3M bedding and glazing compound between the molding and the windshield frame instead of the foam tape whereas others say to stick with the foam tape and others, such as Gordon K, advocate the use of a urethane sealer. I opted not to use the urethane here because it would make a future windshield replacement a much tougher job. Once the moldings and retainers were all back in place, I put the 3M bedding and glazing compound on the corners in between the retainers and put the w/s in without any glue. Again, this is a place where others will disagree, many say to use a bead of black w/s adhesive here.

Many people replace this piece of w/s without doing all of the molding and retainer work and if your foam tape is in good shape, that is the way to go. At the very least though, get the 3M bedding and glazing compound for the corners. There is a gap in between the side and top retainers and the bedding compound is essential in these areas.

By all means seek as many opinions as you can and go with what you think is best for your situation. It is not a hard job, but one thing everyone will agree on is that you have to clean all of the old w/s out of the retainers, that can be time consuming.

 

gmanvette: I have the A pillar instructions from Gordon Killabrew as they came in a kit I purchased from him. Send me an email and I will send you a scan of the document "How to replace the A pillar WS. I found this helpful, but I did not follow his directions. I completed this last weekend. Here is a similiar posting on this: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show....php?t=1646853