Put a Windshield in my '84 Today
05-10-2011, 09:20 PM
#1
Racer
Thread Starter
Put a Windshield in my '84 Today
A few hours ago, I just finished installing a new windshield in my '84. I searched the forum a few weeks ago, and read all of the horror stories. Then, after the local glass company delivered the new windshield to our shop, I asked them what to expect. That's when I got really spooked:
"The last one we did took about 8-10 hours. We ended up bringing it back to our shop and working on it for hours. We bent several of the moldings, those are super expensive, so we had to keep uninstalling and reinstalling them to make sure we had them straight. I'll never do another C4 Corvette."
At this point, I thought I was in for a mess. I've installed windshields on several '65-66 Mustangs, but I've always stayed away from modern windshields that use urethane. To be honest, though, I didn't think this '84 was hard at all. I took my time, and when a molding wanted to be stubborn, I sat back and looked at what could be holding it, instead of just yanking on it hoping it would pop off. I got all of the moldings off fairly easily, and they're still 100% straight. The hardest part was cutting out the original windshield, especially around the bottom, where the urethane seal is actually way up under the edge of the glass. I didn't have a long razor knife, so I ended up removing the dashpad and cutting the bottom urethane with piano wire. I imagine it would be extremely hard to try and reuse an original glass, and to get it out without cracking it. My original windshield was very badly cracked already, so I didn't have to be super careful about cracking it further.
After getting everything apart, I cleaned up the majority of the old urethane, transferred the original anti-rattle rubber strip to the new windshield, and dry fit it in place. I marked the center of the glass, and the metal header frame, then connected them with tape, so lining it up was a simple matter of sitting the glass on the plastic stops around the bottom, and lining the tape up at the top. Honestly, it wasn't that bad at all, especially compared to what I expected. I have around four hours in my windshield, and this was the first urethane windshield I've ever installed.
For anyone that's interested in DIY windshield replacement, it's definitely doable. Just take your time, and don't get impatient and start yanking or jerking on stuff during disassembly. If everything comes apart unscathed, then it'll go back together that much easier. Hope this helps anyone considering doing this themselves!
"The last one we did took about 8-10 hours. We ended up bringing it back to our shop and working on it for hours. We bent several of the moldings, those are super expensive, so we had to keep uninstalling and reinstalling them to make sure we had them straight. I'll never do another C4 Corvette."
At this point, I thought I was in for a mess. I've installed windshields on several '65-66 Mustangs, but I've always stayed away from modern windshields that use urethane. To be honest, though, I didn't think this '84 was hard at all. I took my time, and when a molding wanted to be stubborn, I sat back and looked at what could be holding it, instead of just yanking on it hoping it would pop off. I got all of the moldings off fairly easily, and they're still 100% straight. The hardest part was cutting out the original windshield, especially around the bottom, where the urethane seal is actually way up under the edge of the glass. I didn't have a long razor knife, so I ended up removing the dashpad and cutting the bottom urethane with piano wire. I imagine it would be extremely hard to try and reuse an original glass, and to get it out without cracking it. My original windshield was very badly cracked already, so I didn't have to be super careful about cracking it further.
After getting everything apart, I cleaned up the majority of the old urethane, transferred the original anti-rattle rubber strip to the new windshield, and dry fit it in place. I marked the center of the glass, and the metal header frame, then connected them with tape, so lining it up was a simple matter of sitting the glass on the plastic stops around the bottom, and lining the tape up at the top. Honestly, it wasn't that bad at all, especially compared to what I expected. I have around four hours in my windshield, and this was the first urethane windshield I've ever installed.
For anyone that's interested in DIY windshield replacement, it's definitely doable. Just take your time, and don't get impatient and start yanking or jerking on stuff during disassembly. If everything comes apart unscathed, then it'll go back together that much easier. Hope this helps anyone considering doing this themselves!
05-10-2011, 10:11 PM
#2
Le Mans Master
The azzclowns I hired out of the phone book botched mine. It was a local mobile service here in town (Cal State Auto Glass). They replaced it out in my driveway with a quality PPG glass which I specified but they worked in a rushed manner. I supplied the new weatherstrip and the old retainers where reused. I even took off all the plastic trim and dash pad in advanced for them so all they had to do was the glass.
They did mostly everything right except they forgot to add new sealant to the backs of the reused side pillar metal weatherstrip retainers. They just simply screwed them back on to the frame after cleaning them and failed to reseal the backsides against the frame.
So a few days later when I wash the car I find that water just went right past the back of the retainers between the frame bypassing the weatherstrip all together and flooding the interior at an alarming rate. I ended up fixing their incompetence myself to stop the leaks. I also had to reposition and massage the weatherstrip correctly to get rid of gaps and misfit they left in their haste. Should have just done it myself in the first place.
They did mostly everything right except they forgot to add new sealant to the backs of the reused side pillar metal weatherstrip retainers. They just simply screwed them back on to the frame after cleaning them and failed to reseal the backsides against the frame.
So a few days later when I wash the car I find that water just went right past the back of the retainers between the frame bypassing the weatherstrip all together and flooding the interior at an alarming rate. I ended up fixing their incompetence myself to stop the leaks. I also had to reposition and massage the weatherstrip correctly to get rid of gaps and misfit they left in their haste. Should have just done it myself in the first place.
Last edited by 86PACER; 05-10-2011 at 10:39 PM.
05-10-2011, 11:39 PM
#3
The azzclowns I hired out of the phone book botched mine. It was a local mobile service here in town (Cal State Auto Glass). They replaced it out in my driveway with a quality PPG glass which I specified but they worked in a rushed manner. I supplied the new weatherstrip and the old retainers where reused. I even took off all the plastic trim and dash pad in advanced for them so all they had to do was the glass.
They did mostly everything right except they forgot to add new sealant to the backs of the reused side pillar metal weatherstrip retainers. They just simply screwed them back on to the frame after cleaning them and failed to reseal the backsides against the frame.
So a few days later when I wash the car I find that water just went right past the back of the retainers between the frame bypassing the weatherstrip all together and flooding the interior at an alarming rate. I ended up fixing their incompetence myself to stop the leaks. I also had to reposition and massage the weatherstrip correctly to get rid of gaps and misfit they left in their haste. Should have just done it myself in the first place.
They did mostly everything right except they forgot to add new sealant to the backs of the reused side pillar metal weatherstrip retainers. They just simply screwed them back on to the frame after cleaning them and failed to reseal the backsides against the frame.
So a few days later when I wash the car I find that water just went right past the back of the retainers between the frame bypassing the weatherstrip all together and flooding the interior at an alarming rate. I ended up fixing their incompetence myself to stop the leaks. I also had to reposition and massage the weatherstrip correctly to get rid of gaps and misfit they left in their haste. Should have just done it myself in the first place.
05-10-2011, 11:58 PM
#4
Race Director
[IMG]
[/IMG]Been there,that urethane sealer is a total pain in the ***.Did you find any rust in the frame?Its possible to get the trim off without raping it,just take time and alot of lacquer thinner.
[/IMG]Been there,that urethane sealer is a total pain in the ***.Did you find any rust in the frame?Its possible to get the trim off without raping it,just take time and alot of lacquer thinner.
05-11-2011, 12:29 AM
#5
Le Mans Master
I made sure that they touched up all their pry marks and scratches on the metal frame with rust inhibitor before the new glass was set down.
You are 100% correct.
Although I didn't mention it that's exactly another place they neglected to seal as well. The old glass had a line of sealant along here also all the way around, like what you see inside a glass fish tank/aquarium. As they where packing up to leave I specifically asked them why they didn't seal this area before they left. I told them the old glass was sealed here also. They fed me a line of BS saying it didn't need any sealer there. And I was stupid enough to let them leave only to find out otherwise the first time I washed the car and had water duping into the cabin almost as fast as it was coming out of the garden hose. These guys just came here, where in a hurry to leave, and half assed it.
They also either used too much sealant at the base of the windshield or didn't press it down all the way before it cured which made the new glass sit higher than the old glass. This caused my wiper arms to get stuck and hang up under the edge of the hood and chip the paint. F**k! I had to trial fit a bunch of different wiper arms in the parts store parking lot till I found the only ones that will clear. During this time I could not use the wipers. Only the cheap Anco brand metal ones will clear and are the ONLY ones I can use from now on. I recently had to replace these again and I could not find any anywhere. O'Reilly where I bought them the first time no longer carried them.
Upon pondering on the situation I believed that if I seal off this area then the backs of the retainers can remain unsealed as they where and I won't really have to pull them off again to redo them. My retainers are still without sealant on the backs. These idiots just left this entire length of gap all the way around the glass wide open with no sealer, just like the back of the retainers against the frame. Not a good combination. The only place they used sealer besides the bottom of the glass was inside the retainer channels to hold the new weatherstrip in the grooves.
So to avoid having to remove the retainers off again and now potentially risk tearing my brand new weatherstrip that was now glued into the channels, what I did was just squeeze a line of clear GE Window and Door sealant along the entire length of the top of the glass, and all the way down both sides. Then I ran my pinky finger over it to pack it in, and bevel it at the same time while wiping off the excess in one motion. Just like the inside of a glass fish aquarium. It worked.
This is what I used.
Here are the glass sealer beads I laid down. I did this all the way around the gap between the glass and metal molding trims (pic 1) as well as the two sides of the pillars (pic 2). Not a drop of water leaks now. The beads have now slightly yellowed over time with the sun. I think I should have used black instead of clear to avoid this which I didn't expect.
The specs you see are just dust.
Although I didn't mention it that's exactly another place they neglected to seal as well. The old glass had a line of sealant along here also all the way around, like what you see inside a glass fish tank/aquarium. As they where packing up to leave I specifically asked them why they didn't seal this area before they left. I told them the old glass was sealed here also. They fed me a line of BS saying it didn't need any sealer there. And I was stupid enough to let them leave only to find out otherwise the first time I washed the car and had water duping into the cabin almost as fast as it was coming out of the garden hose. These guys just came here, where in a hurry to leave, and half assed it.
They also either used too much sealant at the base of the windshield or didn't press it down all the way before it cured which made the new glass sit higher than the old glass. This caused my wiper arms to get stuck and hang up under the edge of the hood and chip the paint. F**k! I had to trial fit a bunch of different wiper arms in the parts store parking lot till I found the only ones that will clear. During this time I could not use the wipers. Only the cheap Anco brand metal ones will clear and are the ONLY ones I can use from now on. I recently had to replace these again and I could not find any anywhere. O'Reilly where I bought them the first time no longer carried them.
Upon pondering on the situation I believed that if I seal off this area then the backs of the retainers can remain unsealed as they where and I won't really have to pull them off again to redo them. My retainers are still without sealant on the backs. These idiots just left this entire length of gap all the way around the glass wide open with no sealer, just like the back of the retainers against the frame. Not a good combination. The only place they used sealer besides the bottom of the glass was inside the retainer channels to hold the new weatherstrip in the grooves.
So to avoid having to remove the retainers off again and now potentially risk tearing my brand new weatherstrip that was now glued into the channels, what I did was just squeeze a line of clear GE Window and Door sealant along the entire length of the top of the glass, and all the way down both sides. Then I ran my pinky finger over it to pack it in, and bevel it at the same time while wiping off the excess in one motion. Just like the inside of a glass fish aquarium. It worked.
This is what I used.
Here are the glass sealer beads I laid down. I did this all the way around the gap between the glass and metal molding trims (pic 1) as well as the two sides of the pillars (pic 2). Not a drop of water leaks now. The beads have now slightly yellowed over time with the sun. I think I should have used black instead of clear to avoid this which I didn't expect.
The specs you see are just dust.
Last edited by 86PACER; 05-11-2011 at 01:09 AM.
05-11-2011, 12:51 AM
#6
Another place you want to seal is the small gap where the top molding overlaps the A pillar molding at the top corners. Water can get in there and run down the A pillar on the inside. Though maybe that depends on how much the molding gets beat out of shape.
05-11-2011, 06:55 AM
#7
Racer
Thread Starter
05-11-2011, 10:05 AM
#8
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Member Since: Mar 2010
Location: Grove Oklahoma
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I need to replace mine on the 84 and have been thinking about it trying it myself. Its just kind of scary due to the thought of breaking the new windshield. I have never installed a windshield before, but when looking at it, it does not look real complicated. Just don't know if I should try it or not.
05-11-2011, 11:01 AM
#9
Race Director
I need to replace mine on the 84 and have been thinking about it trying it myself. Its just kind of scary due to the thought of breaking the new windshield. I have never installed a windshield before, but when looking at it, it does not look real complicated. Just don't know if I should try it or not.
