ShaunM

I am sorry to keep bothering everybody with these little question, but here I go again. My windshield has a pretty nasty leak right over the driver side, I had a plan to use some silicon to seal it up, but I noticed that it appeared to be seeping through the seals on the bottom too. I was wondering if I should just get a whole new seal or try to seal everything off on the outside with the silicon? Or any other suggestions. Thanks in advance guys

hamm36

Just thinking out loud. Pulling the glass would be the best way to fix it. BUT in doing that you could be open the dream that comes with nightmares. But nothing on a car is un-fix-able. Thinking that though, pulling the glass will be the best thing. Letting it remain is a guarantee that it will get worse for not fixing it now.

ShaunM

Well Hamm, That is pretty much what I was thinking was going to have to happen, I have a feeling things are going to be getting interesting.

ShaunM

I guess my next question is going to be... where can I pick up the seal? or is there just a generic one? sorry i am dumb with cars still.

Tedd Thompson

ShaunM, Steel Rubber Products 800-544-8665, should have what you need. Good fokes to work with.
Now that You know where to get the parts do you know what your getting in to. The windshield dosn't come out like a modern car. As I remember(it was 10 years ago) most of the work is done under and inside the dash removing trim bolts in places I would rather not be. Fact is on the second broken windshield I farmed it out at the cost of $400 dollars, not counting glass, @ 5hr labor. The glass guy said he lost money on my car and wouldn't do any more unless it was time and materials. You may be good at working upside down so this may not be a factor. Lots of luck....Tedd

ShaunM

Thanks for the direction Tedd. I am just going to shed a tear now and give it the old college try when I get the part in. I had a lot of the trim off already, well that I know of so far, but I have a feeling that there is more where that came from. I will keep everybody posted on my progress if there is such thing.

Lady72nRob71

Just do a little each day and stop when you get frustrated.
Better to do it now before anything gets worse.
I think you will do fine!

hamm36

I have seen the roll 1/2" windshield sealer that the auto glass guys use at a local classic car part shop (Firewheel classics). Maybe someone local will have it in you area. They also use a primer, then the 1/2" sealer, then sealer from a tube/caulk gun around the glass. Looks easy when someone else is doing it. I know you can do it too.
It looks like this.

Fletch

Just a thought: Lived that window leak issue. Bite your tongue, find the BEST glass house in town, order the new seal and have it fixed.
Fletch

ShaunM

That's What I was looking into Fletch, I got quoted $200 parts and labor, thought that was pretty sweet but turns out they thought I was talking about '56 Chevy

hialeah56

It's not that hard to pull the windshield off of the 56s. Just remove the side trim first, then work your way around the bottom ones. Leave the top center trim for last, remove two little screws at either side of the trim and leave it in place this one comes out with the glass (also be very carefull with those side clips for the top center trim, they are very hard to find). Then start cutting the outer rubber seal and pealing it away from the glass, you'll have to slightly bend the upper trim to cut the rubber from under it. When the rubber is all off the glass should pop out easily with a little push from the inside. Make sure you have two spotters on the outside so that it don't end up in front of the car. A good thing to know also is that the new rubber will have a slot on top for the upper trim that you left for last this has to go it place before installing the glass. I could also explain the installation if you're feeling brave

hialeah56

Here's how my friend installed my windshield
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy5ZwJkEepg

Fletch

Shuan: Nice looking car...
I am sure everone has their respective vendor, Fusick is mine, never an issue.... Others have front windshields ,if you break yours.. trust you will not have a problem.
Good luck, but make sure you fix the problem, these cars are becoming alot more popular,
Regards,
Fletch

ShaunM

Thanks everybody, I think I might try to give it a whirl on my own. The video seems to explain it pretty good, along with the instructions from steele rubber. I will post some pictures up when I get it done. i'm getting the floor pans done right now so it's out of my hands at the moment.

442much

I agree. If you smash the windshield...you didn't stop soon enough.

hialeah56

Let us know how it goes, hope I didn't put you to sleep with the music on the video but there was a lot of trash talking, specially about me in the video so that had to go

ShaunM

It's all good, I kind of liked it. It was unexpected.

360scamp

Any more info or pics of this job? I am going to be doing it in a few weeks on my 56.

hialeah56

All I have is the video I usually take a million pics but since I got it on video not this time. What we did was set the rubber on the glass, there is a top and a bottom, the top will have a slit down the middle on the front for the top trim. Set the top trim in the rubber before it goes in the car. Then insert the rope you're going to use in the rubber starting at the bottom center and work your way around ending with two ends of left over rope sticking out the center bottom of the glass. Spray rope with wd40 inside the chanel. Then set glass on window chanel with the ends of rope laying on the dash and start pulling one side of the rope making sure the rubber is going on the chanel(it helps to have someone slightly pushing on the glass, SLIGHTLY not trying to reshape it). Hope this helps and doesn't confuse you further.

360scamp

I got my new gasket the other day and we are going to have a few sunny days without rain. This is Seattle so I have to work fast

I am planning to pull the glass, take care of any clean up, spoof can some primer where and if it is needed and put the glass with the new gasket back in by Saturday.
My 56 Holiday Deluxe Super 88 seems pretty easy (I say that now while sitting on my couch typing this), I have all the inside trim off and there doesn't look like there is any bolts holding the outer trim in place.

I will take pics as I go!

360scamp

1 hour and 20 mins to pull the windshield by my self. The pics are loading to photobucket right now, I will post them asap.

360scamp

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These are the 2 little screws that hold in the side trim, 2 each side.

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The wipers have to come off, pretty easy and self explanatory.
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Tis is VERY important and can ave you a crap load of work! Use a phillips screwdriver and a small hammer to remove all the screws. With a firm grip press down and turn while hitting the end of the screwdriver with the hammer (don't slip and nail the glass, you will get mad)do this until the screw starts to turn. This will save you many stripped screws and further headaches! Doing this worked on all of the original screws in my car I only had one t was stripped from rust but it still broke loose doing this and I could use a pair of needle nose vise grips to get it the rest of the way.
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You have to work the top of the side trim out first. I did this with no WD40 or other lube and just wiggled it back and forth until it came out.

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360scamp

Side trim out..

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Take note of where all the little clips are and how they go back in. I will soak all of the clips in Evaporust (look up their website, it is great stuff and works VERY well, you can get it at Harbor Freight for $20 a gallon) overnight then decide if I will fab up some new ones. I'm pretty sure I will make new side clips as they are the worse off out of all, I will be using new screws.
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Now comes the fun part! With several (I did it with 2 blades) NEW razor blades start cutting the crap out of the gasket. When you think you have gotten enough....cut more! I went around the inside to break any seal the had occurred over the years. get under the top trim without pulling it off.

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There are 2 screws for the top trim (one each side) remember he hammer trick it will be kinda hard at this angle but not impossible.

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Trim more of the gasket away.

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360scamp

Now comes the fun and scary part. These windshields are flimsy so you don't wanna bend them. Put a bunch of blankets on the hood and be careful of the wiper arms if they are still poking out of the cowl, you don't want the bottom of the glass to slide out and hit them.
I will go ahead and say it just because ,if you have a friend, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, kid, or whatever have them help you!!! My wife is still at work, I don't like kids, I am a very stubborn person and can do it better and faster by myself I am also an a$$hole and don't have any friends that live near by so I did it myself! Also if you are not wearing gloves take off any rings (wedding) so it won't scratch or nick the glass.

Start by lightly tapping the inside bottom corner with your palm until it pops loose. Don't hit it so hard that it pops all the way out you just wanna bust the seal. Do this half in and half out of the car with your other hand on the outside of the window for support just in case it does pop all the way out.
Move to the other side and do the same thing working your way to the center of the bottom.
Now you might not want to do this but I need to replace my hood anyways. I climbed onto my hood and gently pulled the bottom of the glass out of the gasket area and the top of the window just slid out of the gasket. Once the window comes free of the gasket be ready to support the sides because they will flop around. DONE!!!

Now I just have to put it all back together

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360scamp

Here is the link to my photobucket album in case you want to use any pics for reference.

http://s88.photobucket.com/albums/k1...lds/?start=all

360scamp

Got the window channel all cleaned up with a putty knife and wire wheel on my drill. I just used some rustolium white primer because I wanted to get it covered and I need to get the window back in asap before it rains on Sunday. The car is also sitting in my driveway waiting for me to put e other head back on but the window was leaking so bad that I had 2 gallon buckets sitting inside to save the floorboards so this is the priority right now.
It looks 1000% better than it did before. Next up is to figure out what clips need to be fabbed and what ones can be re-used.
I am done for today, I need to take a shower and eat food before I goto bed. I will take more pics as I go, maybe this will help someone out.

Quick and sloppy but it works for now....

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What rust there was was the worse in this area. Just some scaling no cancer that needed patching.
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Not bad for a few hours of work in the driveway after I got home from work.

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hialeah56

looks good hope everything goes well

360scamp

So what do you think the best sealer would be, clear silly cone caulk, the black strip caulking (like the stuff in the pic. further up the thread), or something else?

360scamp

A little more today after work.

After figuring out what way the gasket goes and finding the top center of the glass, trim and gasket (Remember you want the center of the long slit at the top of the windshield for the trim. The Steel Rubber Products gasket has a long slit at the top center and a shorter one at the bottom center.) I sprayed WD40 into the groove that the glass goes into (this helped ALOT!) I got the gasket around the glass.
I worked my way around the glass taping the gasket in place because it will want to fall off as you go. When you get to the other corner you will need to take the gasket off the top of the glass so you don't force the corner into the gasket bending the glass in the process. Once the both corners are in the gasket it is easy to get the top back in. Remember that I am doing this by myself, if you have someone helping you you won't need the tape and it won't be as difficult.
Once the gasket is around the glass pop in the trim and you are done! The whole thing didn't take that long at all. I spent more time cleaning the windshield after deciding I didn't want to spend $500 on a new windshield.

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The strip caulk and seam sealer cost $25.00 at the local auto body supply house.
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I will let the seam sealer set up overnight and see if I can't get this bastard back in tomorrow!
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360scamp

Thanks! Your video helped me figure this out, I have never done this on a curved windshield, especially not by my self.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy5ZwJkEepg

hamm36

Super Job. Looks like that will work!

hialeah56

glad I could help, BTW you think the front seal was hard to put on by yourself try doing the back window of a 2 dr ht. The darn rubber kept coming off, tried it with all sorts of tape (even duct tape ). Luckly I called my friend that help me install the glass and he told me to take it complety off and warm it up with a heat gun. , thing went right on

360scamp

LOL, I actually had the heat gun sitting next to me just in case I had to get a little more wiggle room out of the gasket.

360scamp

I couldn't help it, I had to build something before I went to bed so I made a new clip. The other side wasn't that bad so I will re use it.

Top is the new one, it's not perfect but it fits inside the trim and it will work...

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360scamp

My advice.....Don't do this by yourself! You can do it but it is a royal pain in the *** to get this thing back in without having to stop, put the gasket back around the glass (3 times) and start over. The black strip caulking was way too big at almost 1/2" and I had to remove most of it, thin it out and put it back on. I did get one crack strait up and down on the passenger side of the glass but I did get too upset because the glass wasn't perfect to start with.
I did get it back in and the WD40 on the rope helped a lot just remember to soak the rope with WD40 and don't go light on it.

If I had to do it over again i would NOT put the WD40 inside the gasket where the glass sits. It helped in placing the gasket around the glass but later on it was more of a pain to keep having to wipe everything down with denatured alcohol. I think I would also NOT use the black strip caulking as it made the whole job more of a pain and I could have done it by myself on the first try without cracking the glass. I would have used some sort of sealer in a tube that would take a little bit to dry. The strip caulking just kept grabbing the gasket as soon as it touched it and pulling it off the glass.

There are some spots where the gasket sticks up away from the glass but I think it will seal up after a little bit because it is a new gasket and it will need to take the shape of the glass. I am happy that I did it by myself and can say that I have done it and I will know how to approach it the next time!

I will get some pics after I get something to eat and go back out to the garage.

360scamp

Got all the trim back on and that helped seal the gasket where is was popped up a little. The real test will be when it starts raining tomorrow.

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I'm not too happy with the trim on the driver side because it is sticking out further than the passenger side but I don't feel like messing with it right now.

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Well thats all I have for now, I hope this helps someone sometime. Next up, the $500 4 door hardtop door seal kit

ShaunM

Man, I bet you are glad this is over. Thanks for the pictures, I plan on doing this in the not too distant future after I get the car back from the welder. My floor pans were shot, I was almost able to use the car Flintstone style.

rocketraider

Between hialeah's video and scamp's pictures, anyway this thread can be stickied in the tech section? Bound to think someone else could get some benefit.

360scamp

A little update....


It has been dumping rain the last 2 days here and I will need to pull the trim and use some clear sealer around the edges of the gasket in the corners. It started to leak a little so I took some old towels and put them in the inside around the dash to keep the water from reaching the floor. It may just be because it is a new gasket and it hasn't set in yet but atleast it isn't anywhere near the way it was before!

360scamp

The leaks are at the bottom corners of the gasket/glass. When I push on the gasket water squirts out from between the glass and gasket. Is this just a new gasket that still needs to find its place or should I seal it up with some weather strip cement?

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