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Re: Installing windshield and rear window in a GT6+

To: LESNYD@ccmail.monsanto.com
Subject: Re: Installing windshield and rear window in a GT6+
From: "W. Ray Gibbons" <gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu>
Date: Wed, 19 Oct 1994 14:58:57 -0400 (EDT)
On Wed, 19 Oct 1994 LESNYD@ccmail.monsanto.com wrote:

> OK, this weekend I'm really gonna do it. Really. Honest. I've had new 
>windshield
> and rear window rubber from TRF sitting around for months, and I just haven't
> 
> TRF kindly provides a nice little ribbon to put around the rubber to pull it
> onto the lip. OK, here are my questions:
> 
> 1. Do I put the rubber on the glass first, then work it onto the metal lip
> of the car body, or do I put it on the body first, and work the glass into
> the rubber?

I am posting to the group so they can correct any errors.  My analysis is
that you and an assistant must do two things:  1) one of you must press
the window toward the opening and 2) the other must use the tape to pull
the rubber lip over either the metal body flange or the window. 

 If the rubber is put around the window first, then you can be on the
inside pulling the tape to pull the rubber over the body flange, while
your assistant is on the outside, pushing the glass/rubber assembly firmly
against the opening.  If you try to install the rubber on the body first,
then the only way I can think of that it would work is for you and your
assistant to be on the same side, with one pushing the glass against the
rubber and the other pulling the ribbon to pull the rubber over the glass. 
If there is someway for you to be on different sides, I cannot see it.  It
seems far less awkward for you to be on different sides, so I would opt to
install the rubber on the glass first. 

> 
> 2. Do I apply some sort of sealer? If I do, won't it get on my little ribbon
> and mess everything up?

You can, and if you do, yes it will.  If you use sealer, use one that can
be cleaned off you, the car, the window, your helper, etc.  I know whereof
I speak.

> 3. Where the ends of the rubber meat, I noticed the old rubber is cut at an
> angle. I presume that it what I want to do, too.

I do not offhand see why this should be necessary, but I have never put a
window in a GT6.  This may have been where the old extrusion was bonded,
and the bonding may have deteriorated.  Ask TRF?

> 
> Any other advice? Of all the things I've done (including replacing a gearbox)
> this has me the most concerned. I really want to make sure I get a good seal,
> too.

Get a good night's sleep beforehand.  Do not try with a hangover.  Choose
a helper who can withstand being yelled at.  An older child is a good
choice.  Wives tend to get snippy and walk away, and in extremis ask for
alimony.  If your wife or SO is your only available helper, think about
taking the whole mess to an auto glass shop and saying: "Please put these
windows in.  I don't give a fat rat's behind what you charge."

Good luck.  May everything break in your favor.  The restoration hobby is
not what it's cracked up to be.  etc. etc.  Seriously, now.  I fretted at
least this much before installing the bugeye windshield.  In the end, it
went rather well, nothing broke, and the car leaks everywhere except
around the window.  However, Jane helped me, and I now must pay her
alimony until I am 65.  Cause and effect?  I wouldn't want to say.

   Ray Gibbons  Dept. of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics
                Univ. of Vermont College of Medicine, Burlington, VT
                gibbons@northpole.med.uvm.edu  (802) 656-8910





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