Tips/Tricks for installing the Windshield frame to the body?

[ABSunbeams]

Marty-Sent an email about the seal from the frame to the cowel from the SAOCA site. Might be the problem that it’s not wide enough. I had Sunbeam Specialties WS rubber on my last couple of windscreens with no problem most recent with Curt Bowlands Tiger. My suggestion is to get one of those and see if that will cure the issues. Anyone else have an issue with the seal? Al

 

[0neoffive]

Me and my buddy Al spent the whole day trying to fit up the windshield.

We tried fitting it with the caulk under the seal with the factory rubber wedges. It leaves a gap between the body and the leading edge of the seal.

We then took the seal off and fitted it to the body. It fits the body pretty well. There was no significant anomaly to point to a cause for the gap.

Next we tried fitting up a new seal, without the caulk, and using the rubber wedges. Still have a gap at the front.

Lastly, we tried using the SS adjuster nuts, with no caulk. Still have a gap at the front. This arrangement does have the least amount of gap, however the seal does not lay on the body like it is supposed to.

At this point we are running out of things to try. Does anybody have any other tricks that have worked for you?

I appreciate any advice you can offer.

Thanks,

Marty

I suspect that the rear portion of the seal is creeping forward and lifting the frame in spots. Modern compounds and re-pop extrusions can make a one hour project seem endless.

 

[woody6]

I recently went through this process and had all the same problems. Note, I did not try removing the angle adjusters. I had shaved the foam on the back of the vinyl dash pad before glueing it down. I also had my gasket taped below the frame with blue painters tape to make sure the bead stayed inside the windshield frame (the tape can be torn/pulled out after the windshield is down, and before it is fully tightened). After verifying that the round bead was inside the frame and not under it, I still could not get the winshield to draw down to my satisfaction. Finally, I marked the visible edge of the dashpad with more blue painters tape, then removed the windshield and trimmed the dashpad with only about 1/4 inch protruding under the gasket. That made the biggest difference, and subsequent days of incremental tightening helped a little more. There is still at least one spot where I might be able to slide a piece of paper under the front edge of the gasket, but it is close enough not to be apparent.

--Woody

 

[KenF]

One thing I did during my install was feed a 12 gauge copper wire through the rear molded hole of the rubber seal, and shape it to fit the curve of the frame. I cut the wire at the center where seal is trimmed for the center stud tab, so I could pull the wire out from the side once windshield frame was snugged down. It did give me something to tug on to keep the rear of the seal in place. Just throwing the crazy idea out there.
Edit: My seals are from SS.

 

[IvaTiger]

It seams that the windshield rubber geometry may be the problem If it has the wrong geometry it could cause the chrome trim at the bottom to kick up if it is too thick and then the body gasket would then also kick up and not lay on the body ? Reading past comments people have installed SS rubber with no problems and was wondering if the CAT rubber came from the same source as SS if not then maybe the geometry of the CAT rubber is not correct. Anyone who has installed the windshield rubber please share your experience about your installation with the supplier you used so we can determine if there is a rubber geometry problem with the CAT rubber

 

[KettleCarver]

I recently went through this process and had all the same problems. Note, I did not try removing the angle adjusters. I had shaved the foam on the back of the vinyl dash pad before glueing it down. I also had my gasket taped below the frame with blue painters tape to make sure the bead stayed inside the windshield frame (the tape can be torn/pulled out after the windshield is down, and before it is fully tightened). After verifying that the round bead was inside the frame and not under it, I still could not get the winshield to draw down to my satisfaction. Finally, I marked the visible edge of the dashpad with more blue painters tape, then removed the windshield and trimmed the dashpad with only about 1/4 inch protruding under the gasket. That made the biggest difference, and subsequent days of incremental tightening helped a little more. There is still at least one spot where I might be able to slide a piece of paper under the front edge of the gasket, but it is close enough not to be apparent.

--Woody

I did remove all of the foam backing on the dash pad everywhere the frame would lie on it. I had not considered cutting the pad back as well. Did you use rope caul between the seal and the body?

 

[KettleCarver]

One thing I did during my install was feed a 12 gauge copper wire through the rear molded hole of the rubber seal, and shape it to fit the curve of the frame. I cut the wire at the center where seal is trimmed for the center stud tab, so I could pull the wire out from the side once windshield frame was snugged down. It did give me something to tug on to keep the rear of the seal in place. Just throwing the crazy idea out there.
Edit: My seals are from SS.

View attachment 14569

Hey Ken,

The wire is not a crazy idea at all, it is genius!!! That is such an tight spot to get your hands into and until now, no great way to grab the seal.

On the cut-out for the center stud tab, did you cut 100% of the bulb part off? So far I have trimmed the top 50% off.

I super glued the bulb in several spots to keep it in front of the frame. The wire would help to make sure all of it is in front.

One thing that Al mentioned, that we did not have time to try, is to bend the center tab a little to help increase the angle.

Thanks for all the comments and ideas.

Marty

 

[KettleCarver]

It seams that the windshield rubber geometry may be the problem If it has the wrong geometry it could cause the chrome trim at the bottom to kick up if it is too thick and then the body gasket would then also kick up and not lay on the body ? Reading past comments people have installed SS rubber with no problems and was wondering if the CAT rubber came from the same source as SS if not then maybe the geometry of the CAT rubber is not correct. Anyone who has installed the windshield rubber please share your experience about your installation with the supplier you used so we can determine if there is a rubber geometry problem with the CAT rubber

Two seals came with the car. Unfortunately, I have now idea where they are from. Neither of them fit without problems. Looks like I should just buy the SS seal to be sure.

 

[IvaTiger]

Two seals came with the car. Unfortunately, I have now idea where they are from. Neither of them fit without problems. Looks like I should just buy the SS seal to be sure.

Another problem is that there is very little feedback from this club forum I don’t know if there are very few readers of the forum or whether members can’t be bothered to respond it does make it difficult for newbies to learn how to solve problems if their experience is not shared.

 

[Warren]

We do have a large number of Lurkers. The job was or is on my list depending on if the car stays in my possession. I ask guys I talk to all the time about their lack of content. If we had more Alpine guys then we'd have more content if only because of the law of large numbers.

 

[KenF]

On the cut-out for the center stud tab, did you cut 100% of the bulb part off? So far I have trimmed the top 50% off.

Looks like I cut the top half.

 

[65sunbeam]

"Two seals came with the car. Unfortunately, I have no idea where they are from."
Looks like you found your problem. Perhaps they are from the now defunct Victoria British? Notorious for selling stuff that won't fit or work.... Let us know how the SS item fits when you get it and compare it with the ones you now have.

 

[KettleCarver]

Looks like I cut the top half.

View attachment 14574

Thanks for confirming! That is about what I cut off.

 

[KettleCarver]

Another problem is that there is very little feedback from this club forum I don’t know if there are very few readers of the forum or whether members can’t be bothered to respond it does make it difficult for newbies to learn how to solve problems if their experience is not shared.

Yep, I noticed that. I am also a member on a Classic ZCar forum. There is a lot more traffic there. That is the problem with having an exclusive classic where only 7K were made. How many are actually left? Then how many of those people are a member here? There were 50K+ 240Z's imported into the US, which makes for a lot more active members on the forum.

So, I really do appreciate the input you guys have to share.

 

[KettleCarver]

Third time is a charm!!!! The windshield is in!!!

Friday I received the new seal from SS. It seems to be slightly wider than the one that came with the car, maybe 1/16".

Another car buddy came over today to give me a hand. This time we wanted to be absolutely sure that the bulb on the seal stayed inside the windshield frame. We poked the holes in the seal for the studs, carved out a slot for the center stud and loosely placed it on the frame. At this point we did not attempt to put the seal around the front lower chrome strip. Instead, we placed some rope in the front channel of the seal, same as the rope used to install the glass in the frame. Then we used painters tape to hold the center up while we positioned the frame on the car, making sure that 100% of the bulb was on the INSIDE of the fame. We placed the retaining nuts on at this time, but only finger tight. The painters tape was then carefully removed.

We then cranked up the adjusting nuts so that we got the angle mostly correct, and the front of the seal next to the body. To get the seal to mount onto the chrome strip, we used a plastic trim tool to get it started, then pulled on the rope in the same way as you would to install the windshield in the frame and worked it around to the other side till the seal was completely on the chrome strip.

At this pointed we left the center stud nut on only finger tight. We began to tighten the other 2 front studs until the seal came pretty close to the cowl of the body. We then got the inward of the 2 corner nuts on and snugged them up a little bit. (I should mention that I am installing a windshield frame that has 7 hold down studs.) We were careful to keep tension on the seal so the bulb had no chance of slipping back under the frame.

One of my Tiger buddies is storing his car in my barn for the winter. We measured the incline angle of his windshield, which was 45 degrees. Then we tightened the outer front studs till we were getting a decent seal at the front of the windshield. Once seated on the cowl, the windshield was at about a 49 degree angle. We then cranked the adjusting nuts down until we got the windshield back to a 45 degree angle. At that point we rotated tightening all of the nuts (except for the center one) a little at a time, until we had a nice seal all the way around on the cowl. Once we were happy with the seal, we just snugged up the center stud, and called it good. If you over tighten the center stud, it starts to bend the frame, and messes up the windshield to frame seal.

It seems the key to getting this correct is: 1) use the Sunbeam Specialties frame to body seal P/N WS52; 2) make sure 100% of the bulb of the seal stays on the inside of the windshield frame.

The previous trouble I had was not finding a good way to ensure the bulb stayed on the inside of the frame. I think this method made the job a whole lot easier than the other methods I tried.

Thanks a lot to my buddies Al, Bruce and Chris for helping wrangle that windshield in. And a big thanks to all of you that contributed your tips and tricks. I hope this write-up will help the next guy out there avoid some of the pain I went through.

Now, onto the rest of the car.

Marty

 

[ABSunbeams]

Great Marty! Looks like you can put that in the done column. Hope the rest goes alot smoother!
Al

 

[KettleCarver]

Great Marty! Looks like you can put that in the done column. Hope the rest goes alot smoother!
Al

Thanks, I hope so too!