<VV> I broke Geoff's Windshield!

Frank DuVal corvairduval at cox.net
Mon Aug 14 00:14:55 EDT 2006


1. Spacer blocks that come with butyl kits are a "one size to fit all 
applications" that is supposed to be cut to fit your particular 
application. If you are just changing a windshield, then just use the 
old blocks or use them as a pattern to cut the new blocks. Of course 
most of us here on VV threw those old blocks away a year or two ago when 
the car came apart for restoration. <ggg>

2. NEVER  *****Never****  NEVER  !!!!!  push, press, pry, touch glass 
with a metal object. There are plastic tools available one can use if 
there is a perceived need to pry glass into position. Like the "putty 
stick" on the web site:   
http://www.dominionsureseal.com/Products.asp?catid=26&page=3    Most 
windshield warehouses give these away free.
I find most windshields just set in place can be moved a little bit by 
placing one hand on the inside and the other on the outside of the glass 
(long arms help reaching through the rolled down door windows). Of 
course sliding the glass tighter against the rubber block will get you 
nowhere.

3. You can measure the opening top to bottom and side to side in a 
straight line and then measure the straight line dimensions of the glass 
and see how much space you need to allot to each side. Also putting a 
mark in the center of the bottom of the glass and the cowl will help 
initial placement.

4. If the glass is too far out then either you used too big a butyl tape 
or you haven't bedded the windshield in far enough. Press only on the 
glass where the tape is behind the glass. The tape can usually be 
compressed down 3/16". If it is a used windshield and there is ANY chip 
along the edge, this is when the crack will show up. The hotter the 
tape, the more compressable it is. Windshield installers used to keep 
the 3/8" tape on the defroster ducts in the winter so they could stretch 
it to whatever size they needed!

5. You can measure the thickness of the glass, as they do vary from way 
back when to now. Then measure the depth of the pinchweld and the depth 
of the trim and make your best guess of the thickness of butyl tape to 
buy. Typically 5/16" for older thick glass and 3/8" for new thin glass.

6. I know this is not stock, but I usually just use heavy bodied 
urethane sealant now to set glass, just like the assembly lines do. This 
does require practice!

Frank DuVal

Bill Hubbell wrote:

>It was my fault.
>
>My son, Geoff, and I were installing a new windshield in his 1965 Monza 
>Convertible today.  The car had been previously stripped and repainted, 
>including the windshield channel, and all broken studs repaired, new trim 
>clips installed .  The trim had been cleaned.  Everything was in good 
>condition. - all rust had been repaired without changing the windshield 
>opening in any way.
>
>It was late this afternoon, and we had been working on his car all day.  We 
>were tired, but we could see the end in sight, so we were enthused. 
>However, we made our first (and most important) mistake here - we did not do 
>a "dry run" rehearsal, but instead went right to installation.  I installed 
>the new spacer blocks that came with the 3M kit, and then I applied the 
>ribbon sealer.  We carefully put the glass on the trunk lid (back side up) 
>and cleaned the edges, then lifted the glass up, aligned it horizontally by 
>sight and vertically by the spacer blocks, then pressed it on.  We noticed 
>that the top of the glass was closer to the edge of the opening than the 
>rest of the windshield, but we figured we could not do anything about that 
>now.
>
>So, it was a success, right?  Wrong!  We could not get the top trim to 
>install.  It seemed the windshield was too close to the top, or maybe too 
>far "out".  We worked at it for awhile, and then I suggested we quit for 
>awhile and go do something else.  Geoff, unfortunately, tried again (Mistake 
>#2 - didn't quit when we were frustrated) and this time he got the right 
>upper corner to snap into place.  So I dropped what I was doing and came 
>around to "help" him.
>
>I reasoned that if maybe I pushed the windshield down a bit while he put 
>pressure on the trim the clips would snap into place.  This was mistake #3 - 
>the BIG one.  I used a screwdriver and gently pried on the center top edge 
>of the windshield.
>
>I snapped the windshield.
>
>FOUR big full length cracks right down the middle of the glass.
>
>Ouch.
>
>I wasn't happy, let's just leave it at that.  Geoff will recover.  He 
>returns to medical school tomorrow and will probably hear worse things in 
>Pathology class.  Still.......
>
>Anyway, I need a new windshield.  I will order it and pay the price of my 
>transgression.
>
>I feel really bad about this (I hope you can tell), and I DON'T want to do 
>it again, so I am hoping you all can tell me what I need to do to install 
>the next one so the trim will fit correctly and I won't break another one. 
>OK, so I now know not to pry on glass (no, they don't teach that in Medical 
>School!!!)
>
>Thanks for whatever help you can give me.
>
>Sheepishly,
>
>Bill Hubbell
>
>
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