Matthew Taylor's Journal

2-14-15

With the windshield frame complete, it was time to put the glass back in. Never having done a "string" windshield installation, and after talking to the Safelight guy while he changed out my work cars windshield, I gathered that I would be the better bet, even with my lack of experience. Turns out, most auto glass guys have the exact same experience - none. And he promised that when they did figure it out, they would, by policy, still glue the crap out of it. He did not recommend hiring him for the job. I took his recommendation. In search of an education, I watched a guy put in a Volkswagen window - via YouTube, and got the concept figured out. Next, I read a few threads on the forum about it. Seems most folks that ran into trouble had one thing in common. A gasket from VB. Lucky for me, I spent the extra $3 and got one from TRF. It fit over the glass perfect.

After putting the gasket on the glass, I had Cole spread the lubricant (non-petroleum, water based is the way to go - KY). He put a good bit into the slot the frame needs to go in. Next, 550 cord. The stuff our parachutes are attached to our harnesses with, the stuff wrapped around the o'l K-Bar handle, the stuff in every survival bag, turns out to be the correct diameter. To thin, and the string will cut the rubber, too thick and the gasket wont have enough room to fold over the frame. So, it gets wrapped around the entire gasket, in the same well lubed slot the frame will go in. Next, we placed the windshield over the frame. I started a corner, and Cole kept pressure, to keep it from popping out. Next it was time to pull the string. From what would be the inside, I started pulling, the string caused the gasket to fold up, allowing the frame to slide into the slot, then, as the sting moved, the gasket fell into place, on the inside of the frame. Neat, it worked! As we were going around, Jerry showed up. With a folding chair and some popcorn, we now had a peanut gallery, for extra advice. The string got fairly tight for that last corner, but it went.

Glass installed, It was time to fit the trim. Jerry had finished his popcorn apparently, and not being a good watcher at all, deiced to help us figure that out. Turns out, more KY, and lots of elbow grease got it in, 1/4" at a time. We all took turns pressing it in. It was at this point I recalled, I had never seen a Spit in real life with the chrome trim strip on the windshield. Now I know why! You wouldn't have to use 3 people, to give your hands a break, you could do it by yourself, over about a week.

New bottom gasket on the fame, and onto the body with it. Once again, not a 3 man job, but we had 3, so we used them, and it went in with minimal fuss - it was much tighter than I expected. If I had it to do again, I would have prepped the car side of the mounts as well - rolled sandpaper on a drill bit, for about 30 minutes each side would have been just enough....