1956 to 1962 Windshield Assembly Anomalies

[Richard M.]

I have a 1962 here for a new Dashpad and its windshield assembly installation after the Dashpad is done.

The windshield was previously assembled by a local glass shop before it came to me, with new glass to frame rubber seal. Unfortunately I have to redo the entire assembly as the glass to frame rubber seal is defective and the rubber was improperly positioned. In this case there are 2 large gaps where the side-post inner lower rear rubber flaps with respect to the chrome inner flanges of the posts. These will look unsightly and I would never install such a defective assembly. Additionally, the inner forward curves of the lower rubber-to-dashpad junction have large wrinkles, and after installation to the car will likely appear ugly. This is due to the seal being out of specification, i.e. the rubber circumference is too long.

I disassembled the frame/glass yesterday to see if I could stretch and reposition the rubber to make it right, but I had to scrap the rubber and order a new correct rubber seal from my supplier. It's simply too long and can't be cheated. The installed rubber is not from my preferred source.

I also noticed the upper SS trim was not correctly installed either as it wasn't captured into the upper channel properly. This will be corrected on reassembly.

If you are having a local glass shop do one of these for you, ensure they know the details of assembly. Do not let them buy the rubber unless it is sourced from CRC(www.mmri-crc.com), as they have the correct length seal to ensure proper fit. Several years ago we worked with them on this issue.

Rich

[Richard M.]

Re: 1956 to 1962 Windshield Assembly Anomalies

Received the new CRC rubber glass seal late yesterday. I did a comparison of new, to the installed(old) seal. Assuming rubber composition is similar, I stretched both using the same weight from a column. There is a 2"+ difference. The new seal is shorter, as anticipated, and a preferred length. It will be installed today.

Rich

[Richard M.]

Re: 1956 to 1962 Windshield Assembly Anomalies

After cleaning about 3 lbs of strip caulk from the lower channel, lower trim, upper channel, and both windshield posts, I installed the new correct rubber on the glass and assembled the windshield. All fixed. No more corner wrinkles and the inner rubber flaps rest on the inner post chrome flanges now.

A complete step by step of assembly shown below. Sorry but the camera kept on clicking.

This one was really easy.

[Bob W.]

Re: 1956 to 1962 Windshield Assembly Anomalies

Rich I was waiting for you to show everyone the right way to do this and you did. Thanks for another great post.

Bob

[Richard M.]

Re: 1956 to 1962 Windshield Assembly Anomalies

Rich I was waiting for you to show everyone the right way to do this and you did. Thanks for another great post.

Bob

Thanks Bob,

For reference there is even more detail in the procedure I did in the "Dave Zuberer Professionalized" PDF version HERE.

Rich

[Roger W.]

Re: 1956 to 1962 Windshield Assembly Anomalies

Once again Rich, You make the windshield job look not too difficult to do.

Roger

[Bob W.]

Re: 1956 to 1962 Windshield Assembly Anomalies

Rich Thanks for the link to the pdf your agreat teacher.

Bob

[Keith R.]

Re: 1956 to 1962 Windshield Assembly Anomalies

You 'da man Richard. What sloppy work on the part of the previous glass shop! Just finished my own windshield assembly following your very helpful procedure and it came out pretty well. The overlap of the gasket on the posts varied about 1/2' on either side but covered the respective posts so I didn't figure that it was worth pulling it all apart just to correct that minor difference. Worse come to worse - I'll take out my Exacto knife and trim the overlap on the longer one a bit. You were quite right in your instructions - overdo the sealant between the glass and the gasket and it makes a real mess! Plus, it makes the gasket want to slip right off the glass so masking tape at this point of the assembly is most helpful to keep it in place while you remove the excess material. I used the "short" CRC gasket which fit quite well without the ripples in the corners. It does have a tendency to pop out of the posts and upper frame somewhat particularly with the gasket-to-glass sealant. This happened on one corner in particular so I had to partially disassemble and stretch the gasket into that corner so that it would lay flat. At this point, I think that the assembly is ready to be mounted on the body so thanks again.

[Richard M.]

Re: 1956 to 1962 Windshield Assembly Anomalies

Thanks Gents, I'm glad that it helps. Keith, good job. Good idea regarding cutting a bit of that inner post rubber flap as it's tough to get them perfectly even.

Here's the finished product. I mounted it on the car this morning and pleased with the results.

[Bob W.]

Re: 1956 to 1962 Windshield Assembly Anomalies

Rich That look great! Who did the rechrome on the windshield post,or is this a repo windshield assembly?

Bob

[Richard M.]

Re: 1956 to 1962 Windshield Assembly Anomalies

Rich That look great! Who did the rechrome on the windshield post,or is this a repo windshield assembly?

Bob

Bob.

They were re-chromed. Unsure who. Nice chrome but there was a problem obvious to me when I disassembled the frame. They didn't properly mask the ends where the upper stainless trim or the lower side stainless trims meet. The extra buildup of heavy copper made it difficult to get a good fit of the trims. It wasn't extremely heavy, but heavy enough to give some fit trouble, particularly at the upper trim ends.

A good chrome shop is aware of this issue and carefully masks the ends so that it doesn't allow a heavy thickness of copper build up before the thin layers of nickel and chrome.

In past experiences I've had to grind the ends for proper fit. This door post set was done before I got them. The inner and outer reveal moldings would not fit at all. I've had to do this to windshield posts also. As you can see, it's a nerve racking task.

Rich