Printed in The American Tri-Five magazine in Volume 9 : Issue 5
Tools Needed:
- Flat Blade Screwdrivers
- Phillips Screwdrivers
- Small Hammer
- Wiper Escutcheon Nut Tool
- 3/8" Nut Driver (or 3/8" socket, 1/4" drive)
- Strip Caulk
- 10 ft. length of braided cotton cord (7/64" w/tensile strength of 115 lbs.)
- Small Putty Knife
- A Small Piece of Wood to use as a Punch
Using a Phillips screwdriver, remove the inner garnish moulding and mirror support from the inside of the windshield.
Next, remove the wiper arms from the transmissions by depressing the small, attached clip under the arm away from the transmission nub and pulling upward. You may have to rock them off a bit, but they will come loose.
Next, using your wiper escutcheon nut tool, remove the wiper escutcheon nuts and lift the escutcheons from around the wiper nub. Remove the washer hose and set the escutcheons aside.
Inside the door channel on the pillar, behind the corner stainless you will find a Phillips screw. Remove the corner screw. Refer to picture 3.
Using your 3/8" nut driver, remove the nuts from the 2 lower clips at the curve of the lower windshield stainless, one on each side. Access these from under the dash. This will be difficult with the heater, speaker and everything else under the dash, but it can be done. (On early 55 models this clip may not be attached with a nut, it may use a screw from the top like the other 3 clips for the lower stainless, there are a total of 5 clips.)
Using your hammer and wood punch, gently move the center stainless clip to one side so you can access the screw holding the center clip in place.
Then unscrew the center clip.
Slide the two lower side pieces off the center clip and then slide them towards the center and remove them from the car. There is one more clip on each side between the center and the end, so be careful not to bend the stainless.
Remove all the lower stainless clips from the car.
Unscrew the remaining screw in the corner moulding and remove it from the car using a slight downward pressure to slide it off the upper stainless.
Using a screwdriver or other suitable tool, peel back the windshield rubber from the channel all around the inner portion and lower outer portion of the windshield.
Working from the inside and using the heal of your hand, push the windshield out of the frame opening to loosen. Then push-pull the windshield out of the car. Usually, the rubber seal will stay attached to the windshield as will the upper stainless.
Using your putty knife, clean the existing sealer and debris out of the window channel all around the windshield opening. The cleaner you can get this channel, the better your new seal will seal. Use a rag and a weatherstrip adhesive remover if necessary to get the channel squeaky clean.
Remove the upper stainless moulding from the old windshield seal and discard the old seal. (The moulding is wedged into a channel in the top of the windshield seal, find and separate the channel, loosen, and the moulding will come right out.) Now we are ready to install the new windshield, windshield seal and stainless.
Making sure you did a fantastic job of cleaning the windshield channel (cut corners here and leaks are almost assured), take your strip caulk and push it into the pinch weld channel. Install the caulk all the way around the windshield opening overlapping the ends so there are no gaps.
While installing the caulk, set your new windshield seal in the sun to warm so it's easier to work with.
When you are ready to start the installation, fold the seal in half. Find the channel in the top of the seal and line up the channels on either side of the seal... it will be closed on the bottom ... open on the top. The seal in stalls with the open channel up, for the upper stainless.
Starting on one of the bottom corners, keep the seal centered and slide the glass into the channel. (If the seal is not centered at this point it will not be centered when you are done, and the upper stainless channels will not be in the correct position to install the upper stainless.) Work your way around the bottom of the glass and then up each side, keeping the seal centered. Once you get to the top, make sure your seal is centered and continue. The seal may start to get tight at this point, just keep working the seal onto the glass.
Soak your 10 ft. piece of cord in soapy water and then, starting at the bottom, centered, work the cord into the outer channel of the seal, the side that will go against and into the window channel on the car. (You start the cord at the bottom, in the center, and end at the bottom, in the center, after inserting the cord in the channel all the way around the window.) Using a cotton cord, like we did, will make sure the paint or headliner does not get damaged. Cotton cord is strong, soft and non-abrasive, unlike separating the previous instructions, and slide the stainless into the center connector. Make sure the stainless is tight in the channel and fits properly around the glass.
Now you can fit the windshield into the windshield opening. It will fit loosely but get it as tight into the channel as you can.
As you are doing this make sure the ends of the cord you installed into the channel on the seal are on the inside of the car. When the windshield fits as good as it can, starting on one side carefully pull the cord towards you working the inner lip of the seal over the channel on the inside of the car. Work one side at a time to the end and up the pillar to just above the end of the curve.
When you are done with both sides, using the palm of your hand, slap the window into the windshield frame. When the windshield is seated take one of the cord ends in each hand and slowly pull them, together, to seat the inner lip the rest of the way around. By pulling each end together the cord will not slide out of the channel, if it does you will have to start over.
Again, using the palm of your hand, slap the windshield to make sure it has a tight seal and a good fit. Check for gaps around the windshield and make sure the seal is seated properly and tightly.
Now screw the end of the upper moulding into the windshield frame. Get your corner moulding and install a new corner moulding clip, #015A. Peen the side of the corner stainless over to hold the connector in place on the stainless.
Fish the wiper washer hose out from the cowl and attach it to the pipe in the wiper escutcheon. Put the escutcheon into place around the nub on the windshield wiper transmissions. Screw on the wiper escutcheon nuts and tighten using the wiper nut tool. Adjust the spray nozzles on the escutcheon so that the spray hits the glass.
Test. Making sure the wiper transmissions are in the all the way down position, replace the wiper arms on the transmission nubs by pushing down until they click into place. (If you have not adjusted your wiper cables in a while, pushing down on the wiper transmission nubs before you install the arms will tighten them up.)
That's it. Your car now has brand new stainless, a brand new windshield and a new rubber seal.
Woody's Hot Rodz Part Numbers Used:
DAN-567 - Windshield Seal
ACL-WINDSHIELD - Auto City Classic Windshield
DAN-2056/2057 - Molding Connectors
DAN-015/015A - Molding Clips
DAN-210/210A - Wiper Escutcheon
GDS-WS13-55B/-57B & GDS-WS13-55TR/TL - Windshield Moldings
DAN-2518L/R - Wiper Blades
DAN-2519/2520 - Wiper Arms
