windshield ....caulk caulk and more caulk

[Stephen R.]

Well after 34 years of driving my 59 I decided to redo the dash and take off and redo the windshield, which had never been done under my ownership. I read all of the posts and went searching for the 4 large side bolts and 8 smaller bolts. I can now attest to the fact that you can drive a car for 34 years with the windshield being held on with the 4 side bolts and the 2 smaller center bolts that also are attached to the underside frame. None of the other bolts had any nuts on them and the above mentioned 6 were basically hand tight. There was however a ton of caulk in the channel which I assume glued the whole assembly in. I also lucked out in that my tabs are in pristine condition. I basically drove the car with the hardtop on, and the soft top was put on "loosely". Here's my question, I just spent 4 hours removing the old caulk from all of the frame, channels and the molding, even the filler strip was caulked in, there was/is caulk every where. I still have some to do on the frame and then the body channel, is there a time when there is too much caulk? or not enough? What parts need to be caulked and when should it be done? How tight do the repo rubber seals fit? Are they good enough? The caulk that I removed seemed to serve two purposes, one as a sealant and another as a filler where parts didn't fit correctly. Any advice from people who have been there before me is greatly appreciated, now that I have windshield parts all over the basement floor.
What type of caulk should I now use? Thanks again....sorry for the double psot

[Greg S.]

Re: windshield ....caulk caulk and more caulk

When I did the windshield on my 62 I only used caulk underneath the rubber seal between the body and the windshield frame. I used the black windshield caulk available at most parts stores. Apply with a typical caulk gun. I didn't use any sealant on the windshield rubber seal. Seems to have worked well. Most posts I read before doing the job said to use as little caulk as possible.

[Stephen R.]

Re: windshield ....caulk caulk and more caulk

Thanks Gregg for the response. I'll probably just do the body channel area and the bolt hole areas where screws penetrate parts. The upper and lower nut plates also appeared to have been " glued" in with caulk. I also, unfortunately, put on visors about six months ago just by drilling holes where I thought the screws should be. I'm not far off, so I'm going to attempt to install the nuts in the upper stainless using the caulk and/or a glue. Really don't want more holes in the stainless, and a new one is astronomical in price.
Steve

[Dennis A.]

Re: windshield ....caulk caulk and more caulk

Stephen...
Greg has it right... I don't use any caulk in or on the frame, only in the body channel. When installing the filler strip, spot in a few places with cement glue to keep in place.

[Stephen R.]

Re: windshield ....caulk caulk and more caulk

Hi guys, thanks for all of the info. One thing I would like to clarify, did either of you use any kind of sealer anywhere when you assembled the windshield? I read an article by John Bellmore (don't know the date of the article) and he mentions sealing the top, side and lower channel, and the the main and lower gasket. I know that the only caulk should be in the body channel, but was a sealer used any where? If so what type?

One other problem that I'm having is, when do you install the upper trim molding? I've seen articles where the entire frame was assembled, and then the upper molding put on. For the life of me, I don't know how that molding would go over the end posts without bending and destroying it. It seems to me the best way to proceed is to install the upper channel/frame into the upper molding, put that assembly onto the windshield, then install the side posts. Help!
Thanks again
Steve

[Richard T.]

Re: windshield ....caulk caulk and more caulk

Stephen,
The upper stainless should be attached to the upper channel before the frame is assembled around the glass. Also befor you go too far with the visor holes, the inner sun visor mounting holes had a nut plate spot welded to the inside of the stainless which accepted the mounting screws. Rich

[Stephen R.]

Re: windshield ....caulk caulk and more caulk

Thanks Rich, that helps a lot. As for the visors, unfortunately I drilled holes in the ss about 6 months ago and installed the visors without the nuts. At that time I had no intention of taking the windshield apart, it was way too complicated and I didn't know how to do it. Now that the molding is off however, I've silver soldered nuts onto the back. I lucked out in that the nuts clear all of the screw towers on the frame.
I wanted to do the dash (I had made the one that is now on the car, 35 years ago, using some red vinyl I got from a car upholsterer). At that time I was able to slip the vinyl under the rubber seal, so I never had the windshield off. Didn't know you had to remove the windshield to put on the dash. I didn't realize that all 3 of these projects, dash-windshield-visors, had to be done sequentially.
Steve

[Richard T.]

Re: windshield ....caulk caulk and more caulk

Steve,
If you silver soldered the nuts to the stainless it should be fine and is as close to the original design as your going to get. I was afraid that you were using just the stainless to hold the screws or worse using long screws into the channel. Sounds like you have it now. Rich