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Installing Gasket type winshields
This one is easy, I've done it several times. Get an assistant to help hold & install the glass.
Carefully place the Sprint windshield onto a table, face side down, now install the complete rubber gasket, (complete with aluminium trim facing), onto the edge of the glass. - Don't apply massive force here, you are working with expensive glass.
When picking up the screen, it should look like it just came out of the car.
OK, if you want to install a bit of special sealer between the gasket and the glass, now is the time, while it is on the bench.
Now take a piece of rope - you want a decent length here, enough to wrap around the screen edge, and about 1/8 to 1/4 in diameter - I use a bit of soft woven nylon rope.
Lay this rope around the edge of the gasket, (already installed on glass), you want to push the rope under the "sealing lip" of the gasket - make sure the ends of the rope cross over at the top of the windshield. Basically when this is done and you & your assistant carefully pick up the shield and place it into the aperture on the car, you should have to place the ends of the rope in the aperture first and they should hang down from the top.
Oh yes, I paint the aperture and the sealing lips with a thick treacle type rustproofing mix called Tectyl before installation - I use this stuff to seal the aperture, its a thicker version of the British "Waxoyl", but you could use any pliable windshield sealer available to you, but DO NOT use the stuff that is to bond in a screen, this stuff hardens like concrete and your screen was designed to be held in by rubber, not epoxy glue.
Ok, the screen is in place, just settle it so that the top is in place on the body with the bottom sticking out - push the screen up hard, to "fit" it into place on the top - assistant keeps pressure in an upwards position.
You get in the car with a pair of stout gloves, your assistant keeps applying pressure with both hands flat on the screen. If you are lucky, the rope has stayed in place and you are now faced with both ends hanging down from the tip of the screen inside the car. Pull the ends of the rope - this has the effect of peeling back the inner rubber lips of the gasket and popping them onto the inside of the car screen aperture. The rope slides and prevents damage to both car & gasket. The reason for pulling down is purely space, you can only pull up as high as the roof and cannot get much force on the rope. Assistant keeps applying pressure on the screen.
By now you should have 3/4 of the screen in, climb out & both you & your assistant now strike the screen with the palm & heel of your hands in an upward direction. This settles the glass in the aperture & closes the gap left by the thickness of the rope. Get back in & pull the remaining rope, (both ends together), until they meet in the middle - actually pull one end a bit more and finish off above the glove box, purely for space - don't want to damage the mirror.
Now bash the glass a bit with your hands as before - it is quite tough - and it should settle down nicely. Now just to clean off the area around the gasket & the handprints and you are done.
Works for Sprint, SS, Junior, MG BGT etc, etc.
Works easier if you actually see it done at a glass place first, but once you get the "Knack" it goes quickly.
Cheers
Greig
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