Morning coffee

[57AGIN]

Zapato:

I received the Falcon Club newsletters.  Thank you, they are going to a new home later today.

Bob
57 AGIN

[Zapato]

good to hear, and you're welcome.

Zap-

[RICH MUISE]

I have a guy coming to the house tommorrow to help me get my windshield installed. Yahoo!
I sure hope it's a no problem project. Tom has done many before, and just retired last month. Once that is done, I can finish up the interior dash/garnish rails stuff.
I'm not ready for the back glass install yet, and it's not holding anything up anyway.

[Ecode70D]

Rich I know that you guys know what you're doing, but make sure that you attach the stainless into the rubber before  installing the windshield.  Once the windshield and rubber are in  place on the car, it's too late to install the stainless.  This does not apply to the two lower corner pieces.   

[RICH MUISE]

Thanks for double checking, Jay, but it's ready to go in...has been for a year or two. The seal has been installed on the glass with sealer and all the stainless is on except the two corner piecs as you mentioned. I had bought a few tubes of sealant a few years back that went bad, so I found out yesterday when checking it, bought some fresh 3M butyl sealant this morning. I know some guys put them in without sealant, but even though I'm not planning on having it out in bad weather, you never know. And I may want to wet wash it occasionally.
I probably could put the back window in as well, but I've never taken the glass out of the box and I want to have the seal sit on the glass for a few weeks anyways.
Today I'm cleaning the clutter out of the area so we won't be tripping over anything tommorrow. I'm also going to tape down some paper on the dash in case this gets messy.

[Ecode70D]

Rich
    I guess that it's OK to use sealer.   I just use soapy water and it also helps to pull the rope out of the groove and set the rubber onto the windshield lip. 
Never had one leak and have had them out in the rain.  Just take your time and don't use any force.  The rope will pull it right into place.  You will do just fine.  Sorry that I couldn't be there to help you. 
     Oh ... There is one more thing that I do.  I set the whole thing on the car in place and shift the windshield left and right to center it.  When I get it centered, I put a piece of masking tape from the glass over the rubber and onto the car body then cut it at the seam.  When you are doing the actual installation , just line up the tape.  I usually work alone and this always works for me.
       I hope that your headliner is already in place  before installing the windshield.

[RICH MUISE]

I'll have to make a decision in the next hour or two on whether to use the sealer or not. I got looking at the seal and realized that if everything is fitting correctly (that's a big if), the seal actually seals against the flat area perpendicular to the flange, not the actual flange as I had originally thought. Sure would be alot cleaner without the butyl sealer.

[Ecode70D]

Rich
   In my opinion it's not a big deal if you use the sealer or not.  Some may agree some may disagree.
   Is your headliner already installed?  I hope that it is.  I always do the headliner first because it is supposed to be pulled tightly and glued around  that upper lip where the the windshield rubber attaches.  Then the windshield rubber goes around the whole thing keeping everything nice and snug. This helps to avoid headliner droop.  When most people bring a car in to have a headliner installed, the installer just tucks it into the upper rubber piece.  Jay
PS.    One more thing,this applies to the back glass also.

[RICH MUISE]

My headliner is installed, but is not wrapped around the windshield flange. There are tack strips inside close to the windshield. The back window is done as you described though. The windshield has garnish rails around it, the back window doesn't
Anyway...not a good day. I don't know where I got the info to glue(sealant) the seal to the window, could have sworn I read it on the factory installation info. That was a major mistake. We didn't have enough movement with it attached to the windshield, and in fact the seal actually started splitting apart. Back to square one...I need to reorder a new seal and start over again.

[Ecode70D]

Anyway...not a good day.  and in fact the seal actually started splitting apart. Back to square one...I need to reorder a new seal and start over again.

Rich.  I always bought my 57-58 windshield seals from Carpenter.  It's is a real bummer that your seal is starting to split.  Who knows what those off shore companies are putting into the stuff that they call rubber these days and they ain't cheap.  Hope that your friend didn't have to travel far to get there.  Mine has garnish on the front and none on the back also.   You are correct You're not having a good day.  Go back in the house and take a good nap.  Then you'll feel better. Jay   

[Zapato]

Rich, was your windshield from Carpenters? Lots of chatter over on the HAMB about how crappy their windshield rubber has become. Unfortunately most of the other suppliers sell them also. Be sure and ask where they were made if India or China think twice whatever they're using is not worth the time to order. Maybe check with Steele if they're still making rubber products.

Zap-

[Zapato]

just checked with Steele Rubber Products and they do not list a 57 specific windshield rubber gasket, lots of different extrusions which would mean picking the right one and cutting to fit.

Zap-

[hiball3985]

Thats too bad Rich. We all seem to do the "one step forward and two steps back dance" on many of our projects. A lot of people are complaining about Carpenters stuff on the truck forums. Some people stated that since his son/sons took over they only care about $$ and not quality..

[RICH MUISE]

If you go to Carpenter's website, they have a big article on the windshield and door seals being made "here in NC"(I guess that could also mean Steele Rubber, as someone reported they make parts for each other, and they're in the same area. I bought mine from Carpenter's early on in my restoration project, so it's probably 8 or so years old and sat in my hot/cold workshop that long. I honestly don't think I would have had a problem with it had I not set it on the windshield a few years back with sealant. What was splitting, or tearing was the outside portion that is inboard from the stainless, and it's hollow, so thin walled. I'll chaulk this one up to my fault.
It could have been worse...I don't want to break that glass.

[57 imposter]

Got to agree with the shaky quality on Carpenter seals. a few years back i took a carpenter rear glass seal for a 63 1/2 Galaxie to a local glass shop. They installed the back glass and wouldn't take any money for doing the job. They said the gasket was so poorly  made that they didn't want to guarantee  it wouldn't leak. I tried explaining to them that I brought the gasket in and could see no reason why they shouldn't be paid but he stood firm. At the same time he was having no luck trying to sell a motorcycle so I got busy and found a buyer and we decided that made us even. I have to buy both  front and rear for my car and am going to try hard to find an option to Carpenter