Replacing the Windscreen in a SIII from the Inside

Hi-

I'm armpit deep in what was originally going to be a simple job of removing and replacing my driver's seat. But, hey, the carpet's pretty dirty under there, so I'll take the other seats out...

You know how it goes. Well, somewhere along the way, I realized that it is possible to reseal the windshield, if one is willing to (or getting sucked into) taking the car apart a bit more than normal.

Looking at the R&R instructions for the windshield (Jag Repair Manual), I noted that the inner flange finisher (U shaped rubber extrusion that sits on the flange that the glass then sits on) could probably be removed with the glass in place. It can! So, I bought a cartridge of 3M black urethane windshield adhesive...

The process:

1. Remove dash top. (easy)
2. Remove A pillar trim (including cantrails,hand grips at rear doors, etc.) still easy.
3. Remove headliner. Not terribly easy, but it's real faded and needs recovering anyway. (Broke rearview mirror removing - NOW I see how it comes out! ) :-(
4. Cover dash and everything in front of car with dropcloth.
5. Remove the rubber finisher from between the glass and the body. Start where it is joined together (middle of bottom on mine).
6. Blow channel clean, scrape out foreign material, blow clean again. Once you have cleaned the channel and have all loose mater out of there, blow it clean again.
7. Clean the rubber piece by wiping down with alcohol.

   I wore disposable latex gloves from this point on, changed them about 5 times...

8. Install the adhesive in a caulking gun, follow the directions for opening, then (this is hard - the stuff is quite thick) beginning at the top center, inject a generous bead of adhesive in the channel that you have opened up, all around the windshield.
9. Smooth the bead into the channel with the end of your finger.
10. Reinstall the rubber finisher, note that the thick portion goes between the glass and flange. Press the rubber all the way onto the flange, starting at one end and working your way around the flange. A fair amount of adhesive will ooze out as you go. Ignore it until done. BUT, don't take too long - it sets up rather quickly.
11. Run your finger around the joint again, to smooth out the bead.

    Now you benefit from my biggest goof:

12. Use a popsicle stick or plastic spoon, fork or whatever, and run an edge around the rubber at the joint, so that (later, when dry) you can use a single edged razor blade to scrape off the surplus adhesive. The only exception to this is if you get adhesive on the portion of the glass that has the "Triplex" logo etched on it. Those letters are raised and will prevent the razor blade from doing any good. Acetone or Alcohol will remove the adhesive from that area.

Total cost (ignoring dismantling the car): $12 US.

Seeing as I want to have the car painted in the next 6 months and don't want to have the windshield replaced twice, this looks pretty good to me!

Have fun!
...

My car is a SIII ('85), with the glass 'glued' into the recess and the finishers pressed into the glue, hence, not very repairable. If there is rust already, this (my reseal) will not correct it, but it did fill all of the voids behind the glass. I have minor rust in some areas (surface rust) from the leaks, I'd assume the lack of future water will help this, but certainly will have it repaired when I get it painted.

This approach certainly was labor-intensive, but I've wanted to 'nice-up' the interior for some time anyway.