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healey windshield replacement

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davidb

davidb

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Well, that tiny crack in my windshield finally turned into the San Andreas fault, so I'm looking to replace the glass. I found a number of previous threads dealing with the issue, and forum members seem divided between DIY and letting a specialist do it. I've already gone the DIY route years ago, and probably stressed the glass because at that time the rubber glazing was a very poor fit. So I thought I'd let the pros give it a shot this time, since it was a tricky process as I recall, altho I did learn how to swear in several languages. I contacted a couple of auto glass companies and they were reluctant (probably because it wasn't an insurance claim and they couldn't jack up the price). So for those of you who jobbed it out, does it require a specialist, and where did you guys find them?

The patient in question is my 3000 BT7 roadster.

Thanks, Dave.
 
My opinion, having gone the DIY route twice is that the "flat" Non-BJ windshields are a DIY project. I wouldn't do a BJ windshield, though.
 
I did mine, and I do remember it being a chore. If you really don't want to do it again, you might consider is having one of the restoration places do it. Healey Surgeons is a company I've had good luck with. Rather than have them ship the glass to you, you could ship them your frame and have them ship you the glass installed in the frame. You'd have some extra shipping costs, but my guess is that any local place will charge you a lot because they've never done one and are afraid they'll break the glass. It might end up being around the same price or even cheaper. There may be other restoration places closer to you that could do it as well. Just a thought...
 
As you've done it yourself once, probably anyone you get to do it locally will be less experienced than you.
maybe more luck with a restoration place. Ontario should have someone who knows what they're doing.
Has to be some other healey guys there who have contacts.
 
thanks for your replies fellas. So once again, the field is divided on how to approach the issue. I may just go the DIY route as John suggests, because the local jobbers might not know what they're doing (and possibly damage the frame as Keith points out), and since I'm already an expert at not knowing how to do something, what do I have to lose, except my dignity, which disappeared some time ago after my third colonoscopy.

58 special - "Ontario should have someone who knows what they're doing"? Ha. Apparently not. You should see the government they elected.

Cheers, guys.
 
As I recall, it requires at least 4 hands. I had my wife help me, which almost ended our marriage. :smile:

Good luck!
 
I made the mistake of forgetting on which side the aluminum shims were. I took the windshield out to enable a hoist to assist in removing the transmission. I did not need to do this. When I put the windshield back in, I inadvertently reversed the shims to the other side. Over the winter, the windshield cracked. I replaced the windshield with the help of my wife. Once again, over the winter, it cracked in exactly the same place. Somehow, I had a memory recur of the fact that the shims should have been on the driver's side. I have yet to replace the windshield again, but when I do, I will put the shims back where they were originally. I, of course, do not know what caused your problem, but wanted to share my experience. Replacing the glass itself was not that hard although I had to drill out several of the tiny screws holding the corner brackets, because I could not loosen the screws with the tiny screwdriver that fit. I put in all new corner brackets sourced from Moss along with new rubber seals which I taped to the glass and cut flush with the frame after installation.

I believe the stress came from the torquing of the windshield by not having the factory shims on the correct (in my case, drivers) side.
 
Sometimes shims are necessary where the windshield posts bolt to the scuttle to prevent putting the posts in a bind. I have seen many cracked posts at the base because they did not shim them properly to reduce the force when tightened up.
Jim
 
Hi Dave
i did my BN4 myself. Not too difficult. The problem I had was that the rubbers were a little too thin, meaning that the windscreen was a bit lose top and bottom. I added a sealant to the fit after. I didn't have any shims.
Here is some stuff on fitting in one of my videos.
Cheers
Matthew
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwj3uZkPQjQ
 
Shims? We don't need no stinkin' shims....

Ok, so this is the first time I've heard about shims for the windshield. Where do they go? Actually the last time I replaced the windshield, I removed the pillars with the windshield as a unit, and re-fitted the assembly as a whole. It took a bit of "reefing" on the side pillars in order to fit the unit back into the body bolt holes, but I had replaced the windshield-to-scuttle seal at the same time, so I expected it would be a tighter fit in any case. Maybe I stressed the windshield at that time, but I didn't see any cracks at the time. I can't imagine where these shims would go.

At any rate, thanks for the additional inputs, guys, and to Matthew (oxford - good on ya' mate) for his videos, which were quite good and helpful.

Dave.
 
Thank you for the photos, Andrea..."a picture says a thousand words". Always helpful.

Molte grazie, amico

DB
 
The shims on my car are two thin aluminum strips that were fitted between the body and the windshield posts that bolt to the body. They look like scraps with two holes drilled in them for the bolts to go through. I expect that they were only installed on cars that had excessive gaps due to the lack of statistical process control in those days. With the variability of build quality, it is likely that some cars got shims and some didn't. When I inadvertently swapped sides with the shims from left to right and reinstalled the windshield, it did not crack until sometime during the winter while in covered storage. When this happened twice, I realized what must have caused it.
 
Tim,

Thanks for the clarification on the aluminum shims, and where they go. Not to keep flogging a dead horse, but I also thought that I might have stressed out my windshield by not loosening the soft top clamps while in storage over the winter. My garage is not heated and temps can be brutal up her in the Great Gulag of the North. The soft top would shrink and perhaps pull on the windshield. I now loosen the clamps, just as a precaution.

"Statistical process control"? That's a new one, and being a former bureaucrat, I must admit I like it. Kinda like "overarching framework for dialogue".....LOL

D.

Just a thought.
 
Interesting timing on this thread as I am having an issue with my windshield on a 100 BN2 which is in the process of a very long, drawn out restoration. Long story short but a couple years ago I paid a very reputable shop a lot of money to put the windshield together for me. It looked great when I picked it up sitting on the bench, didn't notice anything off. I finally got to putting it on the car and once on the car and you could see it from the side, noticed an obnoxious wave/S-curve/whoop-dee-doo or whatever you want to call it in the top rail (channel?). The top frame channel is majorly un-straight as in 3/8" or so difference from the high area to the low spot. It's bad enough several people have commented on it and it needs to be fixed.

I'm sure everyone is thinking take it back and have this reputable shop re-do it. Well it was over two years ago and truth is, if they sent it out of their shop like that they quite clearly don't give a rat's tail about what they're doing so...here I am.

I am trying to get the top channel off the glass to re-install it straight. I was able to get one end up and made it about 1/3rd the way down the glass and now it is completely stuck in the "low" area where the guy apparently pounded it way down onto the glass. My current process was to tap the end up using a plastic trim removal tool, then shoot a bunch of soapy water down the gap between the top of the glass and the chrome trim, gently prise and tap up with the plastic tool. That worked pretty well on the one end where the trim piece was not on the glass very far, but where it's way down on the glass, it's really stuck and I don't want to damage the frame piece obviously.

Any thoughts on how to get one of these apart that is stuck together like this?

Thanks guys.
 
The windshield was probably (should have been) put together with glazing rubber to hold the glass in place. I've never done this--our BN2's windshield went together fairly easily--but you could try heating with a propane torch, using enough heat to soften--or even melt--the glazing rubber without damaging the trim piece or cracking the windshield. You'll probably have a gooey mess when done, but I don't think you have much choice and you can scrape the rubber off. You might also try finding a solvent that will soften the rubber without damaging the glass or trim. If the installer used a urethane or similar adhesive, a solvent would probably work best.
 
Thanks Bob. The heat option sounds kind of dangerous to me due to glass breakage. I would also assume this is laminated glass and the high heat and/or solvent powerful enough to do something to the rubber would also attack the plastic sheeting in the glass. Yes, they used glazing rubber, I can see it in the area I was able to get apart.

I realize this is going to be a unusual request as I would assume that most are only disassembling due to glass breakage or perished rubber glazing and either of those would make disassembly of the frame a snap. My Dad did have this windshield apart shortly after he purchased the car for some reason. An expert Healey guy helped him put it back together. I was only 10-12 years old at the time but I sure wish I would have paid closer attention as to how they did it.
 
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