Got the windshield off - now what?

[45Kevin]

Well my windshield has been looking pretty sorry for a while now, so last fall I arrange to buy a good used one in Montana and with the help of 3puppies I picked it up at his place on the way back from SNT.

Over the winter I ground of the few small rust spots and painted it.

Turns out it is not exactly like the one on my truck. It needs the smaller wiper motor cover. I have fixed that problem though, by drilling a couple new holes and welding in some nuts.

Will I have any issue with putting my motor in there or will I need to make the hole bigger for my motor to fit?


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[45Kevin]

Tonight I removed the old frame. It was shot, well beyond an easy repair.

Although...I have seen some guys on here that can take a piece of rust and build a truck around it.

By the way, where can I get the decorative cover that goes over the nut that holds the wiper arm on as shown missing in the third pic.


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[45Kevin]

Tomorrow I'll blast and grind the area under the windshield frame and hopefully have it primed and painted by the end of the day.

The intersection of the cowl, and the metal under the frame has some old cracked seam sealer. I will scrape this off before I blast the area.

How can I put the seam sealer back on with the same kind of bead that is stock. Has anyone else re-done this area and how does the finished product look?

The only way I can think to do a neat job is to put the seam sealer on and smooth it with my finger.

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[79fj40moneypit]

There are a couple of threads where all the seam sealer was taken out and tape was applied on either side of the seam then the seam sealer was put down and then the tape taken off. Clean neat job.

 

[45Kevin]

I scraped out the old seam sealer and blasted (it didn't work to good today) and ground away as much of the rust as possible.

Then I took a small artist's brush and brushed some chassis saver down as far into the joint as possible.

I'll prime tomorrow and put some seam sealer on the joints.

 

[45Kevin]

Primed it up last night and this morning put a couple of dabs of spot putty over the pitted areas.

Now for the seam sealer. There are many threads that ask and talk about it on this site, but none that clearly explain a good way to get a neat, factory look.

Here's what I did using bits and pieces gleened from other posts.

Yesterday I painted the joint with the chassis saver and then primed the area.

This morning I taped on both sides of the joint, leaving a gap of about 1/8 inch. Then applied the seal sealer forcing it as deep into the joint as possible. I cut the hole in the tube as smalll as possible, to try and minimize the excess.

Then I wiped the excess off with my reducer soaked finger, trying for a nice tooled looking finish. This as not how the factory did it but it should look OK.

I then peeled off the masking tape. This kind of messed up the joint so I ran my finger over it again. The idea was to not get any of the seam sealer on the flat area of the metal.

It is not perfect, but it doesn't look too bad. We will know for sure when the colour goes on.

 

[45Kevin]

A few more.


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[45Kevin]

Now with primer on the seam sealer.


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[45Kevin]

Hit a road block

I need to remove the glass from the old frame. It will be used as a template for the new glass.

I looked at Texican's glass install thread in the FAQ and tried to reverse it, but it ain't working.

Aside from breaking it out, are there any tricks to getting it out intact?

 

[miker]

For what its worth...
I've been using some seam sealer over the last several weeks on my 45 and have been a bit frustrated with the way some of this stuff shrinks. It looks like yours may have shrunk quite a bit as it dried. You may want to consider leaving it on thicker to allow for this shrinkage. I'm finding that if its too thin, it will eventually crack. The sealer I used (tried 3 different brands) was not the brand you pictured so you very well may have different results.

I can say that when using my finger I would tend to leave the sealer too thin to account for the shrinkage that occurred when drying. Using a flat or beveled tool can help to keep the sealer a bit thicker vs. using my finger that would always leave the sealer concave and then shrink beyond concave during the drying period. For me, a bondo spreader cut to shape worked pretty well as the 'tool'.

I also had good results (so far) with 3m fast-n-firm if I left it as a bead, and then used a small soft brush with solvent to LIGHTLY paint the sealer in a single direction. Basically, this appears to allow the sealer to smooth and flow better into the seam and prevented (again, so far) cracking between the sealer and primed metal. I tried this with some Quick-n-Firm EverCoat seam sealer and all it did was wash away the sealer and made a mess so try on some scrap before doing it on something you want to look nice. Maybe I didn't wait long enough before applying the solvent on the EverCoat because the EverCoat stuff takes a very long time to dry. I don't how they define "Quick" but it didn't seem quick to me.

 

[miker]

Aside from breaking it out, are there any tricks to getting it out intact?

Cut out the rubber weather seal and plan to replace it with new. I don't think they are too expensive but you might want to check it out before getting out the utility knife.

 

[fjwagon]

I've had success removing the glass from the frame by lifting the seal from the inside and pressing the glass forward and keep reapeating process. You may have to wedge the seal as you lift and start at the corner to make easier to push the glass away from the frame. It takes a little patience and some help would be nice if you can get it. Or just cut the seal like Miker suggested.

 

[45Kevin]

SUCCESS

I reverse engineered Texicans installation method.

I forced the rope (1/4" or so) well into the rubber seal. I think it actually went in between the metal edge and the seal, thereby forcing the seal tighter against the glass, effectively making the seal/ glass smaller.

Then I pryed the seal up just a little more, with tools and fingers, while gently pushing the glass down. I started at one corner and then worked towards the other corner at the same end. Then I worked down the lenght of the windshield.
I had to elevate the frame of the bench an inch or so because there is not enough clearance for the glss/seal to fall out when the frame is resting directly on the bench.

Despite already being cracked, I did not do any further damage to the glass.

 

[45Kevin]

Now I'll take the glass and a new piece cut.

Install next week sometime I hope.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction guys.

 

[alberta mac]

Glad to see work getting done on your 45. If you are talking about the '' decorative nut cover '' on windshield arm. i will have a look and see if I have one in the next day or two.
If there are any 1988 fj60 parts you happen to need for your 45 just let me know. I need to get rid of most of the truck at some point to make room for my 45.
Ps. if your tossing the old windshield let me know.

Cheers

 

[45Kevin]

I installed the new windshield frame yesterday.

There are several differences from the original.

The new one, from a '77 FJJ40 had the small windshield wiper motor, and the smaller motor cover. I drilled a couple of new holes to accomodate my cover. My motor seemed to mount in the new frames holes OK. However, the new holes turn out to be in the wrong place. I did measure but I must have been drinking that day. I've got the cover mounted with only two screws, using the centermost stock holes. The PS side of my cover is tight against the hinge. I have the wipers working but not 100% yet. More fiddling.

Another difference is that my rearview mirroe won't fit in the new frame's holes. It appprears that the '77 came with a mirror that had a mount about an inch wider than my mirror has.

And the third difference is that the '77 did not have a frame mounted washer nozzle. Not a biggie since I installled a hood mounted nozzle several years ago.

I won't be keeping the old frame as it is very rusty. You can have it if you want, but I will hang onto it until I have taken exact measurements of all the holes.

Do you know the trick to setting up the wiper linkage to the motor to get it working right?