Paint and headlining finished..................and now to put all the windows back. Like fitting a headlining I have never, ever, had the occasion to fit a windscreen in a car. But, I took them out so I should be able to put them back in especially with perfect new windscreen rubbers. What can go wrong??
Not exactly correct that statement.... many years ago I took a Viva side window out to replace the rubber. I tried putting it back with a piece of string like the book says....it was a complete failure when the string broke !! Loosing faith in that method I tried the hard way with old spoons and lots of swearing. Managed it in the end, but it was a pig of a job.
So I searched 'Google' and lo and behold a Mini owners forum described that exact method (old spoons). So I put the new rubber on the front screen like it suggested and managed to fit the bottom and two sides, so far so good.........and ground to a halt on the home run with the top two corners and the top of the windscreen. Using old spoons and soapy water I gave battle levering the rubber channel over the glass. Over one hour later with an occasional impersonation of Basil Fawlty threatening the car with a 'good thrashing' I succeeded with very sore fingers, two bent spoons and my dear calm wife looking around the garage door and asking why I was hitting the windscreen with a bunch of twigs and shouting "Right.....this is your last chance !"
I am here to tell you...........THAT IS THE VERY WORST WAY TO PUT A WINDSCREEN IN............there IS an easier way. My wife suggested a professional windscreen fitter. I ignored this lack of faith in my manly abilities and decided to go back to the Indian Rope trick piece of string method. I actually bought a long length of strong nylon cord actually made for the job....not like the cheap garden string I used last time. You feed the cord all along the rubber glazing channel with the two ends coming out of the bottom centre of the channel. With my glamorous lady assistant applying pressure to the rear windscreen I pulled one of the strings and as if by magic the the rubber flipped over the window flange like it should. I worked progressively in both directions with the two ends of the string occasionally helping matters with a silicone lubricant spray.
Corners need a bit of muscle power but the whole job was done in ten minutes.......most of that time was putting the cord in the channel!!!
Both side windows were done in the same way, taking about five minutes each side. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy ( well actually silicone spray or WD40 works better)
Flushed with success, I decided to put the new chrome faced nylon bead into the centre channel of the windscreen rubber. At this rate I should be finished in ten minutes, (what can go wrong?)
I had bought the special tool used for fitting aforementioned bead and realised I did not have a clue how to use it. Again I looked on YouTube, etc, and found a video of a professional windscreen fitter using one. He did a whole screen in a few minutes so I tried to replicate his method by feeding the nylon trim/bead through the diamond shaped loop and opening the rubber channel at the same time - it just jammed and bent one edge of the 'chrome' surface.
I began to realise that perhaps these bead fitters come in different sizes or perhaps I just did not have the 'knack' no matter how I tried. Trying to suppress my altar ego Basil Fawlty and the desire to throw the bloody thing to the back of the garage, I came up with a cunning plan which I commend to you........
I put one side of the bead/trim into one rubber channel and then used the tool to push the other rubber channel over making a snug fit, this can be done quickly with practice along the 'run' with a bit of lubricant ( warm soap water) to help. Corners are tricky as the bead is straight originally and tries to go back to that shape, so keep downwards pressure on it with your free hand whilst using the tool to lock it into the rubber channel. If that fails........give it a good thrashing !!!!
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| Ready for a bit of windscreen fitting............'ANA' the Viva after the re-spray. Chris Hill Copyright. |
Not exactly correct that statement.... many years ago I took a Viva side window out to replace the rubber. I tried putting it back with a piece of string like the book says....it was a complete failure when the string broke !! Loosing faith in that method I tried the hard way with old spoons and lots of swearing. Managed it in the end, but it was a pig of a job.
So I searched 'Google' and lo and behold a Mini owners forum described that exact method (old spoons). So I put the new rubber on the front screen like it suggested and managed to fit the bottom and two sides, so far so good.........and ground to a halt on the home run with the top two corners and the top of the windscreen. Using old spoons and soapy water I gave battle levering the rubber channel over the glass. Over one hour later with an occasional impersonation of Basil Fawlty threatening the car with a 'good thrashing' I succeeded with very sore fingers, two bent spoons and my dear calm wife looking around the garage door and asking why I was hitting the windscreen with a bunch of twigs and shouting "Right.....this is your last chance !"
I am here to tell you...........THAT IS THE VERY WORST WAY TO PUT A WINDSCREEN IN............there IS an easier way. My wife suggested a professional windscreen fitter. I ignored this lack of faith in my manly abilities and decided to go back to the Indian Rope trick piece of string method. I actually bought a long length of strong nylon cord actually made for the job....not like the cheap garden string I used last time. You feed the cord all along the rubber glazing channel with the two ends coming out of the bottom centre of the channel. With my glamorous lady assistant applying pressure to the rear windscreen I pulled one of the strings and as if by magic the the rubber flipped over the window flange like it should. I worked progressively in both directions with the two ends of the string occasionally helping matters with a silicone lubricant spray.
Corners need a bit of muscle power but the whole job was done in ten minutes.......most of that time was putting the cord in the channel!!!
Both side windows were done in the same way, taking about five minutes each side. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy ( well actually silicone spray or WD40 works better)
Flushed with success, I decided to put the new chrome faced nylon bead into the centre channel of the windscreen rubber. At this rate I should be finished in ten minutes, (what can go wrong?)
I had bought the special tool used for fitting aforementioned bead and realised I did not have a clue how to use it. Again I looked on YouTube, etc, and found a video of a professional windscreen fitter using one. He did a whole screen in a few minutes so I tried to replicate his method by feeding the nylon trim/bead through the diamond shaped loop and opening the rubber channel at the same time - it just jammed and bent one edge of the 'chrome' surface.
I began to realise that perhaps these bead fitters come in different sizes or perhaps I just did not have the 'knack' no matter how I tried. Trying to suppress my altar ego Basil Fawlty and the desire to throw the bloody thing to the back of the garage, I came up with a cunning plan which I commend to you........
 |
| Inserting bead/chrome trim into windscreen rubber. HC Viva Chris Hill Copyright |
I put one side of the bead/trim into one rubber channel and then used the tool to push the other rubber channel over making a snug fit, this can be done quickly with practice along the 'run' with a bit of lubricant ( warm soap water) to help. Corners are tricky as the bead is straight originally and tries to go back to that shape, so keep downwards pressure on it with your free hand whilst using the tool to lock it into the rubber channel. If that fails........give it a good thrashing !!!!
 |
| Not a pretty sight................Original rear windscreen rubber before removal prior to car being resprayed. HC Viva Chris Hill copyright. |
Hi Chris
ReplyDeleteI'm the owner of a two door hc viva 1977 and have not been able to find any new fixed quarter window rubbers. Can you tell me where you got yours from?
Thanks Bill