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MG MGB Technical - Fitting Windscreen to car

I took my windscreen off the car (1979 MGB) to fit a new windscreen to body seal. Now it is time to fit the assembly back onto the car. This is not the first time I have had the windscreen off the car, I took if off and put it back on once before after having the car painted.

According to what I have been reading in the archives,
There are supposed to be shims to install when connecting the screen to the car. I never saw any shims when I removed the screen the first time. Therefore I never installed any at that time either. I understand the glass can crack if these shims are not used. ( I guess I just got lucky the first time I re-installed the screen to the car).

Can anyone tell me how thick these shims should be? I guess I could fabricate some up. I want to put the windscreen back on the car this weekend. I will be driving the car out to Sonoma next weekend for MG2007.

Also where do they go exactly? I am thinking they probably need to go between the side pillar legs of the windscreen and the car body (the area where the two bolts connect the windscreen to the car?)

Does anyone have a picture of these shims both in place and not in their place.

Thanks,
John Fraioli
John F

Have a look at items 33 and 34 here...

http://www.moss-europe.co.uk/Shop/ViewProducts.aspx?PlateIndexID=216

I haven't had the screen off my 'B', but midgets have a shim which goes between the pillar and the body, which just fills the gap. It is an oval plate with two holes in it for the bolts...fairly easy to fabricate, if necessary.

I'm a bit confused by the Moss page, as it has inner and outer.
Dave O'Neill 2

John,
The shim might still be there. It's attached to the body (one screw, loose) and not to the windshield pillar. Because it's made of plastic and prone to break at the centered screw hole, it may have fallen away down inside the fender.

I'm also confused about the inner and outer shims listed by Moss. I don't know what Moss sells, but I've bought a few replacements off ebay. These were made of metal and appear thicker than the OE shims. Haven't had a need for them yet, so can't say how well they work.

Steve Buchina

With the doors open, At the top of the door jam (s), under the windscreen pillar, is an almost L shaped metal cover. To the outside of teh rubber door seal. It is held on by some small rivets and clips. If you remove this it can make lining up the bolts and fitting the windscreen much easier. the covers are easy enough to put back on.
You will also see where those spacers go.
They should be held in place to the outside of the footwell wall by a single central screw coming from the footwell side of the car. There is a thick plastic one and a thinner one made nowdays of a variety of materials. Orrigionaly that glove box cardboard material. They can be made of anything really, even old bits of plastic, wood etc, because they are not visible when their covers are on.
The idea is that the windscreen pillars slide closely over these spacers/shimms and you can tighten up the bolts without pulling in the pillars and 'flexing' the glass.
The plastic spacers can fracture and fall off, often when fitting a windscreen they get a knock.
Peter

Thanks for the comments,

I looked and did see that the shims ARE in place. They are painted the same colour as the body. That must be why the windscreen did not crack last time I installed it.

Now my only problem is that the lower hole in the passanger side pilar is stripped so the bolt will not hold tight. Everything seems to be holding up so far. The windscreen is pretty solid in place and has good alignment with the door vent windows.

My question is can I tap the hole and use the next size larger diameter bolt. I would like to just find a 7/16 inch self tapping bolt and turn it in. Do you think this would work? I am wondering how others have fixed a striped pilar hole?

John Fraioli
1979 Inca Yellow MGB
1972 Teal Blue MGB-GT

John F

John,
The thread should be repaired using a Helicoil insert so you are back to the original thread. It can be done in situ.
Any machine shop or garage should be able to do this for you, or you can buy a Helicoil kit and do it yourself.

David
David Overington

John
I had a simular problem, i drilled out the pop rivets on the cover under the pillar inside the car and then it gives you access to use a nut and bolt, use a stiff/lock nut. You can then replace the cover and use self tapper screws, it stays in place and you can remove it easier next time (should you need to!)

Graham
Graham Lavis

This thread was discussed between 06/07/2007 and 09/07/2007

MG MGB Technical index

This thread is from the archive. The Live MG MGB Technical BBS is active now.