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MG MGB Technical - Tips for Re-Installing Windshield Assembly?

OK, so after all the blood,swearing and tears of putting a new windshield into the frame, you would think its about time for a change of luck, no?

How the )(*&(*)^$*& are you suppossed to get the frame bolted back into the car with all the new rubber seals fighting you all the way? The two lower bolts are in, and based on the fact that there is no movement of the frame, I am thinking that that is all that is ever going to be holding the thing in.

Are there tricks to doing this? Once again, how did the factory assemble the things?

Pete
Pete

Two friends and a case of beer. :-)

You cannot do this yourself, when my wife and I did it last year she stood on the frame while I hauled it down and bolted it into place.
The Wiz

Pete;

It is called time. Let the frame sit on the rubber seals for a few weeks in a warm place. The weight of the windshield will deform the seals to the point that you should be able to get the final bolts in.
Ron Kluwe

I ran some ropes/thick cords (6mm off my sailboat) up over the top of the screen pillars and wound a big screw driver in them.
Pulled the thing down to where I wanted it. Put some protective cloth over paintwork. You can generate quite alot of force by winding a rope. (I'm sure thats how they built the pyramids etc).
make sure you've got those two spacers/shimms per side otherwise when you tighten the bolts up you'll bend the frame and inflexible glass. Guess how I found this out:(
Peter

I had the assistance of a friend and his wife. She sat on the frame while he lined up the bolt holes and I started the bolts and turned the wrench.

We put a towel under the frame and new seal before we sat everything in place, then pulled out the towel to pull the seal into the proper position.

A lot of patience also helps. It also helps that my friend and his wife had performed this operation themselves before I asked for their help.

Good luck.

Ken V.
'77 MGB
Safety Fast!
Ken Vandruff

The new seal was a pig to fit, it keeps curling back up as you move the frame assy to align the bolts, which do not enter easily and have to be spannered all the way. I can't remeber if it was on here but someone did say file an entry onto the bolts, which seems good advice, and I have heard the string idea before, and it is something I would try if I was doing this again perhaps some hi breaking strain nylon fishig line? Oh and I had help, there is no way you could do this on your own. I have never been brave enough to change the glass!
Stan Best

Yes, it is possible to drive the car with a bolt missing---------

LOL
Sf
Dwight
DCM McCullough

If you have one bolt in either side but cannot get the other bolt in then either the thick spacer they go through has moved away from the hole in the body because its location screw is missing, or the screen is simply at the wrong angle. Having been through this twice in three years once you get the first bolt in each side the other should be relatively easy. This time I checked the bolts went into the frame easily before fitting frame to car in case that had been part of the problem first time, and some at least of my bolts have points on them to aid location. The 2nd time it was slightly easier to get the bolts started, but still needed a clamp to push the foot of the pillar down onto the wing, as well as two of us pushing and pulling into position. I used a screwdriver smaller than the bolt to make sure I had got the holes somewhere in line, judging by how much it waggled back and fore in two directions to get the holes closely in line before trying the bolts.

Both times it was easier than getting the frame closed around the new glass, which was only slightly easier with a 2-year-old seal, both times using copious application of Swarfega Original (the smooth green stuff) which remains slippier much longer than washing-up liquid.

Incidentally the new bottom seal did curl *slightly* less the 2nd time compared to when new, but only slightly, it still had to be lifted out all the way along before attempting to insert the bolts. The concept of "Let the frame sit on the rubber seals for a few weeks in a warm place" i.e. off-car is a non-starter in my book, and several years would probably be necessary.
Paul Hunt 2

I've always wondered when guys have their wives sit on the frame or there's beer involved ... how do you prevent the glass from breaking under this pressure?
Danny Jacob

Danny, not breaking the glass depends on the size of the wife.
John H

Car is gone back to its owner. Two bolts is all it would take no matter what was tried. ( The holes are lined up through the spacer) I suspect the rubber blocks that go under the post were just a hair too thick.

Pete
Pete

When I replaced the glass in the windshield frame and then came to the point of installing the 4 bracket bolts, I could not get them to line up with the holes. So I got some replacement bolts with a " point" on them. I think that they are used to attach body panels on domestic cars. Went in quite easily. It seems that getting the threads on the OEM bolts to engage with the threads on the bracket without cross threading them is the problem. The bolts that come to tapered end (point) on the threaded part of the bolt work well. Alyn
Alyn

This thread was discussed between 16/08/2006 and 20/08/2006

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