Need Advice - 240z Winshield Replacement - Paint Concern

[=Enigma=]

Hi everyone - Day 1 they'll pull the old windsheild and paint the Silver Color channel to match the current Green color of the car - let it dry.

If by "let it dry" they mean place it under the heat lamps, I would ask them to ensure the dash is properly covered during this process. Paranoid perhaps, but I always say; "better safe then sorry".

[soundmasterg]

Hey Arne,

I've heard that the rubber that Black Dragon sells is not the Precision one and is inferior to the Precision or original rubber. I don't know if its true or not from first hand experience, but I wanted to throw that out there.

Greg

[moritz55]

Just an update folks as promised.

I hope to have photos posted after work tonite of the channel before the paint is applied as I'll be stopping by during lunch. They pulled the old windshield off yesterday and cleaned the channel. They said it looked very good. - no rust to worry about. The Rubber was real hard and did pull up a couple small areas of paint on the roof that they felt needs some touchup, however if the MSA rubber lip is almost 1/8" longer it may cover most of it.

The Installation of the New windsheild will be delayed till early next week becuase the glass they received from PPG had the Tinted Blue 6" Strip across the top. Not my preference as I wanted as close to the stock look as possible so we had to scramble. PPG's warehouses were out of the Non-Tinted version so we had to order from Pilkington Glass in Ohio the correct style. It should arrive by Tuesday of next week. At Pilkington they called it "Solid Blue Glass" and it cost $290 plus $100 shipping, so this project is costing me $220 more than planned just for materials. I rationalized that it's better to be correct for my taste than regret it down the road.

Many thanks for listening - stay tuned.

[five&dime]

Your doing the right thing.

[zed2]

Before you go any further, try to locate one of these...

Keith

[moritz55]

Thanks Keith... I assume this is the Nissan Windshield PN. I was not able to find one on the East Coast . so I went with the Pilkington Glass. Should be here Monday or Tuesday.

All, I stopped by and took the photos at various stages. Overall the channel looked really good.

These photos are of the channel right after 36+yrs of weathering once the windsheild was removed. You may notice the Paint Ridge since the car had 2paint jobs done:: Silver recoat (must have been 25+years ago) and the Current Green coat done ~15years ago. We think the paint ridge will be covered by the MSA weathersrip lip.

Overall no real rust, some slight oxidation in the corners, but the metal and channel was very solid.

Stay Tuned ... Next posting will be the painted channel closeups.

Edited June 3, 2009 by moritz55

[moritz55]

Here are the photos with the channel painted Green - same color as the body. Looks pretty good and I'm glad you all suggested I have this done first. No heat lamps or accelerated drying is being done since the windwsheild won't be here for 6-7days.

The shop has the cord(rope), weatherstrip, lubricant and the sealant all ready for the new windsheild. As I understand it - they'll apply the sealant to the windsheild channel on the weatherstrip before attaching it to the glass. Next they insert the stainless trim peices. Insert the cord into the body channel on the weatherstrip. Then lubricate the channel and gasket and start the installation.

I'm pretty satisfied thus far and hope it continues to go well.

Thanks all...

Edited June 3, 2009 by moritz55

[rtaylor]

Hi Mark. Maybe you could take care of the cracks in the dash while it is out using the methods others have used. It is so much easier with the glass out. You could patch, sand and paint it using the SEM paints. Don't mean to rain on your parade. The channels look great.

[moritz55]

Hi Randy. So you noticed the dash! It's the 1st time I pulled off the dash cover and front dash grill. It's a great suggestion to repair the dash but I'm in a real bind and can't find the time to do it. If only I planned this as part of the overall windsheild replacement project.

I'll have to live with the dash cover for now, while I did have them clean up nicely and refresh the defroster vents with Low Gloss Black paint. The car came with a nice dash cover.

Thanks again ...

Edited June 4, 2009 by moritz55

[rtaylor]

The dash covers work great to cover up the cracks Mark. Good luck on the windshield install.

Edited June 4, 2009 by rtaylor

[moritz55]

Well folks - I didn't want you to think I forgot to update you all on my new windsheild installation.

The New Windsheild from Pilkington Glass was to arrive by Tues , 6/9 this week and it did not. It appears the shipping carrier had it on the worng truck ?? So as of yesterday it was back in Ohio.

I'm hoping the glass is here by Friday , 6/12 so it can be installed.

I'll keep you all updated.

Many thanks...

[moritz55]

Well all - I finally picked up my car with the new windsheild installed. I'm quite pleased given the complexity of the task. The Body/Auto Glass shop not only had to paint the channel with my matching '96 Green (was original '73 Datsun Silver), but they spent quite a bit of time centering the window and weatherstripping into the channel to minimize any edge missmatch affect. I've included the photos... The worse corner is the passenger top corner. You can see the MSA weather strip is not as rounded on the corner (it's more a pointed ) as original so you can see the paint buildup edge affect from the prior 2 paint jobs being done with the original winsheild still installed.

However - the new glass is terrific and since it is flawless, the tradeoff for the minor top corner edge affects make it well worth it. The glass came from Pilkington Glass, Ohio and is beautiful - it's made in the UK according to Pilkington. Shipping was a mess however - not their fault, it was the trucker's error - Roadway. Instead of 3-5 business days for delivery, it came in 10 business days. Pilkington managed the messup for me and made good by not charging me shipping costs. This delay saved me $100 usd which was the shipping costs!

Many thanks again for all the advice !!!

Edited June 18, 2009 by moritz55