1971 HLS30-14938 "Lily" build

[grannyknot]

8 hours ago, motorman7 said:

Also, not a fan of trimmer filament. It is a small diameter and has a tendency to cling to the rubber lip and potentially tear the gasket lip (ask me how I know). I prefer to use a quarter inch diameter nylon cord/rope for the process. It's a bit more gentle on the rubber and comes out of the groove easier during the install process. 

 

9 hours ago, motorman7 said:

I have always installed the stainless steel trim AFTER getting the windshield installed on the car. When I tried to put the trim in before installing the windshield onto the car, the trim came out during the installation process.  The key to installing the trim after is using lots of Windex. I will typically install one trim edge in the rubber gasket groove, I then lube the other rubber groove generously with Windex and use a small screwdriver to lift the other rubber groove over the stainless steel trim edge. With a nice soft gasket, the second groove will lift over and secure the trim almost like a zipper. Hard gaskets are a bit more difficult,  but not bad.  For what it's worth, I have installed at least 10 sets of windshields and hatch glass and their respective trim so I am pretty comfortable with it. Also, I blogged the process somewhere on the site here.

Hmmm,  just the opposite for me, I installed 2 sets of trim after the glass and gasket were in and ended up with several rubber tears, I've done 5 sets of trim installing the trim before the glass goes in with no problems. Same with nylon cord, it tore the rubber because of its thickness, whereas the trimmer line just slides rubber lip over the pinch weld.

I guess it is just what you get use to,  I'll bet if either of us had stuck with the others method a bit longer we would have mastered it too.  The real problem is doing this job once for the first time, it can be a pretty high stress and frustrating exercise.

@motorman7 do you use gasket sealant between the gasket and pinch weld?  I did once and made such a mess of things that it took hours to clean it up, I haven't used sealant since then and have found no problem with leaks.

[motorman7]

@grannyknot I use the weatherstrip glue in the corners only, in the outside channel of the pinch weld, on all 4 corners.   The bead of sealant extends about 6 to 8 inches from each corner. The corners seem to typically have the worst fit, so I think the sealant in those locations helps.

 

Also, regarding installation, the condition of the gasket is probably a big factor. The soft ones make for a pretty easy install.  The hard ones can be a bear.

Edited January 16 by motorman7

[Namerow]

What determines whether you get a hard gasket or a soft one?  Manufacturer?  Number of years sitting on the shelf?

[grannyknot]

I had a Z once that came with a NOS Nissan windshield gasket, it was pretty hard but the fit was perfect, the new aftermarket gaskets are good, good enough and as long as they are warm when installing them they work well I think.

[bartsscooterservice]

8 hours ago, Namerow said:

What determines whether you get a hard gasket or a soft one?  Manufacturer?  Number of years sitting on the shelf?

In the past rubbers used to be softer, same with tires, these days they mix a lot of synthetic stuff in to use less naturel rubber €€. But the dis-advantage of naturel rubber is that it doesn't last that long and dries out quicker, but it's softer. With the Chinese scooters for my work they still use that old rubber in their tires also, but they are allready dried out in 1 year.

With the mopeds with inner tubes to.. to old tires used to be soft, you could put them on with thand, without damaging the rim, these days i have to heat them up with an air gun to make em soft enough to put on without damage...

[Patcon]

Testing headlamp bulbs in the shop the other day. Another use for the jump box. I have an LED kit that SteveJ recommended but I figured I would start this way and then add the LED's in later

 

[SteveJ]

Nice glow. Does Cody need me to find H4 housings and bulbs for the Goon?

[Patcon]

2 hours ago, SteveJ said:

Nice glow. Does Cody need me to find H4 housings and bulbs for the Goon?

That might be nice!

[Patcon]

The dimensions of the caps for the headlight screws. I have found some 8mm caps but they're not long

[Patcon]

So I lied, I ordered a new windshield gasket from Zcardepot. It wasn't a lot of money and I could afford the little bit of lost time.

The second one I got was not a "Precision" gasket. I actually like it better. It seems softer and possibly a little larger and the welded corners look really good.

So I had a go at the stainless trim again. I bought some tools on Amazon, because who doesn't like new tools! 😉

So this is a windshield trim tool. There are some vintage windshield styles that use a rubber insert to log the glass in. I wasn't sure this tool would have a tip that was large enough for the stainless trim.

Cody was helping me here hold the gasket to the glass and keep it in line with the trim

I used the Precision gasket lube to make it easier for the edges of the rubber to move around the trim.

The gasket isn't quite right in the lower corners yet, but I was thinking the car would force this corner into shape?

We got the trim in with one really small nick. It's almost unnoticeable. So hopefully next weekend we will install the glass

[grannyknot]

Would you say the tool worked? An expert by the time you are done, sort of thing?

[Patcon]

Yeah, I liked the tool. You have to be careful not to force it or pinch the rubber. If the rubber edges don't want to flow around you can just stay still and swing the handle left and right to get the rubber lips to pop out. I'm sure there are some more tricks to it. It might be the trim needs to be lifted a little to reduce pinching. It took Cody and I about 10-15 minutes to get the two lower pieces of trim in. I did the top by myself in about 5 minutes