1964 Plymouth Barracuda – Installing a New Windshield and Replacing the Window Gaskets

 

The Project
 The front windshield on the 1964 Barracuda had seen better days.  Fifty plus years of sandblasting from road debris really scratched up the glass.  The windshield was made by laminating two pieces of glass together with some sort of clear plastic/adhesive between the two panes.  The front windshield on my Mopar was delaminating all the way around the edges.  Also, the bullet hole right in the middle of the windshield was very distracting. These problems were not repairable so the front windshield needed to be replaced.  Thank god, the rear window was in good condition.  No way I wanted to replace that big 14.4 square foot piece of glass.  The gaskets around both windows were dry-rotted and cracked but luckily replacement gaskets are readily available.  Even with all the glass problems, I probably would have left the project for sometime down the road to when I finally get around to painting the car BUT I did need to replace the headliner in the old Mopar and to do that properly the windshield and the rear window needed to come out.  Oddly, the headliner material tucks into the window lip and is held in place by the window and gasket.  The entire project would be to replace the front windshield with new glass and replace the gaskets for the windshield and rear window.
In this windshield picture you can see the dry-rotted
gasket and the cracking chrome lock strip.
Here you can see the delamination marks along the edge of the window.
This glass separation goes all the way around the window.
 Removing the Front Windshield
I really did not understand how the whole window, gasket and window lip worked to hold the window in but it became apparent as I tried to remove the windshield.  The gasket fits into, or more accurately, onto the window lip on the car.  Then the windshield, which is smaller than the opening, fits into the gasket.  Finally, a lock strip is installed that locks the window lip, window and gasket all together. 
The lock strip pulled right out once I work an end loose.  The only way I could see to get the window out was to use a box cutter and cut the gasket all the way around the window.  This was actually the hardest part of the removal.  That old rubber was tough! Once this strip was removed, I could see the edge of the glass all the way around.  Next, I attached two Toolocity ASVC8858B18-Inch ADT Vacuum Suction Cups to the outside of the window.  Then with my wife, Mrs. Mopar Motorhead, inside the car pushing, my son and I used the suction cups to lift the window out.  Finally, I simply pulled out the old gasket.
The black piece of rubber laying across the windshield has been
cut to allow the windshield to be popped out.
Old windshield gasket.
The windshield is out.  Hard to see in this picture gold is the window lip.
 Removing the Rear Window
I was much more nervous when it came to removing the huge rear window.  I did not know how heavy it was and was afraid it would drop into the car once the rubber was cut.  My plan was to reinstall the same window so no breakage allowed.  Surprisingly, the job went pretty smoothly.  We followed the same process as the front windshield; cut the top of the gasket, attached the Toolocity ASVC8858B1 8-Inch ADT Vacuum Suction Cups, wife pushing from inside and my and son lifting the window out.  The old gasket more or less fell right out. I’ve got some great pictures of Mrs. Mopar Motorhead crammed into the back section of the car but she would kill me if I posted them.  Still worrying about broken glass, I commandeered the spare bedroom for glass storage.
Just before the point of no return.
Can we do it without breaking the glass?
This is the bottom left corner of the rear window.  Notice the little piece of metal
that was covering a seam in the lock strip.  I forgot about that seam until I started
writing this post.  Adding a seam here during the install would have made things easier.
However, the lock strip kit did not include this piece.

 

I had to remove the chrome trim at the bottom of the rear window.  You never
know what you will find.  The trim was held in place with dollops of body filler!

 

These suck! But in a good way.
I left a little of the gasket in place to keep the window from falling into the car.
Here making the last cut before removing the window.
Who’s that hiding in the trunk?  Could that be Mrs. Mopar Motorhead?
14.4 sq. ft. of glass is heavy but suction cups make the job easy.
In this picture, my son is trying to convince me to convert the Barracuda into an El Cudamino
or a Barrachero by cutting out the trunk lid and boxing in the back section.
I don’t think so.  Get your own project.
Window Lip Repair
I expected to find a lot of rust on the window lip since it is a great place for water to collect.  I was lucky though and the front and rear lip were in good shape.  I sanded down the front lip.  This did expose a couple of small rusted through holes.  After spraying the window lip with Metal Prep (phosphoric acid), I gave the window lip a thick coat of POR-15 Rust Preventer.  Then I filled the holes with Evercoat Everglass Short Strand Fiber Reinforced Filler and touched up the repair with POR-15.  The rear window lip had a little more rust than the front.  I ended up cutting out a 3” section of the lip, forming a new piece from sheetmetal and welding it in place.  This was followed by the same front window process: sanding, Metal Prep, POR-15, body filler and touch up POR-15.

Another good look at the window lip.
This was the worse spot and nothing bondo could fix.
New piece fabbed and ready to weld in.
Not the best picture but the new piece welded
and coated with POR-15.
I taped off around the window prior to sanding
and coating with POR-15.

 

This was the largest hole in the windshield window lip.
A few small holes were found in the corners.
I coat the metal with POR-15 first since Everglass can go right over it.
Of course, I did not take a good picture of the repair but here it is.
Rear Window Installation
Don’t ask me why, but I decided to install the big rear window first; I should have practiced on the smaller front windshield first.  From Steele Rubber Products, I ordered rear window gasket PN 70-2187-81 and chrome Mylar locking strip PN 70-1919-52.  I was doing this install while the weather was still hot so I laid the gasket out in the sun to soften up a bit.  Then I test fit it in the opening.  All looked good so I removed the gasket and applied a bead of Loctite Polyurethane Roof & Flashing Sealant around the window lip.  Then I popped the gasket back in place.  However, this time it did not want to stay in place.  The polyurethane made the gasket slippery and gravity made it slide right off the window lip.  So I recruited my son again and between the two of us, we installed the gasket and taped it in place using blue painter’s tape.  I let the polyurethane set-up for a week before attempting the window install.  
 
While waiting for the sealant to set-up, I moved the rear window back to the garage.  I cleaned off all the old sealant, dirt and stickers using mineral spirits.  Then I buffed the inside and outside of the window with polishing compound.  It looked as good a new.  
 
After a good cleaning, I used polishing compound with my buffer to put a shine on it.
A week later, the window removal crew was back out in the garage to install the rear window.  Using the suction cups we placed the window on top of the gasket.  Then we had to work the window side of the gasket over the glass.  We used a couple of CRLTapered End Windshield Stick Setting Tools (aka plastic knives) to work the gasket over the glass.  Once the glass was seated in the gasket correctly, I squirted another bead of polyurethane sealant between the glass and gasket.  Next, I installed the lock strip.  Of course, I thought this would be simple but it was hard as hell to get the lock strip in its groove.  It took more than an hour with soapy water and windshield sticks to get it in place.  The straight sections were not too bad but the four corners were a pain in the arse.  By the time I was finished, my fingers were aching and I was covered in polyurethane sealant.  The window was also covered with polyurethane.  I figured I would let it dry for a few days then scrap it off.  Very bad idea!  That stuff is like . . . well, like glue.  I will be working on the clean up for a while yet.
Setting the glass in place.
We found that setting the glass entirely on top of the
gasket worked much better than trying to get the top
or bottom into the grove in the gasket.
Next we whipped out our high tech
window sticks.  They actually work
well.  Much stronger than plastic knives.
Here we work the lip of the gasket up over the window.  I am squirting soapy water into
the groove to help make the glass slide into place. No pictures of the lock strip install since I
did the job by myself. First, 
I put a bead of polyurethane between the glass and the gasket.
Then installed the lock strip which squished out the polyurethane.
I let the polyurethane dry because I thought it would be easier to remove dry.  Oh so wrong!
I have been scraping rubbery polyurethane off the window for days.  That’s the black stuff
on the left side of the window.  Still more clean-up to do.
99% completed rear window.  
 Front Windshield Installation
The front windshield installation went much the same as the rear window.  I did buy a new windshield from Rock Auto PN DW00625N.  Surprisingly, the  front windshield is available from several aftermarket suppliers.  However, Rock Auto was half the price and FREE shipping to boot.  That made is a third of the price of anyone else.  Go Rock Auto!  The gasket from Steele Rubber Products was PN 70-2176-50 and the chrome Mylar locking strip was the same as the rear and was PN 70-1919-52.  I won’t bore you with the install details just see above.  However, the lock strip on the front windshield was twice as hard to get in its grove.  I was cussing up a blue steak.  Mrs. Mopar Motorhead had to come out to the garage to tell be to calm down before I blew a gasket (pun intended).  Also, this time around, I cleaned all the polyurethane off the glass and car before it set-up.  See, you can learn from your mistakes.
Here a bead of polyurethane has already been applied to the window lip.
The polyurethane make the gasket slippery.  It takes lots of tape to hold the gasket
in place.  The garage was cold when I did this work so we let the polyurethane cure
for a week before removing the tape. It stayed in place.
Windshield installed.
It took 2 hours to install the lock strip in the windshield gasket.  Every inch was a fight.
I had polyurethane all over the windshield, the door of the car, the hood, the side of the
car and me.  A week later my fingers still hurt.  Notice the seam in the lock strip at the
top center of the windshield. I still need to install a little cover that came with the kit.
 Complete
 Before tackling this project, I read many posts on the various Mopar forums.  They almost all said to have a professional do windshield and rear window installation because it is a difficult task.  Overall, I thought the project was pretty easy and the results look very good.  I’d do this one again.