VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1937-1945 1940 sedan insalling rear window?

Had my 1940 sedan painted and now Iam trying to insall the rear window with new rubber and the old glass. Spent all evening with no luck. Do you start installing the window from out side of the car or do you start insalling from the inside of the car? Help already scratched my new paint.

If I were doing it I would use the same procedure I used years ago when I was restoring Datson and Toyota Pickups and replacing windshields.

This calls for the string trick. Secure some heavy duty string longer than the circumference of the window. Lubricate the string with silicone. Place it in the grove in the rubber. Work from the INSIDE and pull the string to bring the rubber over the edge and allow it to unfold. Work slowly in pulling the string and working the rubber/glass into place. One person can do it but if help is available for the outside man it would help.

Maybe?

I've done it twice over the 50 years I've owned my '40. Had to relearn it the second time. Inside out. Install the gasket first. Then I jammed the glass into the left end and got the gasket started on that end and on the bottom. Make sure it is in to the bottom of the gasket groove on the left end. (It will be impossible to move the glass to the left when you get to the right end and find out that you didn't have the glass all the way to the left. The gasket holds the glass too tight to slide it.) Then with a rounded screwdriver blade I carefully worked the glass into the gasket across the bottom, around the right end, then back across the top. Don't misunderstand me. It is not easy to work the glass into the gasket. Patience will prevail. Later talking to a guy at the glass shop I found out that if I'd used some soapy water as a lubricant it would have been much easier. Duh???? Made the rounded screwdriver blade by wrapping electical tape around the screwdriver blade to soften the sharp side edges. I inserted the scredriver into the gasket groove blade down and pulled it sideways to pull the inside lip of the gssket out from under the glass. I did it by myself but two people would make it a lot easier because one could hold the glass in place while the other worked the gasket. You might be able to install it from the outside but I was afraid I would mess up the new paint or drop the glass and dent the car or break the glass. I also think the inside lip of the gasket was thinner and more pliable than the ouside lip.

That's it...Great video...

I vote for the cord system too when you have a helper. In my case the only helper available was, ahem, you know who, and I do like good meals and other benefits.

Old Charlie? smiles