Chrome install in window gaskets
 

Recently repainted my car and got to the point of finally putting the windows back in. Since I dont want to break a window I was thinking of wimping out and getting someone to do the install for me on my Targa (front and rear windows). Since it is a '75 it has chrome trim around the windows. The glass guy around me says that he doesnt know/want to put the chrome in and wont use the gaskets that I bought from Pelican as they are for using with the Chrome. I have never installed a window before, nevertheless the chrome trim. I dont have alot of choices for windowmen since I am in the sticks. However, does this guy have a point with the Chrome? Should I go no chrome because it is impossible? I feel like the guy should be able to do it and I am tempted to do it myself. However, I must be missing something as this guy must want my business.
Thanks!

Drive this car as far as you need to get a professional to do this work. You DO NOT want to break that glass, and chrome trim is back in bigtime nowadays!

John

'78 SC Targa with chrome trim!

Anyone have any recomendations for the Western NY area?

The front trim and window are easy to put in. Use the windshield as a template to make sure the trim is really close to the shape you need. Put the gasket on the window using pleny of soapy water. Then start from the middle side of the windshield and start pushing the trim in the gasket. It should pop right in, a little at a time. I put in a windshield by myself in less than an hour.

You're on your own with the rear window! I would think it's close to the same process. Do a search.

...let me paste the instructions form an old hand at this...

It's easy especially if you can watch someone and even help before you tackle your own. Remove the windshield wipers, they are different left from right. lay a heavy blanket or something across the front of the car to protect when the windshield falls out if someone isn't there to catch it. Spray the rubber exterior with a lot of silicone spray and using a utility knife cut through the weather-strip outboard of the aluminum trim all around. Peel the rubber away and from the inside use your feet and push the w/s out; you may break it if you are not careful but that's life.

The installation: install new weather-strip to the w/s, apply silicone to the groove where the aluminum trim goes and press that into place fully and carefully - you can bend it easily. Use DOW 111 compound which is a silicone grease [from McMaster-Carr] on the w/s and the windshield opening [after you have removed all the foreign stuff there]. Using a 1/8 nylon cord stuffed into the groove where the pinch weld will go, cross over at the bottom and with two assistants set the w/s into place at the bottom. This is where the experience counts. Someone has to know where to push, how much to push and slap and the inside guy ahs to be the cord puller and verbal guide. pull the cord ends evenly while your assistants push and slap to keep it going where it's supposed to go. Pull the cord all the way around until they meet at the top.

GFL