72HCODE
"My World is Fire and Blood"
(i'll fill in some pictures later when i find them)
About 4 or 5 years ago i replaced my rear window on my 72. The Seal around my window was totally shot and it was leaking badly. My Window had also been replaced with an incorrect defroster window from another fastback. In short somebody did a terrible job installing a replacement window and the car suffered for it.
I obtained a replacement Sun-X rear window without the defroster lines and went about installing it in my car.
Some tips:
Before you start take notes or pictures on how the seal is sitting on the car from the inside, look how far up the bottom part of the seal comes up on the body just take a close inspection. look how it sits on the Sail panels as well. Your looking to match the windows alignment when replacing the seal or window.
------------------------
1) pull the chrome off with a trim tool carefully its easy to bend.
If your installing Reproduction trim be even more careful reproduction window trim is thinner then OEM and even easier to bend.
2) Once that is out of the way get a blade and cut whats left of the rubber seal away from around the glass(easy and fun part), pull the cut seal away and lift the glass carefully, you may want somebody inside the car pushing the window up carefully so you can grab an edge. I would not reuse the seal, always replace it.
3) Messy time: Tear out the rest of the seal from the window ledge on the body. Start examining the window ledge, and the clips for the chrome trim and the rivets that hold the clips, see how far up the creak you are by the amount of rust.(you might get lucky you might not, if you find rust you could epoxy the holes and paint the area. replace any of the trim clips that hold the chrome that are rusted out, usually all of them. the clips have a green coating on them but they rust away very fast. clean up the ledge as best you can your original headliner may come away you will need to re-glue it. At this point your halfway to being able to install a new headliner, you will need to remove the front window to do it. There is special glue for the headliner, It is contact cement. The headliner is suppose to slightly wrap around the ledge just a bit, 1/4" max. the same with the Sail panels wrapping the material from the sides.
once your happy with your window ledge it is nice and clean and you patched any rust holes in it. its time to start the installation.
4) make sure you get a ford licensed seal for the rear window, do not go cheap.
5) On our fastbacks make sure you get or find the correct foam tape.
Contact our member 'hemikilller' for details, he sells the weather striping foam tape you need.
6) You put the foam tape on the windows ledge first do not cut the corners of the tape keep it continuous around the top of the window ledge, and try to have as few cuts as possible use sealer on the areas of the tape you need to cut like the bottom corners. The foam tape covers over the headliner that wraps around and covers most of the window ledge area. this is why you want to keep the wrap around of the headliner around 1/4" the foam tape sits half on the headliner and half on the window ledge making a continuous seal around the ledge.
7) Next, clean the Ford licensed rubber seal with soap and water, and make sure its clean and dry before you continue.
8) Clean the rear glass really well. Use a razor blade. Use some paint thinner to really scrub the glass clean. Make sure its free of any major oils or grease or dirt.
9) use a spare tire to hold the glass, and work the new rubber seal around the glass, do not use any silicon glue or sealer on it right now. it may help to use masking tape on the top of the glass to hold the rubber to the glass just do not wrap the tape around the edges. later on you will have to remove the masking tape completely. the rubber seal is just a real pain in the butt to keep from falling off so use your best judgment.
At this point your window ledge is prepped, and your window is prepped.
10) now your going to need to find Nylon rope or nylon covered rope, you can find this in Home depot as laundry lines, the reason is the nylon is a smooth surface and as you pull it around the rubber it will make your job way easy and won't mare the paint if it makes contact. about 1/4" round nylon rope should do.
Take the rope and insert it into the rubber seal in the flap that is around the window, leave about 3 feet worth of rope coming out both ends and tape the ends to the inside of the glass.
Next pick up the glass and lay it on the car.
11) Center the glass. It will not be easy use your, eye, fingers, measure tape, whatever to get it even side to side look from inside the car. Remember to compress the rubber to the glass when you take your measurements(i just eyeballed it. make sure you position the bottom of the seal how you remembered it originally(told you to keep notes)
that is your starting point making sure the window is up enough.
now take off your shoes and get into your cars back seat(so you don't mess up your interior when your fighting with the ropes)
11) Have a friend outside the car, and put a little pressure on the top of the glass, go easy, you have to work side to side. Shift pressure from the outside as needed. Starting from the bottom, pull the rope in towards you and also towards the center of the glass this is so your pulling the rubber flap inside the car and allowing it to wrap around the ledge and the headliner and sail panel trim. work a little at a time, with light pressure from the outside, tell your buddy to change positions left and right as you pull on the rope. You will finish at the top of the window in the center. The window will pull in towards the car about 1- 1.5" your buddy will be amazed at the feeling of the glass going in.
the seal will now be wrapped around the ledge with the foam and headliner sandwiched inside the rubber.
12) Dangerous part: Slap the glass around the seal to make sure its in, if you screw up the worst that will happen is the glass pops and breaks. you may feel the glass shift a little more you want that to happen so it has a good seal all around the ledge.
13) The glass will now be back in your car, check the rubber seal inside to make sure its sitting the way it was originally. If its not well too bad better luck next time. make sure headliner tucked itself nicely into the rubber seal.
The horror begins: Now your going to need to use 3m window sealant on the rubber seal.
14) Put masking tape all over the back of your car around the window.
you will need to protect the paint and make clean up easier.
15) Pull off any masking tape you used to hold the rubber seal to the window glass. Try to get the sealer between the rubber seal and the foam seal go all the way around, you may not be able to get the sealer under the bottom of the window(trunk area), which isn't so bad since the foam is there and gravity will pull the water away. Then go back and halfway fill the area of the seal to the body. DO NOT BE STINGY with the sealer, Fill that 1" gap right up to 1/8" before the tops of the trim clips.
About 2 hours into this your going to be begging somebody to kill you, but its not over,, after the outside of the seal is glued, you still need to go around the inside of the seal where the glass is. So like your making a cake with icing, lift the rubber against the glass and start going around the window full circle.
16) clean up the extra sealant mess with a blade and some lacquer thinner. Be careful with your paint. Carefully remove the masking tape you used to protect your paint during this messy process.
17) Let the window setup for 2 days in a warm garage, you can use a space heater if you do this in the winter, do not drive the car till the window glaze sealer sets up.
18) time to reinstall your chrome trim: work slow, use the the trim tool to pull the trim clips back a little from the body so you can get the lip for the trim in easier and with less pressure then trying to hammer it in with your palm. the trim is VERY easy to damage, I messed mine up a little bit putting it back on. so work your way around pulling the clips back with a trim tool and popping the trim down into place with as little pressure as possible. then finish up with the lower trim piece that screws into the lip above the trunk.
Word of caution:
The foam tape, once it goes down on the body its not coming off again so be VERY careful how you handle and align the tape. otherwise you will need to start over and get more tape. This is also a good time to change your sail panels if they are all rotted out.
Use LOTS of sealer. About 3 times as much as seems reasonable. Don't skimp because you are trying to be neat. You will be pulling that glass back out of there.
some thing I forgot to add:
This was something that nobody was really clear about.
After you have the foam tape down on the window ledge.
There is an argument on laying down window sealant on the bottom ledge where the trunk is, on-top of the foam tape before you lift the window into place. This part of the rubber seal does not have a flap like around the sides and top. The reason is once the window is in place you can not get sealer on that part of the window between the rubber and the foam the mount for the lower chrome trim is in the way.
The argument is putting sealer there first makes it harder to move the window into place and the sealer can start to smear all over the place on back window deck trim piece, the metal piece that goes under the window riveted to the deck.
Additionally you would need to get the window into place in the working time of the sealer and then quickly go around the window continuing with the sealer. After reading over and over that the window should go on the car dry, free of sealant, and also because i never did it before; I had the foam on the car and figured if i made a mistake and busted the glass the worst that would happen was me just removing the rubber seal from the body cleaning the broken glass out and starting again. Without having to worry about sealant drying on the body, and panicking on how to remove it without damage. In a perfect world it would be nice to have sealant there, but after taking 2 hours slowly working the window into the car body I was glad I didn't try to put the sealer on the bottom first, plus seeing the window sink down over an 1" onto the body and watching the foam compress, sort of told me I did the right thing in my case.
I think a team of glaziers that have done this before would disagree, but since this was my first time, and when it was done it was 1,000,000 times better then what was on the car before, I sort of didn't care.
I think if this is written into a manual on how to do it it should be included and let the reader decide how to approach it.
Interesting to note in the body assembly manual.
There is conflicting information: It stated that after the foam tape revision in mid 72, no sealant was to be used on the glass for sealing to the body. It was said the foam did the job. You were still suppose to seal the rubber to the glass however. I call Bollix on this you really need the sealant Plus the foam that window was born to leak in the rain.
A few months after it did my window I helped a friend with a 73 after his rear glass was broken when a bicycle fell from the storage area in his garage and broke the glass, when we removed the glass and rubber seal I noted that the foam was there but the rubber came right off the car like it had no sealant ever put on it.
I hope this doesn't confuse anyone, I defiantly think the glass needs sealant on the body and glass, but its hard to say if it will help or hurt you putting it on the lower part of the ledge before you start the install.
Good luck with your glass installation!
About 4 or 5 years ago i replaced my rear window on my 72. The Seal around my window was totally shot and it was leaking badly. My Window had also been replaced with an incorrect defroster window from another fastback. In short somebody did a terrible job installing a replacement window and the car suffered for it.
I obtained a replacement Sun-X rear window without the defroster lines and went about installing it in my car.
Some tips:
Before you start take notes or pictures on how the seal is sitting on the car from the inside, look how far up the bottom part of the seal comes up on the body just take a close inspection. look how it sits on the Sail panels as well. Your looking to match the windows alignment when replacing the seal or window.
------------------------
1) pull the chrome off with a trim tool carefully its easy to bend.
If your installing Reproduction trim be even more careful reproduction window trim is thinner then OEM and even easier to bend.
2) Once that is out of the way get a blade and cut whats left of the rubber seal away from around the glass(easy and fun part), pull the cut seal away and lift the glass carefully, you may want somebody inside the car pushing the window up carefully so you can grab an edge. I would not reuse the seal, always replace it.
3) Messy time: Tear out the rest of the seal from the window ledge on the body. Start examining the window ledge, and the clips for the chrome trim and the rivets that hold the clips, see how far up the creak you are by the amount of rust.(you might get lucky you might not, if you find rust you could epoxy the holes and paint the area. replace any of the trim clips that hold the chrome that are rusted out, usually all of them. the clips have a green coating on them but they rust away very fast. clean up the ledge as best you can your original headliner may come away you will need to re-glue it. At this point your halfway to being able to install a new headliner, you will need to remove the front window to do it. There is special glue for the headliner, It is contact cement. The headliner is suppose to slightly wrap around the ledge just a bit, 1/4" max. the same with the Sail panels wrapping the material from the sides.
once your happy with your window ledge it is nice and clean and you patched any rust holes in it. its time to start the installation.
4) make sure you get a ford licensed seal for the rear window, do not go cheap.
5) On our fastbacks make sure you get or find the correct foam tape.
Contact our member 'hemikilller' for details, he sells the weather striping foam tape you need.
6) You put the foam tape on the windows ledge first do not cut the corners of the tape keep it continuous around the top of the window ledge, and try to have as few cuts as possible use sealer on the areas of the tape you need to cut like the bottom corners. The foam tape covers over the headliner that wraps around and covers most of the window ledge area. this is why you want to keep the wrap around of the headliner around 1/4" the foam tape sits half on the headliner and half on the window ledge making a continuous seal around the ledge.
7) Next, clean the Ford licensed rubber seal with soap and water, and make sure its clean and dry before you continue.
8) Clean the rear glass really well. Use a razor blade. Use some paint thinner to really scrub the glass clean. Make sure its free of any major oils or grease or dirt.
9) use a spare tire to hold the glass, and work the new rubber seal around the glass, do not use any silicon glue or sealer on it right now. it may help to use masking tape on the top of the glass to hold the rubber to the glass just do not wrap the tape around the edges. later on you will have to remove the masking tape completely. the rubber seal is just a real pain in the butt to keep from falling off so use your best judgment.
At this point your window ledge is prepped, and your window is prepped.
10) now your going to need to find Nylon rope or nylon covered rope, you can find this in Home depot as laundry lines, the reason is the nylon is a smooth surface and as you pull it around the rubber it will make your job way easy and won't mare the paint if it makes contact. about 1/4" round nylon rope should do.
Take the rope and insert it into the rubber seal in the flap that is around the window, leave about 3 feet worth of rope coming out both ends and tape the ends to the inside of the glass.
Next pick up the glass and lay it on the car.
11) Center the glass. It will not be easy use your, eye, fingers, measure tape, whatever to get it even side to side look from inside the car. Remember to compress the rubber to the glass when you take your measurements(i just eyeballed it. make sure you position the bottom of the seal how you remembered it originally(told you to keep notes)
that is your starting point making sure the window is up enough.
now take off your shoes and get into your cars back seat(so you don't mess up your interior when your fighting with the ropes)
11) Have a friend outside the car, and put a little pressure on the top of the glass, go easy, you have to work side to side. Shift pressure from the outside as needed. Starting from the bottom, pull the rope in towards you and also towards the center of the glass this is so your pulling the rubber flap inside the car and allowing it to wrap around the ledge and the headliner and sail panel trim. work a little at a time, with light pressure from the outside, tell your buddy to change positions left and right as you pull on the rope. You will finish at the top of the window in the center. The window will pull in towards the car about 1- 1.5" your buddy will be amazed at the feeling of the glass going in.
the seal will now be wrapped around the ledge with the foam and headliner sandwiched inside the rubber.
12) Dangerous part: Slap the glass around the seal to make sure its in, if you screw up the worst that will happen is the glass pops and breaks. you may feel the glass shift a little more you want that to happen so it has a good seal all around the ledge.
13) The glass will now be back in your car, check the rubber seal inside to make sure its sitting the way it was originally. If its not well too bad better luck next time. make sure headliner tucked itself nicely into the rubber seal.
The horror begins: Now your going to need to use 3m window sealant on the rubber seal.
14) Put masking tape all over the back of your car around the window.
you will need to protect the paint and make clean up easier.
15) Pull off any masking tape you used to hold the rubber seal to the window glass. Try to get the sealer between the rubber seal and the foam seal go all the way around, you may not be able to get the sealer under the bottom of the window(trunk area), which isn't so bad since the foam is there and gravity will pull the water away. Then go back and halfway fill the area of the seal to the body. DO NOT BE STINGY with the sealer, Fill that 1" gap right up to 1/8" before the tops of the trim clips.
About 2 hours into this your going to be begging somebody to kill you, but its not over,, after the outside of the seal is glued, you still need to go around the inside of the seal where the glass is. So like your making a cake with icing, lift the rubber against the glass and start going around the window full circle.
16) clean up the extra sealant mess with a blade and some lacquer thinner. Be careful with your paint. Carefully remove the masking tape you used to protect your paint during this messy process.
17) Let the window setup for 2 days in a warm garage, you can use a space heater if you do this in the winter, do not drive the car till the window glaze sealer sets up.
18) time to reinstall your chrome trim: work slow, use the the trim tool to pull the trim clips back a little from the body so you can get the lip for the trim in easier and with less pressure then trying to hammer it in with your palm. the trim is VERY easy to damage, I messed mine up a little bit putting it back on. so work your way around pulling the clips back with a trim tool and popping the trim down into place with as little pressure as possible. then finish up with the lower trim piece that screws into the lip above the trunk.
Word of caution:
The foam tape, once it goes down on the body its not coming off again so be VERY careful how you handle and align the tape. otherwise you will need to start over and get more tape. This is also a good time to change your sail panels if they are all rotted out.
Use LOTS of sealer. About 3 times as much as seems reasonable. Don't skimp because you are trying to be neat. You will be pulling that glass back out of there.
some thing I forgot to add:
This was something that nobody was really clear about.
After you have the foam tape down on the window ledge.
There is an argument on laying down window sealant on the bottom ledge where the trunk is, on-top of the foam tape before you lift the window into place. This part of the rubber seal does not have a flap like around the sides and top. The reason is once the window is in place you can not get sealer on that part of the window between the rubber and the foam the mount for the lower chrome trim is in the way.
The argument is putting sealer there first makes it harder to move the window into place and the sealer can start to smear all over the place on back window deck trim piece, the metal piece that goes under the window riveted to the deck.
Additionally you would need to get the window into place in the working time of the sealer and then quickly go around the window continuing with the sealer. After reading over and over that the window should go on the car dry, free of sealant, and also because i never did it before; I had the foam on the car and figured if i made a mistake and busted the glass the worst that would happen was me just removing the rubber seal from the body cleaning the broken glass out and starting again. Without having to worry about sealant drying on the body, and panicking on how to remove it without damage. In a perfect world it would be nice to have sealant there, but after taking 2 hours slowly working the window into the car body I was glad I didn't try to put the sealer on the bottom first, plus seeing the window sink down over an 1" onto the body and watching the foam compress, sort of told me I did the right thing in my case.
I think a team of glaziers that have done this before would disagree, but since this was my first time, and when it was done it was 1,000,000 times better then what was on the car before, I sort of didn't care.
I think if this is written into a manual on how to do it it should be included and let the reader decide how to approach it.
Interesting to note in the body assembly manual.
There is conflicting information: It stated that after the foam tape revision in mid 72, no sealant was to be used on the glass for sealing to the body. It was said the foam did the job. You were still suppose to seal the rubber to the glass however. I call Bollix on this you really need the sealant Plus the foam that window was born to leak in the rain.
A few months after it did my window I helped a friend with a 73 after his rear glass was broken when a bicycle fell from the storage area in his garage and broke the glass, when we removed the glass and rubber seal I noted that the foam was there but the rubber came right off the car like it had no sealant ever put on it.
I hope this doesn't confuse anyone, I defiantly think the glass needs sealant on the body and glass, but its hard to say if it will help or hurt you putting it on the lower part of the ledge before you start the install.
Good luck with your glass installation!
I'll see if i can answer some of this: its been
