As the re assembly of my '79 B continues, I got to put the windshield back
on last weekend. I think I found an easier way to get it back on without a
lot of hassle.
I coated the frame to body seal with dish soap and, as per the suggestion
in the Moss catalog, I installed it with the center mount bolts to hold it
and let it sit overnight to compress the seals. Luckily my buddy (he has a
'78 B) showed up just in time to press down on the windshield so I could
start the center bolts. A little bit of additional lube in the form of
Windex was used along with my Snap-On hook tool to position the bottom
seal. Excitement set in but I left it alone 'till the next day.
Sunday morning I went out to the garage to finish the windshield
installation. I was alone and it became extremely obvious that I would not
be able to move the frame enough to get the holes to line up properly.
After about 5 minutes of moving the frame to see which way it had to go I
noticed that there was clearance inside the top of the fender where the
frame leg goes. I figured a well placed C clamp would move the leg in the
direction I needed to, at least, get the lower bolt started.
There is a sheet metal shield pop-riveted to cover the leg in that area and
this is what I clamped against (after a liberal application of masking tape
to avoid scratching the new paint). A light duty 4" clamp was used and the
lower hole lined up so well I could hand tighten it. A bit of rocking and
re-application of the clamp lined up the top holes.
As the dash is still in the car, I could see the top bolts would be a
problem to install so I used a couple of spare heat treated header bolts
(with 7/16" drive head).
Both sides were a breeze to install. I wish I had thought of doing this
back when I was struggling with my '74 in the '80s.
Hope this helps someone else that has to do a solo windshield installation.
Steve Bettencourt
'79 MGB
Steve's HotRod World
http://www3.edgenet.net/CruizinRI
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