Windscreen Woes

Well, that didn't go well. Thought I was going to get the windscreen (so British) and its frame installed today. Nope. After much effort (and liberal application of some "personal lubricant"...Walgreen's brand KY Jelly), I got the rubber around the windscreen itself. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't fun, either. Then, I tried to get the windscreen installed on the frame. Maybe it would be easier to do this with the frame installed in the car, but I couldn't do that either because I couldn't get the frame to bulkhead seal on correctly.
I love the way new rubber looks on an old car. I think it really completes the look (assuming that, unlike me, you have a look to complete!). However, new rubber is a pain in the rear to install. I had forgotten how much so. I used the lubricated rope trick to get the windscreen installed in the frame and it was working until I started to tear the rubber. This was probably because I didn't have it centered on the frame, but I'm not sure. I can tell you that it wasn't for lack of lubricant!

Whoops. This tear (the biggest of three) is about 2" long and goes down to the base. Son of a...

So, I stopped doing that in fear that I would just make it worse and decided to try and get the windscreen frame mounted.  However, I couldn't get the lip of the bulkhead seal to "pop out" to sit flush to the bulkhead, so I tried the rope trick again, but gravity beat me on that. There isn't any place, unlike the windscreen seal, to tuck the rope in so it just sorta falls out in the center where I cannot get to it to tuck it in while also pushing down on the frame to seat it. Also not sure what's up with the extra...just trim to fit, I assume? So, hopefully a good nights rest will allow me to conquer it tomorrow.

New bulkhead seal and (finally) a picture of the windscreen mounting post.

From inside the car, under passenger's dash (bottom of antenna at top of pic). This is that hinge-like thing I was talking about that the windscreen post slides into.

I did get the new boot lid installed, however. You can see how bad my original one was (thanks, Art!).

Original boot lid...totally rusted out across its length at the bottom of the lid (top in this picture).

Bondo...but not too much!

Of course, since "I was in there" I wanted to do some preservation and ended up finding...Bondo. Oh, boy. So, I started to dig into it and guess what I found...NOT more Bondo! Yipee! Looks like there was a pretty minor ding in the back, but it was right on the crease, so not easy to repair, I'm sure. It was filled with Bondo and painted over. So, I removed all of the Bondo and took it down to bare metal there and in several other places around the boot lid.

The worst of the cancer around the boot frame.

Had a hell of a time removing the old boot rubber. It was like the rubber was almost vulcanized and it looked like it had been charred or something...hard and crusty in some spots but good in others. I don't know...the adhesive reacting with it maybe? I had to take the wire wheel to it to get it completely off.  I have a new seal coming from SpitBits in my latest order.

The boot lid still requires some minor adjustments for fitting (you may be able to notice the wider gap on the driver's side) but that should be an easy fix for tomorrow (when I'm ready to give up on the windscreen!).

Pending some fitment adjustments, installation complete. And, how about that nifty workbench!

I got my new-to-me water pump housing today from Scott at High Point Imports along with the gaskets. Nice "Stanpart" stamp on it. It looks ugly, but she's soaking, so I expect it will clean up just fine. I expect my frame outriggers (and hopefully my SpitBits order) early next week (outriggers are a future me project). And, in keeping with the flavor of yesterday's post, another kind gentleman has sent me that brake line that I needed. I expect that early next week.