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MG MGB Technical - Fitting the Windscreen.
| G'day. I have just made my first attempt at fitting the windscreen to the body. I have replaced the bottom rail to body seal and the pillar to body grommets. The ends of the frame are sitting nicely on the body and the pillar bolts look like they are going to be fairly easy to fit (they are not fitted yet) but.... The center bracket has a gap of about 10 cms between it and the scuttle. I can get bolts in and tighten them up but I am a bit nervous about pulling the center of the frame down that far in case I break the glass. Is a gap of this size normal before the center bracket it bolted down or have I got a very strange problem? The frame fitted OK when I removed it and the only thing I have done is to replace the bottom seal and the grommets. Cheers Tony |
| Tony Oliver |
| Are you sure that you don't mean mms. A gap of 20mm or so would be normal but if it is 100mm there is something wrong. Are you sure that the screen is sitting down properly ar the ends and that all four bolts are in line. This being the case I can't see how you can possibly have a 100mm gap |
| Iain MacKintosh |
| DOH!!!! That would be 10 mm. So will I be able to safely pull it down with the center bolts? Tony |
| Tony Oliver |
| Mine fitted quite nicely all across, I was very cautious with the centre bolts, really just nipping them up to locate the mirror mounting rod. This way lies a cracked windscreen... |
| Stan Best |
| When you get the side bolts in the centre will come down. Just keep massageing the bottom rubber seal so it doesn't offer resistance. |
| Peter |
| 10mm is fine and you should be able to pull this down quite readily |
| Iain MacKintosh |
| Thanks Gents. Anymore advice before I go ahead and bolt it down? Tony |
| Tony Oliver |
| That depends.... Are you a religious man? ;) R. |
| Rick Stevens |
| Side spacers there should be two per side, thick plastic one and a thinner one. On some cars there are more, or less spacers. The 'legs' of the side pillars whould slide closely down over these spacers so that when you tighten up the bolts you do not increase the curvature of the windscreen and cause it to eventualy crack in the top corners. You might find it easier to get the bolts in by first removing the metal covers at the top of the door jam. close the door before finally tighting up so that the pillar aligns with the door quater window. Something , I found, that was obvious only in retrospect. |
| peter |
| Not sure how you will go getting the glass in with the bottom and sides bolted in place. I found it tough enough on the bench with seals adequately lubricated and clamps to slowly pull the top and bottom frames together - then I fitted the sides. Then the whole assembly to the car. In the end i did fit longer bolts to the centre bracket to help pull it down to the scuttle. From what I've read this is the most common way of doing it (but not necessarily the only one) John |
| John Minchin |
| Thanks Gents. John, the actual glass is in the frame, I didn't remove it. Anyway, I have got the thing in with no bolts on the two sides and have started to SLOWLY tighten the center bolts up one turn at a time. 2 full turns each and then leave it for an hour or so to settle in. Seems to be working OK so far. Thanks for the advice from you all. I was very nervous about pulling the frame down that far. Cheers Tony |
| Tony Oliver |
| I passed a peice of rope under the car and attached either end to the top of the side pillars. Then wound a couple of long screw drivers ( broom handles would work) in the rope. Pulled it down in a very controlled way. You need to align the directon of pull and make sure you put some pads under the rope where it contacts the paint. |
| Peter |
This thread was discussed between 04/04/2007 and 06/04/2007
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