bknbronco
Bronco Guru
Just though id share my experiance of glueing in the windshield. I know a few guys on here did this recently so i decided to try it myself. I had windshield glass cut for $100.00 from a pattern i brought to a custom auto glass cutting place. They were gona charge me $125 but they didnt do as good of a job as i expected, so i told them to knock 25 off and i wont say bad things about them to others!
I taped the frame off, cleaned with prepall, and primed the edge with 3M glass primer (08682) using a small duaber. I also scuffed, cleaned with prepall, and primed the frame. I put some wood and shims under the glass so it wouldnt squish the urethane out to much and be set in to far. I then ran a bead of 3M medium urethane (08693) windshield urethane (The bead was about 5/8" tall and maybe 1/4" wide) around the frame and dropped the glass in.
The primer and urethane i got at the local paint shop for $25.00, plus the $100.00 for glass, and $6 for some harbor freight suction cups, so i got $131.00 into a new windshield.
Couple tips...
1-Make sure you look under the glass before pulling tape from the primer to make sure there is no light coming through the primer, touch up as needed. The primer dries almost as quick as it touches the glass so paint like 18" then another 18" and so on.
2-Cut the tip large on the urethane, and on one side cut a large "V" out. This allows you to lay a bead that is in my case 5/8" tall, which was needed to bring the glass out to almost flush with the frame. I also made the tip of the V wider so the top edge of the bead was thicker and didnt come to a point. The plastic screw on tips are the same as other caulking i used at work so i had a ton of tips in my work trailer. I took me 4 tips before i got the shape bead i liked!
3- Dont make to many practice urethane beads on a paper plate! I used a entire tube of urethane and came up a inch short so i had to scrapp off some urethane off the plate and spread it that way. That sucked. Glad it was only a inch!!
4-If doing the install with the frame in the bronco as most would do i also suggest cutting some small shims to space the glass up from the bottom of the frame, and centering it.
5- Because of the extra large urethane bead needed to bring the glass out flush with the frame id let it sit for at least 24-48 hours to dry before driving!!
6- The small bottle of primer has enough to do probably 6 windshields. If possible round up a few guys and do them all at once. The primer is only supposed to be kept for 7 days after opening i believe. (I have heard of glass guys keeping it in the fridge to keep it longer, but im not sure?)
7- I primed only 3/4" wide strip, but i have a viewfinder frame. With a standard frame make sure you prime enough to hide the dash on the bottom when looking in from the outside, not sure without looking at a stock frame. The primer no only helps the urethane stick, but protects it from the UV. The primer also hides the uneveness of the urethane bead and makes for a much much cleaner install. If you look at any car you will soon notice how much of the glass is primed to hide dash, headliner, and a pillars.
8- When i picked up my glass the kid also showed me the greylight (much darker than my green), and he showed me the green with the shaded top section. Now that would be cool in my viewfinder frame! NEXT TIME!
9- When making your template for the glass cutting, make the gap between the glass and the frame 1/16" to 1/8". My frame was not very straight so the gap varied around the frame. If you go with a 1/8" or larger gap there isnt much of a pinch weld to glue to, so the smaller the better.
Just thought id share my experiance so you all know how cheep and easy it is if you want to try it yourself. My glass guy wanted at least another hundred for install and im not sure he would have dona as good of a job.
I taped the frame off, cleaned with prepall, and primed the edge with 3M glass primer (08682) using a small duaber. I also scuffed, cleaned with prepall, and primed the frame. I put some wood and shims under the glass so it wouldnt squish the urethane out to much and be set in to far. I then ran a bead of 3M medium urethane (08693) windshield urethane (The bead was about 5/8" tall and maybe 1/4" wide) around the frame and dropped the glass in.
The primer and urethane i got at the local paint shop for $25.00, plus the $100.00 for glass, and $6 for some harbor freight suction cups, so i got $131.00 into a new windshield.
Couple tips...
1-Make sure you look under the glass before pulling tape from the primer to make sure there is no light coming through the primer, touch up as needed. The primer dries almost as quick as it touches the glass so paint like 18" then another 18" and so on.
2-Cut the tip large on the urethane, and on one side cut a large "V" out. This allows you to lay a bead that is in my case 5/8" tall, which was needed to bring the glass out to almost flush with the frame. I also made the tip of the V wider so the top edge of the bead was thicker and didnt come to a point. The plastic screw on tips are the same as other caulking i used at work so i had a ton of tips in my work trailer. I took me 4 tips before i got the shape bead i liked!
3- Dont make to many practice urethane beads on a paper plate! I used a entire tube of urethane and came up a inch short so i had to scrapp off some urethane off the plate and spread it that way. That sucked. Glad it was only a inch!!
4-If doing the install with the frame in the bronco as most would do i also suggest cutting some small shims to space the glass up from the bottom of the frame, and centering it.
5- Because of the extra large urethane bead needed to bring the glass out flush with the frame id let it sit for at least 24-48 hours to dry before driving!!
6- The small bottle of primer has enough to do probably 6 windshields. If possible round up a few guys and do them all at once. The primer is only supposed to be kept for 7 days after opening i believe. (I have heard of glass guys keeping it in the fridge to keep it longer, but im not sure?)
7- I primed only 3/4" wide strip, but i have a viewfinder frame. With a standard frame make sure you prime enough to hide the dash on the bottom when looking in from the outside, not sure without looking at a stock frame. The primer no only helps the urethane stick, but protects it from the UV. The primer also hides the uneveness of the urethane bead and makes for a much much cleaner install. If you look at any car you will soon notice how much of the glass is primed to hide dash, headliner, and a pillars.
8- When i picked up my glass the kid also showed me the greylight (much darker than my green), and he showed me the green with the shaded top section. Now that would be cool in my viewfinder frame! NEXT TIME!
9- When making your template for the glass cutting, make the gap between the glass and the frame 1/16" to 1/8". My frame was not very straight so the gap varied around the frame. If you go with a 1/8" or larger gap there isnt much of a pinch weld to glue to, so the smaller the better.
Just thought id share my experiance so you all know how cheep and easy it is if you want to try it yourself. My glass guy wanted at least another hundred for install and im not sure he would have dona as good of a job.
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