OTS Windscreen fitting advice please ?

[rfs1957]

Given the expense of crating + shipping, instead of being sure and buying from Pilkingtons, I had to jump quick at a White Man Van opportunity coming down from Yorkshire and ordered - unseen - a windscreen for my OTS from Yorvik Windscreens in York, cost £206. Maybe someone can tell me who made it ............

My troubles have - I think - nothing to do with the windscreen, but a lot to do with the rubbers and the chrome trim.

Advice from similar sufferers much appreciated.

The screen went in fine, I've never done one on the Jag before but filled the body-groove with French-style Waxoyl and then used water/w'up liquid mix to coax the screen into it without much difficulty. Once I'd blagged the correct diamond-shaped tool to fit the retaining rubber that "fixes" the shape of the main rubber channel (advice from a novice - I wouldn't try this again unless I had the tool again, there were some areas that were extremely difficult to coax apart).

However the chrome trim channel was a B---H ; I could get half the length in, but began to damage the lips of the retaining grooves in the screen rubber and then once past half-way it would pull out where I'd started etc etc - we've all been there n'est ce pas ?

In desperation, working against the clock etc I thought "in for a penny, in for a pound" - and put an 18mm wood-bit through a piece of 4" x 4" timber, cut through the diameter, made a 16mm plastic slug with bullet-ends, and ............... gently hammered my way along the length of the chrome trim to tighten its profile - it was way too "flat" for the requirements of the rubber.





And - bloody hell - it worked ; well almost, but SO well that I regret not having tried harder to do it more carefully because in my haste and desperation I left marks in the the trim that I could have avoided with a deep breath, a cup of tea, and a lighter hand on the hammer.



My question is this ; it's in the rubber for all its length except for about 30cm just on its lower edge, around the centre wiper, and you have to look very carefully to spot it. It's only glued at the ends by the chrome ears.



Will I get it better with a repro one ? The true curve required is more like an 11mm radius / 21mm diameter on the former judging from this socket, and if people have used the repro ones with success I'll rip this one out and start again.





Furthermore, the trim is not long enough anyway - it's only just under the RH ear, and doesn't meet the LH one, so it looks horrible.



Other question ; how good do Forum members manage to get the fit of the chrome side-channels and ears ? My RH side is good, I think, but the interface between the chrome side-trim, the lower chrome strip, and the rubber grooves is a little problematic - have a closer look at the picture.

(Photobucket's usual picture-rotation incompetence here)





On the LHS I'm almost 10mm away from producing the same effect, and don't know what to do next. Encouragement before abuse, please.



PS Last of all, what choice do I have about this RH window-pillar capping ? It's split, but functions because the 2 halves essentially have different fixing screws.

[Heuer]

You can edit your photos in Photobucket and change the orientation. Go to the photo you want to edit, click on the square icon with the paintbrush and it will open the Editor. Click orientation symbol, rotate and save - voila!, as the French seem to like to say.

As regards the trim I can't understand why that piece is coming up short unless someone has modified it. Chrome end caps are available from SNGB if yours is broken. Richard Smith sells the early end caps.

[nefematic]

Rory,

your pillar chromes look different than the later ones. Mine seem to have longer and more pointed ears going forward. Is your front chrome original seems strange it wouldn't be long enough. Are the later front chromes maybe shorter and have a different radius. Here my a-pillar:



The front chrome:



A small garage will help fixing the chrome in place while the adhesive sets:



I like the setting of your Tripex logo it seems to be straight/level. Mine is totally off whack.

Martin

[rfs1957]

Photobucket ? That's the theory. For me, nine times out of ten, it speaks to me in Californian - Like, Hum, this IS embarassing - your photo mod hasn't functioned. Could you try that again ?

Which I do, to no avail.

[Heuer]

Most odd. I clicked on one of your photos and it took me to your Photobucket page. I then edited the orientation and saved the result (automatically to my Photobucket account):


The chrome finisher is correct for your car, the more bulbous version came very late in 3.8 production and was carried over to the 4.2's. Looks like your chrome strip is wrong, maybe you have BD17703 (for very early cars which also required two joint pieces) instead of BD20562?

[rfs1957]

Bizarre, I agree - sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't.
I'll just sub-contract picture-management to you, you can't have much else to do on the Forum, obviously.

Update :

There are in fact two editors within PB, one is a "light" version where you've already got just one picture visible, and where you ostensibly just click on the "gear" symbol and get offered directly options like "rotate left" etc - this one never works for me and gives the Hum - this is embarassing etc routine.

Then there is a more cumbersome one that I can only get into through the Library or Upload presentation (mulit-frame layout, 4-wide and 6-deep) where passing over the picture throws up a 5-line Menu with Edit in the middle ; this choice, which takes longer to throw up the picture, offers you a heading of - initially - eleven icones, running from Enhance to Sharpness.

The Orientation function enables rotation and for me this does in fact work every time.

[rfs1957]

Has anyone bought these chrome Zamac cappings BD.15508 and BD.15509 from any Usual Suspects, recently, and are they any good - convincing to look at etc ?

[PeterCrespin]

Mazak, no, and they aren't too noticeable really (or even visible in the UK where tops are often up by default.

To me they are just finishers and you see them on eBay quite often. If yours are split they may have been abused but still work for keeping the top chrome trim in place and giving you something solid to hook the raised top to.

The bottom trim being short is bizarre. Is there a hole at the hidden end or has it been trimmed short?

[rfs1957]

Hey Peter, a bit of cultural indulgence please ! It's Zamak here. And maybe in Germany too ?

"Son nom est un acronyme des noms allemands des métaux qui le composent : Zink (zinc), Aluminium, MAgnesium (magnésium) et Kupfer (cuivre)"

The trim strip has a hole in either end and hasn't been shortened, I think the old rubber was flatter and the holes were just covered by the ears. I'm tempted to make an extension, braze it on, and then get the strip fettled and re-chromed, unless I get good reports of the repro ones.

[PeterCrespin]

Touche monsieur! (Excuse mssing accent). I should have remembered you live in the country of verlan that says SIDA instead of AIDS, ONU instead of UN and Jour J instead of D-Day :-)

Can you not fully insert the lower trim to in the central section where you said it was tricky? You'd get a longer 'arc' by being on a marginally tighter radius, although perhaps not enough? Failing that, given a vaguely correct cross-section, length and width are about the only variables, so a quick phone call to check length of a repro item should tell you if it is worth buying? I suspect they'll all be the same as yours, or too close to bridge the gap and your seal or fitting may be iffy? Can't say I've ever had trouble with the long screen trims top or bottom, compared to the FHC/2+2 rear hatch trims. Adjusting/opening the vertical fold of the side trims might get you 5mm more transverse reach at the bottom?

Bon courage!

[ralphr1780]

Rory, did you try stretching the seal rubber on the body before fitting the screen? To me it looks as if your rubber seal is "fat" and could do with some stretching which will surely bring the chrome strip closer and narrow the gap for the insert seal.

[Polse7317]

Hi rfs , i had quite the same problems as you, ..... The lenght of the ears is 13 cm : above ( 1963 FHC )

I curve the chrome strips with a round piece of wood Rolling Inside the strip matching with the transversal curve . And i roll with a very big pressure . At the end the strip was quite close to the same rubber seal you seem to have ( mine is from SNGB)
I spread some black windscreen mastic on the rubber, a thin coat before fitting the chrome strips and with the press on the windscreen it was in the right position:




I have fitted new chrome strips from SNGB , and i found the original one that i thought they were lost .... The lenght of those are 145 cm for the lower one with a hole at each end (for ?) and 105.5 cm for the upper one.
Send me a PM if your are interrested
I hope it helps you
bonne chance à Montpellier....

[rfs1957]

I went looking for this post again and realized I had never replied to my collègue français for his helpful suggestions regarding those blue clamps, merci, I shall definitely get some shortly as I am having another go at the windscreen and the chrome trims.

[Polse7317]

Hi Rory , i can send you the plastic blue press you'll send them back if you want , but they are not very expansive anyway

[rfs1957]

Very kind Yves but they'll be so useful I'll need them anyway for the workshop, so I had better buy my own. I think I saw them at Mabeo Industrie's site, non ?

[Polse7317]

Rory i bought them at : SM distribution LA CENTRALE DU PRO (contact@lacentraledupro.com ) 32.34 eur
very helpfull