Windshield removal

Completed the pillar bottom and painted it with a protective paint.

The upper part then. It was soon clear the windshield has to be removed prior any other repair or tear down. Ford used a thick layer of butyl sealer in these. The factory repair manual states under section 'Windshield replacement procedure': "... 3. Unsnap the upper moulding retainers using the special tool and remove the outside top moulding. 4. Remove the outside side moulding retaining screws and remove the outside side moulding. 5. Remove the outside lower moulding retainer retaining screws. Remove the outside lower moulding and retainers. ..." Sounds pretty easy and straightforward task, eh? The special tool mentioned was pictured in the manual and was easy to made, it is only a shaped piece of flat metal which is supposed to slide under the moulding and release the retainer. The lower moulding was actually held by the retainer screws and was easy to remove. All the rest sat tight like glued on the butyl sealer and the tool was useless until the excess sealer was taken out. Most of the retainers were rusted and they bent easily and that helped a bit.

Butyl sealer glued the mouldings to the frame.

After the side mouldings were removed, I find traces of the original blue color of the vinyl roof. The original color code for the car is C which stands for Sky View Blue with an option code 78 which is Blue Vinyl roof. Also the option 55 - Black Hood was selected for this car.

 

Next I had to remove the windshield. Again the manual states "...If the glass is not broken it can be removed by using a piece of small diameter piano wire to cut the butyl." That was actually true, the piano wire, guitar strings, welding wire etc. I tried did cut the butyl. The problem was the butyl was so soft and sticky it stayed there and reattached no matter how hard I cut with a piano wire. The solution was to use 2mm steel cable and pushing pieces of cardboard to the seal using a kitchen knife and a spatula. Slowly working there was finally more cardboard pieces than butyl in the seal and I was able to remove the windshield.

Now I was able to observe how badly it was rusted under the windshield and proceed planning the repair.