'64 Biscayne leaking windows!!

w ogden

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
OK, I am finally admitting that I am being beaten by window leaks! Some history first. Ground up build on a 64 2 dr Biscayne. Body was blasted and all the pinch weld for the windows were then epoxied and primed, then painted. Installed new molding clips, new window rubbers and sealed the glass to the rubber with glass sealant recommended by a glass shop. Wash the car without the SS moldings on yet and both the front and rear windows leak like a mother! Resealed the front windshield and sealed from the body to the rubber. Still leaks! Pulled all the caulk out from the body to the rubber and used a new sealant recommended by a very reputable glass guy (different than the first guy) and the windshield still leaks so we go inside the car and find that the water is seeping in by the clips so we sealed each of those from the inside and at this point it appears that the front is not leaking.
Now the rear. Same deal like the front only this time no luck so we rip it back out and get a new rubber from Show Cars. Cleaned the pinch weld back to paint. Reinstalled the clips. Had the reputable glass guy #2 come and install the glass. I sealed the rubber to the body and the glass to the rubber with the same sealant as the front and it leaks worse than the front! Had a very good old school body man come today to help me figure out what is going on and tried to seal it from the inside but we still have leaks. This is getting pretty discouraging!

The car is completely done and ready to drive less the rugs and interior which is waiting in storage. This is getting really old. So can someone tell me the procedure to properly install glass in this car without getting all these leaks. I am surely missing something!
 

1958 delivery

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
First of all, don't drive in the rain and never use water to wash a car. I do both of these with my street rods.:cool:
 

Jim Sullivan

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 10
What type sealer are you using? Is it similar to the original type caulk. I believe they use the caulk to take up all of the gaps where the rubber seal didn't fit tight due to normal distortions in the window openings. I have only replaced a couple of windshields and back glass. After the windows are installed we used a caulking gun with urethane sealer and run a bead on the outside between the rubber seal and the window opening. The nozzle of the caulk tube needs to be inserted between the rubber seal and the window opening to seal the rubber to the body. I never had a leak between the rubber and the glass.
 

w ogden

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
Jim, we used urethane the first time around and then have switched to a new product that the 2nd glass guy uses in all his installs. It is from the CR Laurence Company. It flows out better and stays very elastic.
 

LMBRJQ 60

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 4
I had a similar problem with my 60
The leak was coming around under the clip between the clip and the body not the clip and the rubber (if you can get what i mean)
I pulled it all out and put sealant around the clips then put them in and more sealant over the top.
Also did just what Jim said above
Worked for us

Just a word of caution, im not a fan of sealing things on the inside, i would rather know it is leaking by getting my feet wet than have the water come in to the body from out side and then find its way into a seam to rot without me knowing
JMHO

Steve
 

models916

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 7
I just used that clear spray sealer from Home Depot as a last resort for persistent leaks. Remove the trim and mask the paint and spray the sealer on everything. No more leaks. Also comes in Black and stays flexible. Makes kind of like a vinyl skin over it. Sticks to everything. The stuff you see on TV sealing the bottom of the boat with a screen door.
 

Tom Kochtanek

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 12
I had a similar experience with my '62SS car when I reassembled it. Had the windshield removed and repaired by Glass Shop #1 so I had them install it as well (two years later). Perfect paint and new rubber gasket for both front and back. After months of reassembly (the vehicle was inside a shop for the entire period) I rolled it outside one day to clean things up in my buddies' shop and it got some snow on it. Leaked like a sieve, and that was a half inch of snow, not rain.

So we called in Glass Shop #2, also a car collector guy (Olds 442 convert). He offered to assist, even gave us the new sealer in tubes, but said he couldn't guarantee anything (including breakage), so we did it ourselves. A few tips from him (he left shortly thereafter...) and voila! they don't leak anymore. I did have to replace the cardboard parcel tray under the rear window (thanks Phil!).

I still have to attend to a leak in the Corvette, but that's due to the seal in the doors. I take 58Delivery's advise: don't take her out in the rain, and wipe her down by hand with Windex or other suitable cleaner :).

Good luck with your effort!

TomK
 

Jim Sullivan

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 10
All of these glass sealing problems must be why we find so much caulk around the rubber seals on all of the 62-64 Chevys we work on. Everyone that we have taken the front or rear window trim off of has had the space under it filled with caulk. We believe it was all from the factory. They sure had some good products back then. Probably not too "environmentally friendly" but worked well. That old caulk never seemed to harden.
 

blkblk63ss

Well Seasoned Member
Supporting Member 5
I was trying to find the original sealant, gray in color, over the year's they used for several car's on my son and my car's . It was soft and gooey. Good stuff. Never did so i used urethane and the black what they call dum dum.As far as washing , i don't like the idea of water getting under moulding's and setting there. I just use a sponge just enough water to wipe and then chamois.
 

oldskydog

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 10
The Shop Manual covers all of the glass installation including the part about caulking the tim clips and in the valley of the opening. i always used 3M Strip Caulk.
 

1958 delivery

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
You should never use urethane as a glass sealer in a rubber gasket. Any caulking you use on a windshield needs to be the non-hardening type Urethane is an adhesive. My partner and glass shop owner for the majority of his life cuss' you guys out when he has to disassemble something that someone used urethane. Urethane is for gluing in glass that does not have a rubber gasket.
 

blkblk63ss

Well Seasoned Member
Supporting Member 5
Now that you mention it was not urethane , i do know i used what they recommended for sealing older rubber windshield's!!! I used the sealer around the clip's and applied sealer after window's in front and rear and lifted rubber and shot in sealer between rubber and glass on the outside and wiped off excess, which make's a nice mess. I packed the under molding cavity's with 3m strip caulk as cecil called it and tried to get it build up as much like the original grey , with getting too much on so i could get the molding's snapped back in. I did front and rear wind shield by myself , i had done some before , the old rope trick work's pretty good. Urethane is used on rubber less window's as 58 delivery mentioned. At one time year's ago i got sealer in a bottle with it's own pump on it ,looked like a oil can pump, from 55 56 57 club{ now eckler's} out of orlando ,florida to seal windshield's front and rear in my 55 chevy i had . Cant find that any more , at least i could not.
 
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