Windscreen aperture repair

[Retrohowla]

Hi guys, been a long time since i posted regarding work on my old bus, shes been neglected if im honest although flown through the mot for the last 9 years, so not totally neglected.
The leaking windscreen has just got ridiculous now, no amount of sealant would stem the torrent running down the A posts and mini lake windemere on the dashboard.
So all i can say is, if anyone has a little rust around the rubber, get it done sooner rather than later, i left it far too long and this happened....

[Retrohowla]

It continues along those lines all the way around...

[Retrohowla]

So im going to attempt to show how a vegetable in his back garden, armed with inadequate tooling and far too few brain cells, can save an old transit from a certain brown crusty grave.
This will not be a professional job by any means, but its what i can afford..... DIY

[irishtransit]

good luck with it.ford turkey do a complete screen surround outter skin for 165 quid

[Retrohowla]

You're joking? How do go about contacting them?

[Retrohowla]

I think I've found the site and roughly translated it to English. Some really rare panels on there I would love to get hold of. Be interested to hear what it's going to cost to get stuff like that over here

[DodgeRover]

That's a job I've got to do as well not looking forwards to it

[South Hem]

So if your van has some minor rust in the aperture and the rubber is still in good condition is it a case of removal and then get the rust sorted and then replace?
More importantly can it be removed by the layman and put back in by a pro glass installer. Do those mobile windscreen guys come to your house to do this work?

[Retrohowla]

I did a bit if research and found it was suggested a new rubber should be purchased and the old rubber cut out to avoid damaging the screen. I did this myself and 2 of us lifted it out no bother. I will get a pro fitter to come to my house to refit it.

As for the rust, yes, screen out, repair rust then screen back in. It depends how good you are at metal work as to whether it's a job for DIY or not.
I would describe my ability as 'keen amateure' and its taking me a very long time to do small sections.
I will post pics of the work so far

[Retrohowla]

First bit going in


Few inches at a time to try and keep shape and size as accurate as i can






This shows a bit of the the inner skin repairs, forgot to take pics at every section


Slowly getting towards the corner


This was both the roof join profile and aperture profile in a double step bit, made in 2 sections


ouch....

[Retrohowla]

Sorry forgot to take pics of this section being made


This bit was a bit daunting


Not perfect i know, going to need to dry fit the window to check gaps after, like i say, this is no professional job




Still need to clean back the weld here, just want to get all the way around first though






Next job, bottom corner and top of dashboard

[irishtransit]

jesus that's a very good job your doing there.maybe you're one step up from keen amature!

[Neil]

did mine a few years back new rubber too still got a small leak tho im sure its a mk 2 thing as my mk 1 never leaks at all and its been in place 30 year I was told its the chrome strip that keeps the rubber tight

[Retrohowla]

Took me a while to figure out how to get a 3 way profile for the dashboard return, so i blasted some more pigeon poo at bits of plate, looks a bit rough but had pretty much the desired result





Did the inside first to follow the shape of the outside, then the outside following the shape of the new insert



Now i just need to do all along the bottom and up the other side

[irishtransit]

nice work.what do you mean by pigeon poo and what did it do?