Richard's Corvair

The Restoration of my 1960 Corvair

Installing Glass, Clips and Upholstering Roof

Gluing windshield weatherstripping

Windshield installed

Original windshield

Right front window and windshield

Rear window installed

First piece of belt trim installed

Sand in window mechanism

Crank assembly disassembled

Braised window cranks

Window mechanism assembled

Hammering screw into clip-closeup

Welding clip-Rene

Making clips for belt trim

Welding clip

Sanding belt trim clips

Grinding out plastic from rear belt trim piece

More grinding out of plastic

Hammering out big dents in rear belt trim

Rough sanding with 220 paper

Sanding with 360 paper

Straightened and polished rear trim

Original roof condition

Original roof and windshield

Preparing interior of roof

Roof with big dents out

Dents out of roof

Ready to paint

Inside of roof with support

Painted roof-from top

Painted and insulated roof interior

New headliner installed

Month 24

We are now in the 24th month, coming up on the two year anniversary of the project.

Now that the headliner has been made and installed, the glass is being installed. First the weatherstripping is glued to the rear window, then installed in the car with the stainless trim pieces that I polished a few months ago.

Then comes the installation of the new windshield that we made after making a mold from the broken one. It fit perfectly.

All of the glass is now installed with new “fuzzies” and weatherstripping. In the process of installing the windows we found that they would not stay up. Drilling out the rivets of the mechanism uncovered lots of dirt and corrosion. After cleaning they were braised and turned on a lathe until the springs/brakes could grab and hold the glass in place.

The drip moldings are also in place all around the roof, and we are starting on the belt trim. This required the fabrication of a few clips, since I did not have enough. These were made by the body shop by cutting small rectangles of steel drilling them, bending them over a pipe, recessing screws into the holes, welding in place, sanding and painting.

The doors and windows are closing and opening with the sounds and precision of a new car.

The rear part of the belt trim that I bought used in the US had been filled with some epoxy type filler, presumably to to fasten it. At the body shop we determined that it would be best to remove all of that plastic and use good clips. So here I am grinding out all of that filler. This also allowed me to take out 3 small dents, so after hammering them out, I sanded and polished it. Note the reflection of the camera.

The transformation of the roof line from the original dents to the current status has raised some interest, so here I’m adding a collection of the pictures from that transformation.

Pushing it back to its basic shape left a lot of work to hammer out and shrink the stretched metal. I didn’t get pictures of the actual hammering, but here we see how it took shape after removing the center support. Then the center support was sanded, painted and welded back.

After painting inside and out, I added fiberglass insulation and the headliner we made locally. Stretching the headliner is much easier without the front and rear windows.

The insulation was never original equipment, but will reduce sounds and the heat of the sun here at 6000 feet above sea level.

I have other sound insulation products that I will use for the floor and firewall.

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