I'm working on a 53' Chevy 2100 4-dr. I replaced the windshield a year or so ago with a new gasket and some butyl rubber cord along the outside edge of the steel lip (nothing on the glass) and it's held up well. My only reservation is that before pulling the old gasket out, I noticed it had a lot of white-ish glazing compound around the outside between the rubber and the metal to fill the void. Some I imagine was done later to fix leaks, but this car has lots of stainless around the glass as well and there are pockets that will fill with water without something there. I've seen some information online about bedding and glazing compounds but they all look like caulk-able versions of the butyl rubber. What was on the car and what should I put on it? The car is black too. I don't plan to fill every void as some would be better left open so any moister can escape. I've also found what seems to be the same white glazing compound used in other places around the car for anti-vibration control around body fasteners, hinges, door panels, etc. My 54' Chevy 2100 had the same. It kinda looks like plain-Jane household window glazing, but is it? Similarly, I've seen tar used around the car to seal seams and for vibration control. Did they just use standard roofing tar? I'm hoping to put a new headliner in the 53' before too long but before I do I want to replace the tar-paper along the roof, which was also inside the deck lid and in parts of the doors. If it's just roofing tar, I'm thinking the traditional but messy approach of heating a pot and carefully spreading it over the paper, sticking it in place, and rolling it flat would do the job. I know there are more modern insulations and goops, but I kinda want to do the un-seen stuff as traditionally as possible.
3 M makes a windshield bedding compound that works pretty well on flat glass , but you will learn some new words before you’re done . It’s black and gets everywhere,
But it also cleans up easily with mineral spirits. I agree the stuff gets everywhere. Must be related to antisieze.
I picked up a tube of 3M 08609 Black "Super Fast Urethane" to play with. It's the only thing O'Reiley's had. It's in a metal caulking tube though so I'll need to hunt down one of the heavy duty guns. I also have a tube of Dynatron #570 White Seam Sealer I found online. It's been raining the last couple days so hopefully I can get one hot clear day before applying anything. Our Texas humidity won't be in my favor unless we have a drought, which won't happen this year now that we're into hurricane season. This car's getting a slow minor restoration while it's daily-driven and I'm also waiting on the weather so I can pop out my back glass, pull the surrounding trim off, repaint the body around it, and sink the glass back in with a new seal. If I can get that done first I'll be able to get all of the sealing done at once.
Another area I'll need to address is the little seams above the drip rails. They had some kind of compound in them that has dried and fallen out over the years, so I'm hoping that whatever I use around the window openings can also make a small even bead into that.
You can learn from my mistakes here. First, anything you use around the glass/seal should remain flexible. I used 3 M strip caulking for this. It worked great, not messy. Fords require the headliner to be installed before the front and rear glass, no not being messy was a big plus for me. Flexibility is not what you want in the driprails. For the drip rails, the second time around due to previous mistakes there, I used 3m Panel Bond. It was recommended for that purpose by a friend who is the 3M rep for N Texas and NM. The panel bond was great to work with. It dries hard, is super easy to sand to a nice profile, paintable, and has the added feature of having a rust preventative additive. The downside to the PanelBond is the application gun is pricey....best price I could find 5 years ago was $65. Fords originally used seam sealer in the driprails.........hard to work with compared to the new technology stuff.
Previous owners may have used household products. While it's apart look for any water / debris pockets and modify them if you can. I started buying all of my seam sealer and glass stuff from high volume body shop supply places, either online or local. Paying a premium for seam sealer at parts store, Crack it open and find out its been on the shelf for 5 years and useless - that sucks.
The windshield and back glass for sure have had extra goop added over the years, but other places around the car like around the door hinge screws and under their cover plates look untouched. That goop looks a little window glazing to me but perhaps a little more opaque and slightly pink/off-white. It's still tacky too so not sure if it was the same goop they put around the factory windows. There are several bits of stainless that have/had black goop around the fasteners to seal the body openings and help with vibration. My plan is to use butyl rubber cord rolled into a little donut around the holes.
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