Just thought I would share the following with the hope that others might benefit.
I recently replaced the old cracked windshield gasket on my 65 convertible. This is the first time I have done this so I did my reaerch and had read about the process at a couple of web sites. I started by cutting the outside part of the seal along the glass with a razor knife. The windshield popped out without problem. Cleaning the old sealant off the frame was really messy so I used a couple of old bed sheets to keep all the crap from falling inside the car. After installing the new seal on the car frame, I tried using the cord/string trick to ease the seal lip over the glass. It was not going very well so I took a break, had a beer, and decided to try using a couple of clean thin 1" plastic putty knives (you can get these for under $1 at any home improvement store) I had laying around. I did not use metal putty knives as I was afraid they might gouge the seal and/or chip the glass edge. Once I got the bottom started I ran the putty knives parallel to the glass and around the entire windshield. I was able to pop the seal lip over the glass very easily without damage to the seal or glass (YEAH!!!) and IMHO this worked much better than the cord method. The corners were a bit tricky and need both knives to work the seal over the glass. It took less than 30 minutes to get the glass seated in the seal. After that I applied new sealant between gasket and frame, etc. and re-installed the chrome trim. In the end in took about 4 hours with most of the time spend removing and re-installing all of the trim pieces. Thus, it is possible for one person to do this but you must be patient and take your time. I put the car out a couple of days later when it rained and did not see any leaks (YEAH!!!).
I recently replaced the old cracked windshield gasket on my 65 convertible. This is the first time I have done this so I did my reaerch and had read about the process at a couple of web sites. I started by cutting the outside part of the seal along the glass with a razor knife. The windshield popped out without problem. Cleaning the old sealant off the frame was really messy so I used a couple of old bed sheets to keep all the crap from falling inside the car. After installing the new seal on the car frame, I tried using the cord/string trick to ease the seal lip over the glass. It was not going very well so I took a break, had a beer, and decided to try using a couple of clean thin 1" plastic putty knives (you can get these for under $1 at any home improvement store) I had laying around. I did not use metal putty knives as I was afraid they might gouge the seal and/or chip the glass edge. Once I got the bottom started I ran the putty knives parallel to the glass and around the entire windshield. I was able to pop the seal lip over the glass very easily without damage to the seal or glass (YEAH!!!) and IMHO this worked much better than the cord method. The corners were a bit tricky and need both knives to work the seal over the glass. It took less than 30 minutes to get the glass seated in the seal. After that I applied new sealant between gasket and frame, etc. and re-installed the chrome trim. In the end in took about 4 hours with most of the time spend removing and re-installing all of the trim pieces. Thus, it is possible for one person to do this but you must be patient and take your time. I put the car out a couple of days later when it rained and did not see any leaks (YEAH!!!).
