My wife and I installed the windshield on our 66 Barracuda. The windshield and seal dropped right in. The locking strip was what took the most man handling. I pushed the lock down and the wife worked the lips of the seal over the locking strip. The windshield and seal will sit in the car but not necessarily in the right position. I found I had to keep an eye on what the seal was doing while installing the locking strip. At one point the seal was farther inside the car than it should have been.
I am not sure how you can use rope as the locking strip would need two ropes one on the top and one on the bottom to get it to work. But there might be a way but i cant picture it.
I guess we could have put the locking strip on first.
My wife said it wasn't fun at all and she never wants to do it again lol.
