Is your 67-76 A-body windshield leaking ?

-

This is in reference to post #25. I took the windshield out today. The first two pics are the driver's side, taken through the windshield opening, the second two pics are the passenger side, also taken through the windshield opening.

In post #20, @Oldmanmopar clearly shows rectangular, or maybe square, drain holes. My car was apparently made without those holes. I tapped around with a center punch and a hammer, and there are no plugged up holes!

I guess I have to make my own.


1762988852532.png
1762988880232.png

1762988915084.png
1762988943689.png
 
I guess, I was lucky that my car apparently didn’t have a leak before I replaced the gasket!

I would think it would get rust in the channel just because the water sits there every time it gets wet, because it has no drain holes to let it out. I guess you would have to blow the channel out with air every time it gets wet to keep it from rusting.

My car was no beauty queen when I bought it, but it has very little rust. It must’ve been in a garage a lot even though it was pretty ugly. It’s been in the garage since I bought it in 2008.
I’m going to try to figure out exactly where to put a couple holes, I guess drilling would be OK.

I have a new gasket (Precision Parts WCR D759) and CRL7708 sealer on the way.

From what I have read, it sounds like the sealer should only go along the bottom. But I would think at least a little bit all the way around, leaving the holes open, couldn’t hurt. This car is only out in the rain if I get caught in it. Service manual doesn’t seem to be available for 1974. But, thinking about it, I guess any year with the same type of windshield installation would be good. I’ll look into it.
 
I guess, I was lucky that my car apparently didn’t have a leak before I replaced the gasket!

I would think it would get rust in the channel just because the water sits there every time it gets wet, because it has no drain holes to let it out. I guess you would have to blow the channel out with air every time it gets wet to keep it from rusting.

My car was no beauty queen when I bought it, but it has very little rust. It must’ve been in a garage a lot even though it was pretty ugly. It’s been in the garage since I bought it in 2008.
I’m going to try to figure out exactly where to put a couple holes, I guess drilling would be OK.

I have a new gasket (Precision Parts WCR D759) and CRL7708 sealer on the way.

From what I have read, it sounds like the sealer should only go along the bottom. But I would think at least a little bit all the way around, leaving the holes open, couldn’t hurt. This car is only out in the rain if I get caught in it. Service manual doesn’t seem to be available for 1974. But, thinking about it, I guess any year with the same type of windshield installation would be good. I’ll look into it.
It looks like you may have the square holes there already, might be covered with lead or sealer? Attached a pic of my car for reference.

IMG_3085.jpeg


IMG_3086.jpeg
 
I was poking around with a center punch and a hammer. I'll extend my "poking around" range. You can't see the center punch marks because I took the pics before I poked around.

Thanks
 
CRL7708 sealer
This stuff is excellent for window openings with rails or walls or the pinch welds where panels come together, whatever you want to call it.

Gasket has a groove that slides on to the rail.

So, I went and opened my seal, WCR D690 for 68-72 A-body excluding Duster.

Exterior of gasket has a tongue and groove along the sides, and the top and bottom corners are completely open.

Any water that gets in will drain out the bottom corners.

The bottom of the gasket has a groove for the bottom rail between the cowl drain holes, separate from the rest of the gasket, last pic.

Problem is, there is no bottom raised rail on the car.

If water gets into the groove on the top/sides of the gasket, it appears the gasket directs that water to the cowl drain holes.

Why is there expectation that water will get into the groove on the top/sides of the seal, and therefore need to drain, but not into a useless bottom groove?

Why have a bottom groove that has no male counterpart?

Why design it so water can easily get under the bottom into that groove and have nowhere to drain?

With no sealant, it just looks like those drain holes could easily become overwhelmed.

Screenshot_20250915_203936_YouTube.jpg


20251113_130157.jpg


20251113_130224.jpg


20251113_130333.jpg
 
Last edited:
It looks like you may have the square holes there already, might be covered with lead or sealer? Attached a pic of my car for reference.

View attachment 1716478089

View attachment 1716478090
I can see a faint outline of the hole! You have great eyes!

I punched around in that area (drivers side), and I can see what seems to be the hole. Whatever plugged it up is tough. I wouldn't want to hit the center punch as hard as I had to, if I wasn't pretty certain it was there. It's hard to open, but I suppose it doesn't have to be perfect. I think I have it located on the passenger side, too.

Thank you!
 
This stuff is excellent for window openings with rails or walls or the pinch welds where panels come together, whatever you want to call it.

Gasket has a groove that slides on to the rail.

So, I went and opened my seal, WCR D690 for 68-72 A-body excluding Duster.

Exterior of gasket has a tongue and groove along the sides, and the top and bottom corners are completely open.

Any water that gets in will drain out the bottom corners.

The bottom of the gasket has a groove for the bottom rail between the cowl drain holes, separate from the rest of the gasket, last pic.

Problem is, there is no bottom raised rail on the car.

If water gets into the groove on the top/sides of the gasket, it appears the gasket directs that water to the cowl drain holes.

Why is there expectation that water will get into the groove on the top/sides of the seal, and therefore need to drain, but not into a useless bottom groove?

Why have a bottom groove that has no male counterpart?

Why design it so water can easily get under the bottom into that groove and have nowhere to drain?

With no sealant, it just looks like those drain holes could easily become overwhelmed.

View attachment 1716478124

View attachment 1716478152

View attachment 1716478153

View attachment 1716478154
It sounds like your car and my '74 have the same body construction in the windshield area, but use a different gasket. My gasket has a round cord-like lock strip that gets pushed into the gasket, on the top and sides, after the glass is installed. Along the bottom is a flap that gets tucked into a groove in the gasket.

However, my thinking is like yours, in how does all the water get sent through those two relatively small holes? The pinch welded sides and top make sense. When the pinch welds come around from the side to the bottom, they transform to that flat area, and that is where the water can run up, over, and into the car. And I can see how water would easily come in without a pinch weld wall to climb over.

I would think that many cars are designed without drain holes, and the water sits in there until it dries. (Probably why cars rust there.) The gasket could be sealed to the body, then sealer is put in the gasket groove where the glass goes.

I must be missing something. I would think that anytime those 2 drain holes get overwhelmed (easily, I would think), water going to come in.
 
With pinch welds all the way around, gooping them up works fine.

I squeeze the CRL7708 into the groove in the gasket, then squish it down.

There isn't much that squeezes out, which is good because that stuff stays soft and sticky.

If I goop up my Barracuda then all sorts of stuff is going to stick to that stuff.

All this is talk, can't wait to dig in and see what lies underneath, preferably reinstall with no sealant.
 
Here's the FSM way on how to do it. At least for the '73 and up Duster and Dart Sport. I imagine revised versions may be out there. This was on MyMopar.com.

What we've been calling the "pinch weld", they call the "fence". And I would add, that if you're using a new gasket, just cut the glass out with a razor knife. Otherwise, it seems cut and dried.

They use sealant, basically all the way around.

Be careful unblocking the drains. It's easy to go through the cowl and create a new source of leakage. "Ask me how I know". :BangHead:

I would say that the drain holes are not an "end-all" necessity to prevent leaks. They just help get the lower surface drained enough to allow better evaporation. But they would or could leak when the sealant isn't in the right spots. I say "could", because members have stated that they used no sealant, and it didn't leak. I did it once; it leaked like it was supposed to. This time, I'm using sealer, opened drain holes, and a Precicion Products gasket. I used a classic Industries gasket before. I have no idea if that was a problem.

My CLR7708 showed up today. When my new gasket shows up, I'll get to it. I'll follow up.
1763155392886.png
1763155412175.png
 
the "fence"
I knew that at some point, it got pushed out and replaced with some useless information, must've exceeded storage capacity.

I followed the fsm when installing the windshield in my 62 Dart, it states to install in the top first.

It was impossible, struggled for hours, gave up, tried it bottom first, 20 minutes later it was completely done, stainless on and everything.

Cars.
 
I knew that at some point, it got pushed out and replaced with some useless information, must've exceeded storage capacity.

I followed the fsm when installing the windshield in my 62 Dart, it states to install in the top first.

It was impossible, struggled for hours, gave up, tried it bottom first, 20 minutes later it was completely done, stainless on and everything.

Cars.
I read that, too. Imagine how many people cursed at that after struggling.
 
There's nothing like doing a job that you have very little experience with, and there's no one around to help. Of course, even the local glass guy didn't want to do it.

When I did this about 4 years ago, I didn't' use sealer, and it was tough, but I got through it. Of course, it leaked. Adding sealer to the equation this time, makes this a whole different ball game.

First, I put the sealer on the gasket, and put it in place. I waited overnight for it to cure. Turns out, this CRL7078, by design, doesn't cure! I thought that might help, because now I don't have to race against a working time.

I laid the glass in position. Installing the top first, (per the FSM). didn't go well. You need to hold the glass up in the groove while working it in. That glass is HEAVY! I then started working each lower corner in. (Lots of dish soap and water, a long with spray window cleaner, both for lube.) I was done for the day with none of the glass started.

Over the next 2 days, I worked at it, and worked at it. Very tedious!

What a mess! I covered everything, and kept lacquer thinner (recommended solvent), and paper towels handy. Because it doesn't cure, you must wear clothes you can throw out! If it won't cure, it will always come off on something!

Anyway, BS aside. It's in, but there's a problem. The photo is of the top edge, looking from the driver's side, to the passenger side. The arrow points to the part of the gasket that's on the inside of the car. The gasket needs to be "pulled around". As it is, the groove that the lock strip goes in is up around the edge of the windshield, if that makes sense. It seems the sealer kept the gasket from seating properly as I went along getting the glass in it's groove. I done for the day again. I need to figure a way to get the gasket moved around. If that sealer had cured, I'd be screwed! As it is, I can work on it at my leisure. I sure ain't taking it out to reposition that gasket!

-Maybe someone could post a couple pictures of how it should look. I'd appreciate it.
1763760623922.png
 
Last edited:
Before I started messing with the top edge of the gasket, I thought I'd check the lower corners where it originally leaked. Then I checked the entire perimeter. No leaks!

I'll mess with that top edge some more. I did get it to where I can see the lock strip groove.

Lastly, I'll get it out of the garage and rinse all of that soap off (along with leak testing further).

Almost forgot: I did make a couple drain holes where they should be. I never found the originals. I put that goop all over. Who knows if I blocked them. The car doesn't get out much. I'll shoot air at it when it gets wet, to dry out the channel.

Thanks to everyone for the help.

Back to prepping for paint...
 
-
Back
Top Bottom