After I finish my interior, I'll start on my windshield.
I hate the height, the bar is right in the middle of my vision so I have to look over it or under it.
I'm thinking of lowering it by 3 inches, but not sure if it will fit right into channels.
Ed and I have been discussing the older method of mounting / trim.
Ed's email on gaskets /channels / clips ...
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Gregg, here's what I know bout the gasket deal. This comes from tons of research and observation.
The gaskets were made of neoprene, neoprene is an oil based product, that's why it had a gray color. If you read any manual about rebuilding old boat motors, you'll see the word "neoprene" in almost every chapter. Lots of marine stuff was composed of neoprene. Neoprene is not widely used these days.
Here's what I have learned, through observation, about glastron window gaskets: The only boat I have witnessed that had just a gasket at the bottom (no rail) is my CV...so that is pre '71ish. The '71 GT I had, it had a bottom rail...all GT's had a bottom rail. NOW, with the bottom rail, they used a "slot" channel gasket (gasket slid down over top of lens, protected top/edge of lens and both inner and outer faces/sides..that gasket had the rib locks on the out side, the ribs locked into the aluminum channel)...so somewhere around the end of '70, they started using slot gasket at bottom, but as it was in '70, the upper rail only had a "wedge" ribbed gasket on the outside edge of the window channel...on the inner edge of the aluminum channel, they used a clip (kinda like snake fangs) it had 2 points that gripped the lens when you pushed the top rail down on the lens (i'll have more to say about that in a minute) but somewhere around '73, they started using the slotted gasket in the top rail too. Back to the "snake fangs"...can you see the problem with that?...it pushes on, but it won't pull off without damaging the lens or breaking the clips...so they went slotted gasket top and bottom.
Sooo...this I know: You can get the gray neoprene slotted gaskets for the rails, basically that's the smart way to go, and it does have the same original look...man, you'd never believe how I came to that conclusion/observation....I was looking at the slotted gaskets, and their pattern is so close to that single "wedge" upper gasket..i said to myself, "well that's the exact same design, maybe I just cut it in half and use that as my wedge"...then I remembered about the snake fang thing (because I have to take my top rail off to polish it)...I know the fangs are going to break off the clips. LOL, then all the sudden, it hit my like a sack of hammers...that's why they make the slotted gasket!!
I have the top gasket covered, no prob. I promise you this: you will not find a gray neoprene lower gasket for windows with no rail at the bottom. And then there's another problem..the lenses in the '70/'71ish models, they had 3/16ths thick lenses, then ones with upper and lower slotted channel gaskets had 1/4" thick lenses, that in itself makes it nearly impossible because 3/16ths is not used in the present. all the aluminum channels are the same interior width, they just altered gasket thickness and lens thickness.
And taking my top rail off...you can bet I am going to find/fabricate a tool to slide under them snake fangs to release the grip from the lens!
I have seen just about every method they used on the windows.
My plan...do the Buckeye on lower gasket, get slotted gasket for top rail.
