Thread: Fitting glass to Series door tops

Series II & III door tops tend to be a consumable item. The steel frame rusts and it's not worthwhile trying to repair unless the rust is only minor.
I had to fit glass to 4 door tops for my two ex Military Land Rovers and took some pictures of the process.

Salvage all the aluminium spacers from the old door tops, kits of these parts are available from the usual supplier. Remove the glass and clean, especially the edges of the fixed pane.
If you're lucky the glass was fitted using old fashioned mastic, if you're unlucky someone will have used Silicon, Liquid Nails or some other difficult to remove concoction.

I painted the aluminium strips to match the vehicles. You'll notice several holes in some parts as they have been fitted several times in their life.

DSCN4512 by Colin Radley, on Flickr

The window channel can can be purchased in kits. Offer each piece up and cut to length if required (I used an old door top in the pictures below).

DSCN4516 by Colin Radley, on Flickr

DSCN4514 by Colin Radley, on Flickr

You can buy the Series III window channel with a cutout already made for the window latch, I'm told it's easy to cut the hole but haven't done this myself.

Next job is to install the fixed pane of glass. The originals were fitted with a mastic strip which I've managed to source in rolls.

DSCN4501 by Colin Radley, on Flickr

The mastic strip is pressed into place.

Door top 2 by Colin Radley, on Flickr

The glass is then pressed into position, the mastic on the outside can be tidied up once everything is fitted.

Next place the filler strip & packing piece into place.

Door top 1 by Colin Radley, on Flickr

Then install the long channel section.

Door top 3 by Colin Radley, on Flickr

The channel has to be screwed into position. You need 3 or 4 countersunk stainless steel self tappers, drill though the bottom of the channel, through the packing or filler strip & through the door top.

DSCN4517 by Colin Radley, on Flickr

Door top 4 by Colin Radley, on Flickr

Make sure the screws sit low enough that the glass doesn't catch on them.

Next install the vertical section of channel and filler strip (no packing piece is needed), I've used 2 screws to hold this in place.

DSCN4508 by Colin Radley, on Flickr

Finally install the top channel. You must sit the moving pane of glass in the lower channel, fit the upper channel to the glass and swing into place while installing the filler strip and packing piece.
Once it's all in place you need to fix the channel using at least 3 screws.


There is a strip that screws into place at the front edge of the fixed pane of glass, I used st/st self tappers to re-attach this.

On the underside of the doortops a rubber strip is rivetted into place. Two of my new doortops didn't have holes drilled for the rivets so I had to mark out & drill (should have done this before painting !)

DSCN4518 by Colin Radley, on Flickr

Fit the rubber profile, depending on where you buy it you may have to use a wad punch to make the holes for the studs that hold the doortop in place.

Cut the ends to match the shape of the doortop & rivet into place.

DSCN4521 by Colin Radley, on Flickr

Back to the fixed pane of glass. The mastic on the outside needs to be trimmed and then moulded to give a neat finish between the doortop & glass. I did this using my fingers but need to sit it outside in the sun and try and get a neater finish.

There is an aluminium strip that holds a rubber seal on the moving pane of glass. I haven't shown it in these pictures and it's probably best to fit to the glass before installing.


Hope this helps.


Colin

Impressive You did all that one handed while holding a camera
Nice job mate