Blazer Widshield Replacement - PITA

[cleszkie]

I recently replaced the top portion of my windshield frame with a cherry rust free piece I found a while back. I was extremely careful to maintain all measurements and alignment when I welded on the new frame (I made the cut about 6 inches from the top of the A-pilar). Had it painted to match the rest of the Blazer before the glass went back in (took it down to bare metal before paint). Tried to find a nice OEM windshield without fogging or rock dings, but had to settle for repop glass. I also had to settle for repop winshield gasket (Counterpart). Tried to use my stock stainless trim, but the repop gasket does not work with the OEM trim because the trim channel in the gasket is not deep enough. So I had to buy the repop trim with the shallow channel made by Counterpart that "fits" their gasket.

Anyhow, got all the pices together and called up a glass installer. Took the installer three 4-hour sessions with 2-3 guys at my house to get that sucker in! Most of the problems came from keeping the trim in the gasket while installing it, but a lot of problems came from just fitting the glass and rubber in the frame. It was a goog thing I had the top and cowl off, of they would not have been able to manhandle it in. The moral of the story is this - Stick with OEM parts if at all possible. If I have to do the glass again, I will definitely use OEM gasket, trim and glass.

Sorry for tyhe long post, but curious if anyone else has had this problem. BTW, the finished product looks awesome with the new glass, rust free frame, and new stainless wiper blades I picked up from a local shop.