I get by with a little help from my friends.....

Well, the windshield is out!! It was hard work and took a while but that bugger is out! The new one should be dropped in tomorrow by a pro.

After a failed attempt to remove the windshield, my buddy, (we'll call him Rusty), vowed to come back the next day and that the windshield would be out; he is a man of his word ;) You know you have great friends when they stick with you for this kind of crap work.

Here is a series of photos:

Below: At this point we were worried that we were going to have to kick the glass out; luckily, we didn't have to.

Below: For a while, we used a wire and tried to cut it out like cheese or clay but it only moderately worked. We ended up getting it out with a fine cutting wood saw, this worked the best when you get one guy to lift the already cut part while the other guy contiues to cut.

Below: The power of the mighty saw was the best method.

Above: Rusty letting off some steam!! He put that windshield in it's place.....or I guess he took it out of it's place ;)

Below: Cleaning up the body around the seal......didn't take too long.

Above: Two very happy boys!! Victory is ours!!



Below: Fixed and painted............drying and then ready for glass. I actually had the glass dropped in today and it looks great. Pics to come........

Below: The grille conversion is now underway. Here is the basic idea:

step one: cut out the area needed for the headlight and it's adjustment screws......................................cont..

Below: Step two: bracket it in place where it aligns with the the headlight housing piece and then cover the open areas with fibre glass so that water does not get in to places that it should not be. Note: In this picture, I do not have the brackets in place at all.....I am just holding it for a visual.

Below: Here is another friend, we'll call her "Lady", who has given me so much help with this project. Here she is cleaning out the rubber gasket for the windshield; I am amazed at how clean she got it. She is responsible for many areas in the van where I would have rushed through; she took the time and did a quality job!!! Hats off.

Overhead visors and down spoilers are being cleaned and painted..........

Grilles are being taped and sprayed in the right spots...................

Hoods are being cleaned and painted.......hood pins to be installed.....

Chrome rims and being polished and oh my god do they ever get shiny!!

More coming soon,

Keep on Truckn!!!!!

:)

PS: The expanding foam was a failure.....though it worked on my first van, this time I bondod and primed and thought I was done but it continued to expand and cracked.....boo! Rework sucks but must be done.