With the top mechanism assembled, I glued in the windshield and put on the outside A-pillar trim. I attempted to align the door glass to the top mechanism. It did not work. In one of the earlier front end collisions, apparently the cowl moved, as I could not get any of the glass to fit. The driver door had more than one inch overbite at the top rear edge. This is a weird situation, as Iwas not sure what to adjust or where to start. I measured the distance from the top of the windshield post to the front of the quarterpanels on each side. They were over 1 inch different!
I did alot of calling around before I could find a shop willing to work on this old of a car. I transported it up to have them pull the cowl forward, and instead they told me the frame was bent. This is a painted, almost finished car, and that was certainly not what I wanted to hear about it.
When I got it back, the door alignment was better, although it wasn't too bad to begin with. The windshield post measurements were different, but the glass still would not line up. As it turned out, they straightened the frame, but never pulled the cowl. I took it back to them, 11 miles away. When I got it back the second time, I saw the idiots had scratched both door jambs, (one will be completely covered by weatherstrip, and I guess I'll have to touch up the other one and just live with it. I certainly wouldn't trust them to match the paint, or wait another two weeks to get it back from them.
If those problems weren't enough, the side glass still wouldn't line up! When the 'professionals' couldn't figure it out, I decided to take matters back into my own hands. I removed the trim and cut the windshield back out. I used a chain and an industrial come-along hooked to the back of my old Ford pickup.
I determined that the passenger side windshield post was a half inch or so closer than the driver side, so I started there first. I pulled it forward and then had to over pull it so it would stay where I wanted it. It worked! I was now able to line up the door glass with the A-pillar.
The driver side was not as easy. It was more than one inch off, so I pulled it so tight I thought the cable might break. The cowl leaned forward to an insane degree. I was afraid of buckling a fender, so I took them back off. I heard all kinds of funny sounds, sheetmetal in the floor popping, etc, but when I let it go, it was never far forward enough.
Finally, I cranked it way forward, and used the die grinder to cut a slit in the post. It obviously pulled much easier now, and I got it where I wanted, and MIG welded the slit closed. It worked, and I did it without hurting any of the paint. The weld will be covered by the stainless A pillar trim. All's well that ends well I guess....
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