Its time to put some windows in, to start with, we will insert the rear windows, as we are not going to be carpeting the rear doors.
In preparation for the fitting, firstly we had to mask up and paint the edges of the door recesses black, this is so you can’t see the original white behind the glass.
The masking doesn’t have to be parallel as the edges will be hidden by the glass, we used a rattle can of matt black.
As you can see the edges are not parallel, but no one will notice when the windows are in, we gave this a week to dry before we started cutting the appertures.
First job was to drill holes though metalwork where the radii in the corners are, these are drilled from the inside out, following the contours of the inner panel.
Then we had to protect all the exposed metalwork from the sparks of the grinder, we used a thick plastic sheet and masking tape.
Then out with the grinder and cut out the metal, the edges of the panel are quite easy to follow, once cut all the edges were dressed with a file, until the outside was the same profile as the inside.
Then all the pinch weld, which is like an adhesive mastic has to be removed from in-between the panels, this is to allow the two skins, to be bought closer together to get the edge trim on.
Once this has been removed which is best done with a long sharp knife, the inners skin is knocked towards the outer skin to close the gap. Then all the bare edges of the panel need to be primed to prevent any future rust, once dry the edge trim can be knocked on.
Then its on to the actual fitting, we didn’t take any pictures of this as you only get a finite amount of time before the adhesive starts to go off. Once the glass and metalwork was primed, the adhesive was applied to the metalwork and the window was set in place, masking tape was used to stop the window sliding under its own weight.
We allowed two hours for the adhesive to go off, then removed the making tape and this is the end result.
Its a lot better being able to see out the back, and its starting to look more like a camper.