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Projects - Giulietta 116 1983 2.0 Windscreen frame repair |
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August
2017:
A rather rare patient this time, the Giulietta tipo 116 was a very innovative
vehicle upon its introduction in 1977 with its wedge shaped body and
transaxle rear suspension lay-out for improved weight distribution
which was already known from the Alfetta series. This design concept proved to be
state of the art which can be concluded by the highly unchanged lay-out
of the successor vehicle, the Alfa 75, for which production ran until
1992. The Giulietta is an underrated Alfa and few remain
these days. This particular one is a second series version. The project
contents are oversee-able at a first sight. The windshield frame needs
repair on both the left and right side corners at the lower end
relatively close to the windscreen wipers. Windscreen frames are prone
to rust damage for pretty much all vehicles and this car is no exception
to that rule. At the moment duct tape
is applied by the owner prevents (rain)water from entering the vehicle
and causing more damage. Although an effective countermeasure it doesn't
give a sophisticated appearance which suits this innovative Alfa. First obstacle to tackle is taking out the windshield without damaging it. Spare windshields are pretty hard to come by so I will take care not to cause any damage. Cutting the evenly rare windshield rubber with its chrome trim is also no option. In case the rubber can be cut it's an easy fix. An acquaintance lent me metal tools to get the windshield out. Normally I do this work by using disassembled washing pins, but due to the fact that I can borrow these metal tools I will use those because they are easier to work with. Although I've already successfully removed windshields out of Alfa's without any damage several times it remains a tricky job. This time 2 pair of hands are available which of course helps a bit as well. Luckily again no issue and the windshield is in perfect order upon removal. The proverb "patience is a virtue" definitely applies to this work. When doing it hastily definitely some issue will occur such as a scratch or worse, a crack. After cutting away the rust affected section of the windshield frame on the right hand side, the status check of the remaining material shows an okay result after a thorough cleaning operation. What a rare occasion to not run into unexpected issues. I will enjoy this fact for a time because it doesn't happen too often. The contents of the project will actually therefore only consist out of replacing the two corner sections. Shaping the hand made repair sections is relatively straight forward as is welding them into position and making the repair completely invisible and providing a flush surface ready for painting without the use of any filler.
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 Rare sight these days, a Giulietta 116 from 1983 (second series).
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 Right hand side windshield frame with some clear rust damage.
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 Left hand side rust damage in windshield frame efficiently covered with duct tape to avoid worse.
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 Rust affected section removed on right hand side, surprisingly upon removal no additional trouble.
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 Hand made repair pieced welded flush into position, of course drainage hole reconstructed as original.
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 A view from of the repaired right hand side from a different angle and with rust preventive coating applied.
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That's it for the repair of
the right hand side. Fairly okay from a time point of view although I
tend to be a bit too tedious when it comes to some details, but that's
my nature, can't help it. September 2017: Next up is the left hand side which hopefully
doesn't have any skeletons in the closet. There's only one way to find
out and that is by cutting away the visibly rust affected section.
Luckily again no nasty surprises. Just like the already completed right
side this driver side will need mending of the metal surface and
recreation of the drainage hole. More or less straight forward
activities.
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 Driver side windshield frame after removal of duct tape, definitely in need of some attention.
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 No nasty surprised after removing the rust affected section.
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 Repair piece welded into position and excessive weld bead removed to achieve a flush surface. |
 Left hand window frame repair completed & treated with coating.
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 Driver side windshield frame fully functional again.
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After finishing these two
windshield frame repair activities the next task is to spray the non
visible section in the body colour before being able to put the
windshield with rubber back. Since these areas will not be visible after
assembly of the windshield it will not matter if they are not 100% but
99%. The visible sections need to be done by a specialist in car
painting which I don't pretend to be. At that time only lifting of the
rubber will be required to achieve an appropriate result. Once the paint
is dried up the windscreen can be re-assembled. Just as with the removal
also the assembly is done with 2 pairs of hands and results into no
issues. The rubber with its chrome trim and the windshield itself are
assembled without any damage. This brings the project to a successful
end.
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 Right hand side corner sprayed in body colour to cover non visible area (under rubber).
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 Driver side corner painted in body colour at invisible area.
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| An oversee-able project like this one is encouraging every once is a while. The majority of the projects I do tend to end up in quite labour and time extensive ones even they appear to be fairly okay upon the start. The two repaired section of this vehicles' windshield frame will surely last for many years to come. | |
| Last update: September 14th 2017 | |
 
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