Very interested to hear about the various lubricants for getting the screen rubbers in, I did just that last year after re-chroming the surround.

The bit that frustrated me was that I bought what was supposedly the correct screen rubber, a thin, slightly knobbly strip of rubber. The old decomposed one that came out was actually a section a lot deeper.

I ended up packing it out with electrical flex to get the glass in the right place. I stretched the rubber round the corners to fit snuggly, but over time in use the rubber has relaxed and a gap has opened up.

I now want to redo it. So, does anyone have any first hand knowledge of the best rubber to use and where to obtain it?

In the meantime, I will get on with replacing the silencer, good of it to crack mid-summer!

I, and a few others in Cornwall, found that if we used the 'correct' measurements for the RP windscreen glass, a gap was left at the top, which sounds like what you had.

Four of my screen surrounds have a hole at either end underneath, which I presume is a drain hole and I have used spacers (cork strip) to keep the window surround rubber off the bottom of the frame, to allow the water to drain from the two drainage holes. This all seems to work and the glass sits at the right height now. I admit I have not found any evidence of these spacers in the old, congealed, orange coloured rubber I've taken out, but they do the job, so no complaints.

The problem we have in Cornwall now is that our local supplier of laminated glass (In Redruth) has stopped stocking 4.8mm glass, they can only do something around 6.5mm, which is to thick for our needs - it can be squeezed in, but......

Does anyone know who supplies 4.8mm laminated glass.

Sandy
Cornwall A7 Club

Oh dear, forgot the best suggestion for correct rubber, I would stick with the 'thin', which presumably you had from 'Austineers' or one of the other regular traders, it all comes from the same source.

Re. the rubber shape, I've looked through 'Edgware Motor Acces.' pictures (they advertise in Practical Classics, my list old) and none have a 'deep' bottom section to the 'U', so it looks as if the 'spacers' will have to do - I have cork strips from my Railway Modelling hobby, but a cork tile cut into short strips will do, your not trying to run it the full length of the bottom of the frame, just enough to support the glass rubber and allow any water to flow past.

Sandy

Sandy

The Colander has 4.8mm laminated glass cut by the local 24Hr mobile windscreens branch in Plymouth.
Not as cheap as the prices you guys in the West were paying in Redruth though? Also the rounded edges were somewhat jagged and not ground.

Steve.

What glazing rubber do the Austin traders suppy now? The Seven Workshop used to supply 1/16" self amalgamating rubber strip which was very good, but they stopped doing this because they couldn't move it fast enough and it was self amalgamating on their shelves. This was replaced by 1/32" rubber strip which I found was too thin and I now get 1/16" rubber strip from a local supplier.
As a matter of interest what is the 'correct' size of windscreen glass because I can't get my head round the sizes given on page 520 of the Source Book? This gives the same part number for the 1930-1 and 1932-34 saloons, that is 34 15/16" X 11 15/16" which is too wide and slightly shallow for an RN frame. This might be the right width for an RP (chrome on brass ) frame but I would have thought it was too shallow. Dave

Dave, that is the problem RP's are having, it's to shallow, however the last piece of glass I had cut was to the size of the original glass that had a crack in it and gone misty - well it's the same glass I had in the car when I bought it in 1961, and it was not brilliant then.

Thus my assumption there was either spacers under the rubber, or Austin used a very thick 'base'.

Sandy

The rubber that came out had a thick base. It was this that I was asking about and wondered where to get it. The screen is a tad wide and short, so must be original, or copied from.

It seems from the replies that a deep base is not something I am going to come across. But if anyone has any other suggestions to cork and electrical flex, keep 'em coming...

Cheers

To get back to the original query, I'd suggest that silicone is not the way to go - may work on the rubber, but unless you're contemplating rubbing your paintwork back to the metal,you won't get a good paint job again anywhere where silicone - including the upholstery embellishers - has been present. The miniscule particles float through the air, embed in your paint, inhibit a decent re-paint finish. Ask any good spraypainter about the troubles he has with silicone. Cheers,Bill

It is a worthy point Bill.As a painter for many years ,it was an issue. As long as there was no silicon products in the refinishing areas we managed.but installing windows as I have been for 20 years this way ,I found no probs.Any way, Once you polish the car with a silicon based polish , the next paint job would have to address this. there are now inhibiting products to prepare the surface for repainting. I always do it out side the workshop to ensure there are no lurking residues.

Thanks, a good reminder. There are non-silicon car polishes on the market which I suggest anyone with a new paint job should use, but once you've put on a silicone-based polish you may as well stick with it until your next back-to-metal job, as I'm told by experts they haven't so far found any inhibitor that's always entirely successful. Cheers, Bill