Windshield Repair by Richard Atwell (c) Copyright 2004-2011

There are a couple of problematic rust magnetics on your bus. The battery trays are one area because they sit below the intakes and rain water and battery acid tend to collect there.

Another is the lip of metal underneath the windshield. The water that comes in will soak the carpet, short out the fuse box and turn your nose area into a moat. Whether or not you take on this repair yourself here's some photos to familiarize you with the repair that's involved.

You can perform a makeshift repair by using silicone to seal up the windshield. It's not pretty and it's a good stop gap technique but depending on the state of damage you may have to seal the entire windshield. Further, if you have to replace the windshield you'll have to seal it all over again.

Once thing I can say from my own experience is don't remove the windshield unless you plan to fix the rust before installing it back: the removal will disturb the rusted metal of the sill and as a result more water will come in during rainfall. It doesn't take much rust to appear from the outside for it to be cancerous underneath.

Here are some photos from my own repair:

1. Sandblasting:

Not very pretty.

2. More Sandblasting:

At this stage keeping water out depends on the amount of sealant used and the age (state of shrinkage) of your windshield seal.

3. Rust Removal:

All of the old metal has to be cut out.

4. POR-15 Treatment:

Any metal that saw rust has to be POR-15'd to prevent future rusting.

5. New Sheet Metal:

This is the new sheet metal from A.H. Schofield (AHS29) that I bought through Bus Depot. The kit now consists of two pieces of metal instead of the original three.

6. Welding:

Sheet metal is welded in. The panels weren't a perfect fit so some compound bends were made in a brake for a perfect windshield seal fit.

6. Primed:

All ready for repainting.

8. Painted:

Hey rust! Go away and never come back.

References:

• Jan Willem Briër's repair
• David Schwarze's repair
• Mike Howles' repair
• Metwiz Nose replacement photos (dead link, see metwiz facebook page or his personal page)

History:

04/15/04 - Created
09/07/11 - Fixed broken photos, added translate button, updated footer
07/15/19 - Google update: new adsense code, removed defunt translate button