I've finally got round to replacing my windscreen, and it wasn't a quick process. As of a week ago I had cracks starting in the top passenger corner extended pretty much the entire way across the car, so not much driving was taking place. Several of you saw them in their early stages at the recent meets and the general consensus was that the aftermarket DAB antenna forced through the seal was the source of the problems, possibly with a bit of rust thrown in for good measure. I was hopeful that any rust would be minimal as there were no signs of bubbling anywhere, and rust anywhere on a 480 is never good news.
Anyway, the Autoglass technician arrived at about midday last Wednesday and got to work removing the cracked glass. He'd done some research ahead of time and was aware that the seals are now unavailable, and thus took care to remove everything without any damage (except for the windscreen itself, which was pretty far-gone and didn't quite make it out in one go). Apparently it was the original glass from the factory, so not a bad innings.
Anyway, having removed the glass we were presented with this:
I'm sure the antenna wasn't helping (and I made short work of it with the side cutters out of spite), but clearly there were bigger problems. The metal in that corner was pretty deformed, and there were other rust spots and patches of surface rust all the way around. The technician said that he couldn't fit the new windscreen in good faith with the metalwork in that condition, and I agreed to sort out the rust before we moved forward. I can now join James in the exclusive club of people who have driven 480s without windscreens, although I only made it up to about 10mph going round a farm yard to a nearby barn where I left it for the night, having taken another photo to remind myself what I was dealing with:
(believe me, it looked a lot worse in real life!)
As I calmly walked away, I felt much like this relaxed chap:
The next morning, I set off to get some new grinding wheels. As I partook in the timeless Oxford tradition of sitting in stationary traffic, I felt glad that I was not repairing the bumper on the van in front of me:
Always important to look on the bright side.
Anyway, I eventually made it to the car and got to work. Fortunately, I find doing bodywork quite therapeutic, and, spurred on by the ancient tales passed down by the old ones about how there is actually some metal underneath the layers of rust and grime that make up most of a 480, I fired up the dremel (the angle grinder was tempting, but I was concerned that there wouldn't be much car left once I'd finished with it). Soon enough, I found some shiny stuff:
I repeated that process all the way around the edge, most was just surface rust but there was a patch in the middle that just kept going until I ended up with a hole straight through into the roof. Such is life though - better to cut it all out while I have access to it than pretend it's not there and paint over it. I switched to a wire brush and finally a sanding block and then covered everything in rust converter just to make sure, had a cup of tea, and then started building everything back up with fibreglass followed by P38 and then some primer:
(work in progress shots I hasten to add)
...And a quick touch-up on the bits that can be seen:
Always worth having a rattle can made up from your colour code, never know when it might come in handy.
While I was waiting for things to dry, I upgraded the steering on the Saab:
Note the beer in the footwell - remember kids, never work on dangerous SRS components without first ensuring a basic level of mild inebriation.
The technician managed to fit me in on his way home the next day (Friday), and arrived at about 8pm. Having inspected and been satisfied with the quality of my workmanship, he primed up the rest of the metalwork and slotted the screen back in. I say that, but it was about 10pm when he finally left. I must say that I was very impressed with his both his skill and dedication - not many people would want to be changing windscreens on an obscure 90's Volvo on a farm in the middle of nowhere at 10pm on a Friday night, but he did, and he did a fantastic job. Absolutely top marks to him and Autoglass for a job well done.
I didn't take any more pictures that day, but finally taking it for a drive on Saturday was fantastic. The windscreen had seen better days when I originally bought the car - I think someone had polished it with a dirty cloth or something, big swirls and scratch marks all across it and right in the driver's eyeline, so I felt like I was driving in HD!