Jump to content

Welcome to TheMalibuCrew!

As a guest, you are welcome to poke around and view the majority of the content that we have to offer, but in order to post, search, contact members, and get full use out of the website you will need to Register for an Account. It's free and it's easy, so don't hesitate to join the TheMalibuCrew Family today!

Windshield Powdercoat revisited


Addictedto6

Recommended Posts

Now that I have my windshield off for new speakers, figured I might as well get it powder-coated & take care of the peeled black paint, chips, etc. I think this was covered in former days, but couldn't find many details here at the crew.

This will be my first powdercoat experience, so my newbie questions:

- Can I take the entire windshield in for powder coating? Will they cover all metal surfaces?

- How much should I expect to pay?

- Color recommendation: I assume I should just go with black, since the rub rail, and the rubber molding in the windshield is black. Has anyone gone with a silver/chrome powder coat over the black windshield?

- Any recommendations for places in the roseville/sacramento area?

Link to comment

I just got back from picking up some pieces at my powder coater today.

As far as what condition the parts should be in/what pieces should be on it. You will probably need to remove the glass. They're gonna bead blast the metal in a cabinet and probably don't want to have to put up with the risk of blasting the glass or trying to manipulate it around inside the blasting cabinet. I usually strip everything off of the parts.

For something that size, I'd expect to pay ~$100.

I really like the flat black my guy does. I'm doing a lot of parts for my motorcycle and flat black looks very stealthy. Flat black would match your rubrail but, glossy black would match the dash or tower. I also had him do some parts in 'black chrome', its actually a gun metal gray color and requires two coats, (more $) he has to do a clear coat over the gray to protect the gray. For some reason, he says any shade of gray or silver tends to chip/wear/fade.

Sorry, no experience in the Sac. area. Maybe D-Goose knows someone?

Edited by Pistol Pete
Link to comment
100$ Shocking.gifShocking.gifShocking.gifShocking.gif I think I paid 20$ for having mine done.

How hard was it to reassemble the windshield after you were done?

I usually strip everything off of the parts.

If I need to strip down the pieces, what's the best way to do it?

Edited by Addictedto6
Link to comment
If I need to strip down the pieces, what's the best way to do it?

Sorry, can't answer that. Maybe take it to a glass shop. I'm thinking you're gonna have a hard time reassembleing it since the seal will have shrunken or distorted over time. You might need a glass shop by then anyhow. So, might as well let them take it apart so they know how it goes back together.

Honestly, I don't think it's worth the trouble. I'd just strip off the remaining paint or whatever it it under there with some acetone and leave it be.

100$ I think I paid 20$ for having mine done.

N. Idaho vs. N. California pricing. I bet I pay more for gas than you even though the refinerys are about 50 miles away from here, oh, and so are the ship yards the oil tankers come into port.

Edited by Pistol Pete
Link to comment
If I need to strip down the pieces, what's the best way to do it?

Sorry, can't answer that. Maybe take it to a glass shop. I'm thinking you're gonna have a hard time reassembleing it since the seal will have shrunken or distorted over time. You might need a glass shop by then anyhow. So, might as well let them take it apart so they know how it goes back together.

Honestly, I don't think it's worth the trouble. I'd just strip off the remaining paint or whatever it it under there with some acetone and leave it be.

Actually, I meant stripping off the paint (guess acetone). disassembling the windshield actually looks straight forward, but you're right about the seals & reassembly. It's not that bad, so if it's this big of hassle I'll probably just leave it as it is.

Link to comment

Coat the seal with a little dish soap, put the seal on the glass then press the frame on. Just take your time and I don't think you have any problems. I've done it a couple on times myself, once after painting the frame and another replacing the broken glass.

Link to comment

I have the older style windshield, and it took me about 1 hour per panel to get it together with the gaskets looking nice. What a PITA! I took my frame only to Redi-Strip. They couldn't fit the big pieces into their blaster, and they were afraid that it my damage the frame anyway. It took them 3 day to get all of the old paint off. $70 was their quote. He said he will never do that again. Neither will I! The hardest part of the re-assembly was the curved parts, and as I said, looking nice. The gaskets have a fair amount of space for adjustment that made it very hard to get it into the correct position. I didn't have it powder coated, I just painted it. It is holding up just fine. Our sun out in AZ really bakes the paint on.

Good Luck!

Link to comment

I just did the cap a couple times once painting it myself, it didnt last. Then powder coat 40 bucks again just the cap lustre black looks new and 2 years old. Just a little patience and soap when resealing gasket. Be sure to tell them to do the groove!!!

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...

OK, I decided to bite the bullet and powdercoat the whole frame since I had it off for the speaker install. Have one place that will do it for $75 if I bring the parts in stripped. getting a quote from another that would include sand blasting to strip everything for me.

But, I'm having problems getting the top cap off and as scared as h*** that I'm going to break the glass or tweak the aluminum of the frame. Any suggestions on how to remove the cap? It seems to be binding at the frame side support (near the walk through area). I also have the windshield off the boat already and it's hard to get leverage.

Link to comment
But, I'm having problems getting the top cap off and as scared as h*** that I'm going to break the glass or tweak the aluminum of the frame. Any suggestions on how to remove the cap? It seems to be binding at the frame side support (near the walk through area). I also have the windshield off the boat already and it's hard to get leverage.

Nevermind.... A good hard tug starting at the back corner did the trick! Yahoo.gifYahoo.gif

Link to comment

Well, I got *almost* everything apart tonight. Most of it was pretty straight forward once I got past my fear of breaking the glass and put a little muscle into it. The angled sections separating the glass on each side was the most difficult part.

Made it to the last section, the walk through piece, and realized the corners have screws and rivets. :Doh:Mad.gif

I'm planning on taking the whole section to the powder coating/metal fab shop to see if they will handle the disassembly and reassembly of just that piece.

For reassembling the two main sections of the windshield, it looks like it's going to be easier to loosely attach the bottom part of the frame before inserting the glass (better leverage).

Edited by Addictedto6
Link to comment
  • 3 weeks later...

I finally finished getting my windshield powder coated and reinstalled. Tomorrow will be first day out in my boat - hopefully no dash rattles. Overall, I'm really happy with how it turned out - it's great to get rid of the peeling/chipped paint and the satin black looks nice. However, the windshield reassembly was in fact a PITA - it took me about 8-10 hours by myself to reassemble the frame, reinstall the windshield, cleanup, etc. I still have about 20 minutes of wrap up left (screw head touch up, install of the rubber mouldings), but I want to make sure everything is right tomorrow.

Total cost was about $175

- $85 for the powder coating of the frame and fastners (min setup charge of $75 plus environment fees/tax). Accessory Powder Coating in Sacramento.

- $80 to strip the original paint (American Stripping Company in Sac - they did great work).

- $5-10 in misc replacement hardware, weather stripping, velcro fabric for walk through, etc.

From a cost perspective, I could have stripped the parts myself with aircraft stripper and saved about $50, but I'm glad I didn't. I think it turned out better having a shop do it, and I would have made a complete mess doing it myself and probably taken a lot longer. It turns out a portion of the frame (the walk through window) was powder coated.

The reason I chose two different shops was cost - I talked to two other powder coaters that did in house blasting -- both of them gave me estimates over $300 (they each had $150min setup charges). In fact, most of the powder coaters had $150 min setup - APC was the only I found that had a $75 min.

So, at the end of the day, was it worth it? At this point, I definitely think so. If you only have chips in the top cap, it might be easier to just get that powder coated if you can find a close match to the rest of your frame. I had chips every where and was concerned that matching would be a problem.

Here's a run down on my experience:

Step 1: Remove the windshield from the dash.

This was straight forward. Simply remove the rubber moulding that runs along the bottom of the windshield frame. The windshield is attached to the deck with screws and 3 bolts. You can easily spot the bolts under the dash and in the front storage area. There is one screw at the very end of the top cap which attaches it to the deck.

Note: the bolts must be backed out via a screwdriver even after the nuts are removed. A couple of bolts were difficult to remove and I stripped the heads. Ace hardware trip #1!

Step 2: Unassemble the windshield frame.

I did this on my living room floor because I was terrified of breaking the glass. In hindsight, it might be easier to do this while the frame is still attached to the boat deck. . It took me a while to figure out how much force I need to apply to get the top cap to pop free after taking out the screws and it was hard to get the leverage I needed while working on the floor and the frame moving around on me. Once I figured got the first top cap free the rest came apart easily except getting the small glass pane freed from the angled support bar. The only real mistake I made was that I tweaked a couple corners because the aluminum bends so easily. A rubber mallet took care of the problem.

The walk through window had rivets on one side and screws on the other. I ended up drilling out just two of the 4 rivets and brought that section in to the shops in two pieces. It turned out fine, but I probably should have taken all 4 sides apart. The latches are also installed with rivets, so I removed those.

Step 3: Strip & powdercoat the frame and fastners.

It took the stripping shop a couple of extra days due to the old powdercoat. APC turned around the powdercoat in 1 working day. I picked up the parts friday afternoon, ready to go!

Step 4: Reinstall the glass& gaskets into the frame. Ugghhhh!

The walk through section was no problem. Two rivets in the corners, 4 screws in the corner, and 2 rivets to install the latches and I was done.

The main section was another matter. I ended up doing it by myself and it was a huge mistake - it's definitely a two person job.

First attempt, Friday night and against my gut instinct, I decided to work on the garage floor instead of in the boat. I was too scared of dropping the glass, or banging up the boat with the frame edges. Spent 30 minutes getting increasing frustrated. Soap everywhere. Gave up, went inside and had a drink. Frustrated.gif

Second attempt, Saturday morning again on the garage floor. Again, frustrated but finally started to make some progress. Even though I took a couple of measurements before I took the frame apart, the main problem I had was getting the larger, front glass section lined up & fully inserted in both the bottom frame section and the side angled support bar. I probably spent 3 hours just on the passenger side getting the glass, gaskets, and holes all aligned right. Working on the floor again by myself was diffcult - no leverage, and you really need to force the glass/frame into the correct alignment. More soap everywhere. Gave up with 1 side 80% complete (glass in place, just needed the top cap aligned right).

Final attempt, today. Decided that I was done working on the floor. I started working on the driver side by partially attaching the bottom frame section (with weather stripping place) to the deck. This worked out MUCH better. It still took almost 2 hours to get the glass in place, gaskets lined up, machine screw holes aligned, top cap in place, etc. It was much easier working with the glass with the frame anchored to the boat. A few downsides of doing it on the boat: 1) soap everywhere down the side of the boat from spraying the gasket, and 2) once I had the glass in place, I had to remove the windshield from the deck again to get the last two screws in place -- but hey, it made easier to clean up the soap overspray mess , 3) if you drop the glass from up there, you're in trouble

What finally worked for me was installing the angled frame support first, then the front glass section, followed by the small, back section. Originally, I tried that back section of glass first. That was easy, but then it made it impossible to get the large, curved section flush against the angled support and the bottom at the same time. By going with the large section first, you can move the angled support bar around to help get the glass flush on the bottom first, then aligned against the side. I also found that checking the alignment without the gaskets helped give me a better perspective.

Step 5: Reinstall the windshield on to the boat.

Pretty straight forward. I put new weatherstripping place and lined up the bolts first, followed by the screws. The frame doesn't align by itself - you do need to put some force into it at certain points to get the holes aligned properly. Don't tighten everything until all bolts/screws are aligned and started. The closest weather stripping that I could find was slightly narrower width and thicker depth so I imagine I'll need to do a little more tightening over time.

The only potential problem in this step is that I noticed the gel coat chipped a little around the screw holes when I originally took the windshield off. I hope it's not a future stress crack potential problem.

Step 6: Miscellaneous

Reinstall the walk through windshield w/ new velcro for a tight fit, rubber stoppers & moulding, mirror, etc.

Link to comment

Wow,

What a story!

Too bad about the high expense. That's crazy, $150 min. set-up.

Maybe we shoud have this in the DIY section.

Edited by Pistol Pete
Link to comment
Wow,

What a story!

Too bad about the high expense. That's crazy, $150 min. set-up.

Maybe we shoud have this in the DIY section.

I was hoping to take pictures for a DIY article along the way on the reinstall, but the I forgot about it in my frenzied, soap frustration

Edited by Addictedto6
Link to comment

Do you have some before & after pictures? Also, just curious, but did you get any estimates on dis-assembly & re-assembly of the windshield from any glass shops? I'm asking more out of curiosity than anything else, but it seems like that part may be more than some would want to tackle.

Link to comment
Do you have some before & after pictures? Also, just curious, but did you get any estimates on dis-assembly & re-assembly of the windshield from any glass shops? I'm asking more out of curiosity than anything else, but it seems like that part may be more than some would want to tackle.

Need to finish cleaning up some soap residue and then I'll post the pictures.

I talked to a couple of the pc shops about it (they were very scared!), but I didn't check with any glass shops on the assembly. that's an interesting idea. Might have been much easier doing the stripping myself and paying someone to do the glass install....

Link to comment

Yeah, that would have been my angle I think, to check with an auto glass company for re-assembly (or possibly both, they might have a better idea of how it goes together if they take it apart). But it sounds like you did a good job & it came out well.

Link to comment
Sorry, can't answer that. Maybe take it to a glass shop. I'm thinking you're gonna have a hard time reassembleing it since the seal will have shrunken or distorted over time. You might need a glass shop by then anyhow. So, might as well let them take it apart so they know how it goes back together.

Honestly, I don't think it's worth the trouble. I'd just strip off the remaining paint or whatever it it under there with some acetone and leave it be.

*cough, cough* (post #5) Biggrin.gif

Link to comment
Sorry, can't answer that. Maybe take it to a glass shop. I'm thinking you're gonna have a hard time reassembleing it since the seal will have shrunken or distorted over time. You might need a glass shop by then anyhow. So, might as well let them take it apart so they know how it goes back together.

Honestly, I don't think it's worth the trouble. I'd just strip off the remaining paint or whatever it it under there with some acetone and leave it be.

*cough, cough* (post #5) Biggrin.gif

Well, i still think it was worth it, despite the time.... but you're right, i should have checked with a glass shop. Biggrin.gif

Edit: or better yet, wait until I can get someone to help! :Doh:

Edited by Addictedto6
Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...