How To: Fix a Rear Window Leak

25 Here's one of the installed trim panels. It certainly looks better than the water-damaged panel. The courtesy lights snapped right into place. Surprisingly, they worked when we plugged them into the car's existing wiring, which is of unknown condition.

26 To install the new package tray, unscrew the trim pieces surrounding the old one, cut a new hole, and install the speaker grille, then install the new tray. At this point, the headliner, trim panel, and package-tray installation is done. The rear window installation continues with help from a glass installer.

27 First, National Auto Glass installs new retaining clips for the window trim.

28 New window seals for all '65-'73 coupes and fastbacks are available from NPD. The seal, or rubber gasket, fits around the glass before it's installed in the car.

29 Install the seal around the glass carefully, fitting it over the edges until it's even and uniform around the entire piece.

30 A piece of thin rope is fitted inside the seal. When the glass is set into place, pull the rope, and the part of the seal that's meant to be inside the car is pulled inside. This is unusual compared to newer cars that use glue-in windows as opposed to a rubber gasket. Be sure the glass shop is familiar with rubber-gasket windows.

31 With the window and rubber seal prepared, the urethane sealant is applied. Apply a uniform, even bead around the entire window channel with some extra over the rusty hole in the lower left corner of the channel. This will suffice until the car is painted; then we'll remove the rear window again and properly repair the hole.

32 Carefully reinstall the glass into the window channel with the excess rope dropping down inside the car.

33 With two people pushing down on the glass outside the car, glass installer Butch Dibble carefully pulls the rope down and out of the rubber gasket to get the inside half of the gasket properly placed inside the car.

34 The final step is reinstalling the window trim around the glass. It takes a fair amount of patience, hard pressing, and careful hitting with hands, a molding tool, and a rubber hammer.

35 In some instances, Butch uses his bare hands to get the window trim to snap back into place. He also uses a combination molding tool and rubber hammer. This can be a difficult job because the new rubber seal is thicker than the old one, which was pushed in and dried out after 35 years.

36 We're done. The window is back in place with a new rubber seal, and the window trim is reinstalled along with all the new interior parts. Wait at least a day or two before washing the car or getting it wet so the window's urethane sealant can dry.