Body removal with windshield installed

[FFR65Coupe]

Hello. Just a quick question. Is it possible to remove the body with the windshield installed? If so, what are some things to watch out for? I'm not going to be able to paint my coupe for a while. I'd like to finish putting the car together so I can get it licensed and insured so I can drive it this summer. Any input on this (especially tips on how to do it) would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[kcwitt]

? MKIV - No way

[edwardb]

For the Coupe... I would highly recommend against a permanent installation at this time. The body is quite flexible and you have to bend it some to get on/off the chassis. Probably you know that already. The fully glued in windshield would almost for sure not survive that kind of treatment. I've seen some builds like you're describing, where paint is sometime later, end up taping the windshield in place so that it could be removed before taking the body off. Perhaps there are some other temporary methods. But no way would I do the usual full polyurethane adhesive. Added motivation: That windshield is from a 1986 Jaguar XJS. Not easy to find and not cheap. A stone broke mine a few driving seasons ago. Cheapest by far was a replacement from Factory Five at $540 plus shipping.

[David Williamson]

I used high strength duct tape to hold the widshield in for pre-praint driving. Just ran tape around the edge of the glass and it held it in place with no isssues even at full highway speed.
David W

[Namrups]

I applied 6" sections of windshield adhesive (3 across the top and one on each side). In between I used 1/4" thick single side foam tape. Very easy to cut out when it came time to remove the windshield for paint. Did leak like hell when it rained though.:p

[Jeff Kleiner]

To the original question, yes (that's what we did for the Coupe live build at SEMA). Was it a little nerve wracking doing the body R&R? Yes! That body was painted prior to windshield installation. I'd really not want to do the bodywork, prep and paint after the glass was in, if for no other reason than because of the quality of the finished product. I've temporarily taped the windshields in a couple of Coupes prior to paint and they were driven thousands of miles.

Jeff