Greg; The frames are normally not attached to the side windows on the ends that slide in the welts. They are normally riveted with SO, dead soft, rivets through oversize holes in the Plexiglas. The outer inch does not have any rivets in it. I decided to replace the welts in our Coupe, last week, without removing the side panels. I practiced a few times with the new welts before I put any adhesive on them. By using a fairly thin yardstick and putting a thumb tack through the welt into the yardstick, I was able to push the welt down the track until I could reach the bottom end under the seat. Then I took out the thumb tack and carefully removed the yard stick before pulling the welt the rest of the way into place. When I did it for real, with adhesive, I followed the advice of the note that Lee sent with the new welts, and cut strips of
cardboard to stuff in the tracks. This helped hold the welts in the proper position while the adhesive set up. I used a 3M spray adhesive "high tack" #77, I believe, which said it would work with only coating one surface (obtained at Home Depot for about $8). It also said that the bond developed after 1 to 10 minutes, which give a little working time. To assist in the working time, I sprayed a little water on the adhesive on the welt area that was going to be behind the side panels. I also found that I could push the cardboard down most of the way into the track that was behind the side panels. I was able to reach up from the bottom and push the cardboard firmly into the tracks. I am still in the middle of the annual inspection, so I have not put the windows back into the channels yet. However, the welts look great. I used masking tape and 10 inch wide masking paper to provide protection to the inside and outside of the aircraft, so there was really no clean up other than removing the tape, paper and cardboard after letting the adhesive dry about 24 hours. The 3M spray was adjustable, and using the lowest setting seemed to shoot a pretty confined spray of adhesive about 12 inches. This allowed me to get the adhesive quite far down into the channel area that was covered by the side panels. Hope this helps. Lynn Nelsen N99387 52FL __________________________________________________________________________ ______ To unsubscribe from this list please send mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________________________________ T O P I C A The Email You Want. http://www.topica.com/t/16 Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Your Favorite Topics
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