Early S1 XJ front and rear window chrome install

Hi, currently trying to fit the original chrome trim around the front and rear windows in new rubber seals. I have fitted the rubber to the car, installed the glass, fitted the locking strip but can not find a way of getting the chrome strips to fit in. Unfortunately I no longer have the original rubber seals. Does anybody have any info or close up photos showing how they fit on. I’m even trying to find somewhere that I could take the car to and pay them to fit them for me. Thank you

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Not sure if this is the problem but the very early S1 cars had different windshield gaskets with provisions for a wider chrome strip. Chrome in later cars was narrower. This is from vague memory. So you might have the later gasket which requires narrower chrome than yours. My memory could be imprecise. I did find the following thread; I think there are probably others.



On the outside there was some black goop, I used RTV.

The curved plain edge goes to the body, the bent edge into the seal. I replaced my rear screen seal when I redid my headlining maybe 10 years ago. Unfortunately, although the seal I bought was described as XJ6 S1 early, it appeared to be the standard later seal, which took the narrower chrome located into both sides of the seal. I’m not sure that this situation has improved from ones I’ve seen advertised more recently, but happy to be updated. I have wondered if it’s possible to modify a standard seal to a different profile by hand trimming. My front seal/chrome is original but needs replacing at some stage. When I do I intend to get the cross section profile of the old seal so I know what the replacement should look like. From a recent post by @awg it seems as though the 420G may have used a similar approach, so not sure if a 420G seal could be modified if the seal profile is the same.
The sealant to the body looks like a bitumastic type windscreen sealant product. The chrome edge shouldn’t actually contact the paint surface. You can see why they changed it….:frowning:

I believe the early S1 XJ6 had a chrome strip about 3/4" wide (like the 420G) and later XJ have a narrower one about 1/2" wide. (Have had S1 & S2 XJ)

I do not know whether a 420G windscreen rubber seal profile is the same for S1 XJ and 420G

There is one possible way to tell, and that is check the website for Scotts Old Auto Rubber (if he is still in business), as he had them moulded by the metre as lengths, and has his own part numbers

Ones that come from vendors as an entire loop would be too risky of a non-fit

Thank you for everyone’s replies. I thought I would post an update in case anybody else has the same issues at some time.
The front and rear screens are now in, but it has been a job! We checked we had the correct seals which according to part numbers etc they are the early series 1 seals to accept the larger chrome inserts. But after hours and hours of trying all different methods we just couldn’t get the chrome strip to fit as designed. So the way we decided so that it looked correct was to trike a couple of mm of rubber off the window seal (body side where the chrome trim should tuck under) insert the chrome trim in the insert on one side and using a very strong sika sealant that we tested first, put blobs every so often around the window seal and held the chrome trim in place over night with props. The end result looks great and you would never know. After speaking with a classic jaguar specialist, they said that back when these cars were more in regular use, when windscreens were getting replaced the fitters would fit the new screens but never re install the chrome trims due to the difficulty. Will upload some photos but don’t laugh at our methods :joy:




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That’s they way I figured it would have to be done. Did you cut it with the seal installed? What did you use to cut the seal?

Looks good from here!
Very good actually. Not looking forward to doing this eventually. Not at all. Thanks for posting.

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Hello. Some questions as I have exactly the same problem; Where did you find the correct seals, front and rear? Was the front seal long enough to fit the (upper) corners correctly? (Had that issue with a S2-seal). Huw did you cut the seal to make the chrome insert fit? What sealant (Sika) did you use? Thank you for responding and kind regards from Sweden. / Jan

It would be awesome if someone could just plain describe the technique used in simple steps and materials. i have had similar issues with other antique vehicles and little help. My 1971 XJ6 came with these trims loose but appear to be intact. I need to remove the glass for proper paint etc. and would love some input on re-install

Last week I installed new windscreen on the new rubber(which I fit to car first, then locking strip. But like you, having trouble w the stainless pieces. What I may end up doing is like your situation, add windscreen urethane to hold in place.

Never installed windshield with rubber gasket in a Jaguar but, when we installed windshields with rubber gaskets in numerous other cars and trucks in the 80s-90s. We always put the gasket on the windshield first then installed the chrome trim in the rubber gasket then using the rope method installed the assembly in the windshield opening. We then finished the job by sealing rubber to body with 3m bedding compound.

When glass shops started coming out to the shops and doing mobile installs that was the procedure they used also. It made the install easier if a helper was on the outside pushing lightly on the glass as the rope pulled the rubber in place on the pinch-weld. It also was best if when pulling the rubber over the pinch-weld you started at one of the corners and worked toward the middle as the glass would flex in the middle of the opening if needed where as there wasn’t much give at the corners.We always wrapped the rope around the rubber twice and sometimes that second wrapping came in handy on a tough install. If needed we would sprinkle baby powder in the gasket channel to make it pull in easier. Corn starch would work just as good.
Not all rubber gaskets had a locking strip so the molding acted as the locking strip. Some times the gaskets that had both a locking strip and moldings that installed in the rubber it was possible to put the mlding in after the window was installed in the car then insert the locking strip in the rubber last.

As far as I know, the repro screen seals have a different lip width (which accommodates the chrome strip), this matter has arisen previously over the years and is the case with MKX-420G

In that instance, I tucked the chrome under one lip, shaved the other lip down and glued it down with black urethane.

I did this with well-spaced blobs, and filled the gaps in with a softer compound, as I wanted any future owner to be able to remove them if needed, as these parts are scarce

This worked as well as could possibly be hoped, I defy anyone to pick it isn’t as per original (although one edge of the chrome will be exposed)

Its important to shave the lip down, as the chrome must sit as flat as possible to retain a smooth visual transition of materials

above is one possible solution, very pleased with the outcome