Gary W

Don, if I understand you correctly, I should follow the wiring diagram and wire the radio to the ammeter to avoid overloading the ignition switch?

Friday October 20,2017: Headliner Installation A series of posts showing how I installed the headliner:

Friday October 20,2017: Headliner installation A couple of posts to show how I got the headliner installed:

OK...So the wire labelled "BATT" is basically the "hot" wire, and the one labelled "GAUGE" would be the side to attach the clock, radio... (fuel gauge?) Actually, you probably want the clock hooked up to the battery side as well?

Thanks guys! Exactly what I needed! Here is the new panel butting up against the windlace, but I was a bit hesitant to start making holes for screws until I knew for sure. Here's the ignition wiring. Both the wires with the blue tape attach to the switch. Both are yellow with red cross-tracers, ;though one is longer. I did not dismantle the switch. It is as it was and it worked so I think the internal guts are fine. Just don't want to mess up the wiring.

I ordered a complete kit from LeBaron Bonney. The visors are part of the kit. I sent my old ones up there and they returned them finished. Can someone tell me how the front kick panels attach. They are the leather covered pieces next to your feet up front. Do the heads of the screws show? *** Also... Wiring the ignition switch.. I have two wires that go to the switch. One wire is supposed to the terminal "gauge", the other to the terminal "battery" My terminals are not marked in any way. How is it wired? what wire goes where. Thanks.

Can you loosen up all the running board mounting bolts and move it so the gap is consistent? My '37 has oval shaped holes so you can adjust the running board's position. These four bolts slide fore and aft to help position the running board Loosen up these to allow the support to slide forward or back. Then, the major support irons to the frame have slotted holes under the running board so it can be adjusted toward or away from the car. With all those bolts loose, you should be able to get the gap pretty consistent from from to back. Good Luck!

Wednesday October 18, 2017: Finish trimming headliner around rear windows and finalizing the installation. (Fourth and final installment!) Today I finished the headliner installation. I finished the trimming around the rear window, then installed the package tray, the rear garnish molding, the dome light and the sun visor(s). Slow and steady all the way, but I'm satisfied with the results: Today's "toolbox" The pneumatic staple gun makes the job go so much nicer than the tacks I was playing with the last few days! You can see a few "releasing" cuts into the corners so I could start to tuck the headliner into the window gap. There is also a gross cut of bulk material inside the window frame. Here you can see some of the headliner material puckering around bow #7. What I did was so pull the tack, pull the headliner away from the body just enough to snip a couple "releasing cuts" in the listing where the wire exits. Then pull the headliner down over the listing wire to smooth out the puckers. Now nice and smooth, staple it in to position. The left side also had some sloppiness back there. So I did the exact same thing over on that side. Remove the tacks, cut a small release little by little, checking all the time. Now nice and tight, staple it down and both sides are done. Ready to start trimming out the rear window. I did not want to start cutting anything back there until the side panels were secure. From the impression in the material (from tucking it into the window gap) I measured an inch. This is my next cut to remove a little more bulk. Again, bulk removed to the chalk line, and I started snipping release cuts to help form the radius. Same routine on the other side, slowly and carefully cutting release incisions so the material will set better. Back to the other side to start tucking the fabric away. Go slow, go careful and it will all fit in nice and snug. Again, tuck the material into the window gap keeping everything nice and tight every inch of the way. Finish at the lower edge and the material is looking good. A little shot of headliner adhesive will help hold the bottom piece nice and tight. Trying in the package tray and the small fabric covering before installing the garnish. Install your center post divider and then the garnish molding frame and there you go! Another view. So the headliner is nice and tight and it's time to cut it. I installed four screws before installing the headliner so I could locate center for the dome light. Carefully make your incision like a pizza. Find and remove the mounting screws. Wire it and install the base. Snap on the cover. Next I installed the sun visor(s). Same fashion as the dome light. The driver's side looking finished. Everything going swimmingly and then I installed the passenger's visor..... And quickly learned that the mountings are Left and Right. I was sold the wrong item. I now have two driver's side visor mounts. So....If anyone has a nice Buick passenger side sun visor mount...... Have a great night! Gary

Tuesday Evening, October 17, 2017: Finish trimming headliner around front doors and windshield (Part 3) Tonight after work I worked on the headliner at the front of the car, namely around the doors and the windshield. First I got the headliner secured at the bows and in between the bows along the tack line, then carefully cut the excess. I think if there is any excess material it will show under the next welting that goes on. Then I finished trimming out the windshield. First I used a thin plastic tool to jam the headliner into the groove between the rubber window seals and the metal that surrounds them. If I got any puckers, I carefully started to make little cuts to ease the fabric. Making little slits helped the fabric slide into the groove easier. Same on the other side. This groove made an impression on the headliner, so what I did was.... Once the "line" was imprinted along the entire front, I pulled the entire front of the headliner back down. I added about 1/2" - 3/4" to that line and made my cut at that point. I sprayed a little headliner adhesive only to the metal that is above the rubber gaskets. Then starting at the center, I worked my way out to the drivers side, then over to the passenger's side with the thin tool and pushed the headliner back into that groove. Being it was only about 1/2" more material, it all just tucked away in the groove. So here are a few photos of it finished. I think with the adhesive in there it will stay put for a while. Plus the garnish molding has to go over it also. It came out nice and smooth. I kept checking the height of the staples and tacks holding the headliner on to the sides to be sure the next lace will cover everything. But the tacking strip is kind of narrow up there, so you really don't have much choice where to drive your tacks. Now that the front is in tight, I want to trim out the rear window tomorrow and install the package tray parts. Then I can install the sun visors and the dome lamp. See ya tomorrow! Gary

Monday October 16, 2017: Continuation of the Headliner Installation (Part 2) To continue the Headliner installation: Here's how I left things. I went into my upholstery kit and realized before I cut anything the door wind lace had to be installed first. So I pulled the front four tacks out and loosened the headliner to get access to the tack strip under there. After 45 minutes of tinkering, twisting and trying to align things, I finally figured out how the wind lace fits into the door jamb supports. First, I installed those windlace supports into the door jamb, then attached the lacing down the door opening. I installed it with Permatex headliner adhesive spray for now. It holds it nice and straight. When the kick panels go in the front quarters it will be screwed place. Working slowly and inch by inch I tacked the wind lace into the tack strip above the door. I really tried to be sure it fell right at the door opening with no sags or twists. Then down the back side of the door opening. There is a piece of leather stitched onto the lace right by the door striker. Wind lace is in, and I started trimming the excess headliner material. Starting to look nice now that it's getting cleaned up. This piece is going to be wrapped around the metal keeper once completed. I can't install the metal keeper yet until the upper lacing is installed above the wind lace. Then the garnish molding can go back in place, which actually hides most of this stuff. I'm going slow with this because one wrong snip and the job is ruined. Hopefully I'll finish it up tomorrow. Have a good night Gary

Matt Great job on the flywheel ring gear. It will make a huge difference. I'm glad to see you didn't have to replace the gear. Mine was in such horrible shape that replacement was the only option. When that vacuum start switch goes bad, every time the accelerator pedal is depressed the starter bendix bangs away. Keep up the GREAT work! Your project is really coming along nicely Gary

Saturday October 14, 2017: Headliner (I'll call this "Headliner Part One") Started to install the headliner today. I'm calling this part one because I needed to get it measured, centered, install listing wires, re-measure, mark center in the car, ........ I didn't want to make any final cuts in the fabric yet until I sleep on it and start fresh tomorrow. But here it is so far... Here's the headliner laid out on the kitchen table. Seven bows, front on the left side of this photo First thing I did was fold it in half exactly on the lines the LeBaron marked as center. There is a center at the front, the rear and around bow #3 in the middle. Once folded, I marked center on every listing so when I get it in the car I have a reference point to keep the fabric centered and hopefully won't pull to one side or another. In the car, I marked every roof bow Center. I then marked the roof in the back with centering marks as well. I removed the dome light but put the four screws in place so I can easily find them after the liner is installed. I also put screws in the front visors mounts and the rear shade button that holds the shade up. This may be unconventional, but BEFORE I put the listing wires in their sleeves, I actually lightly hung the headliner along the center lines I marked so I could measure each listing and mark where I had to cut to allow the listing wire to protrude. I went listing by listing, and marked them 1 through 7, Driver and Passenger. Now back on the table, I made the cut in the listings according to my marks. This is where the listing wire needs to exit. A few days ago I pulled all the original listing wires out of the old headliner and marked them 1-7 on the driver's side so I know how they go back. After marking them, I wire wheeled each one, primed them and gave them a coat of paint. I wrapped the end in electrical tape to hopefully ease them through the listing. I didn't want to catch the fabric anywhere. Slowly push each one through, keeping the material from bunching up as you go. All seven listing wires in place and the headliner is actually taking shape already. I folded it accordion style with #7 on the bottom, as that is the one to set in position first, then pull the whole mess towards you. Line up Center, pinch all around the wire so the spike doesn't poke through your headliner. While keeping it centered, spike it over the bows the whole time pulling it taught between the spikes. Here is #5 going in. Keep it centered and tight as you go. I'm pinching the listing wire to be sure the spike comes through only under the wire and no where else. Keep marching forward! So, I got all seven listing wires in place, and put one single tack on the edges to allow it to stretch tonight before I make final cuts tomorrow. Looking to the back. I didn't cut the rear window out yet.... Just want everything to settle and stretch a little. I need to sleep on it before making the final cuts. The front also needs to be trimmed out and pulled tight around the window without creating any ripples...... I think when the garnish goes in, it'll also give it a little "tug". So there is the first part of the headliner. Tomorrow I hope to trim it and tack it all neatly to the sides. Have a great night! Gary

Friday October 13, 2017: Installation of new horn contact wire, horn contact at the column and the steering wheel First step tonight was to build a new horn contact wire that goes from the center of the steering column under the wheel down to the contact button. Being I am re-using the original spring contact, I held a plier in the vise, heated the contact surface while giving the wire a little tug. The solder quickly melted and the wire popped right out. This is the original wire, all dried up and brittle. Discard it. I stripped a new 12 g wire (maybe too heavy.. probably 14g would suffice, but it went well so ...) Inserted the stripped end into the barrel with a new piece of solder up in there and heated it up. In a matter of seconds it was done. Un-solder this orange wire, connect a "snake" to it and pull the orange wire carefully up through the column into the drivers compartment. As it comes through be careful not to pull your "snake" inside the column. This is the reason I'm using the original part. It's simply a superior part. Cut the orange wire free from the snake, attach the new red wire to it and carefully push/pull it down until you can grab it. Measure carefully, being sure the spring loaded contact button can move easily. Strip the wire and solder into position above where the column mounted contact rides the brass sleeve. This is the column mounted contact that I repaired last month. Painted and ready to be installed. Screw it in, wire it and the column end is done. **** MY STEERING BOX WAS REBUILT BY LARES. They replaced the upper column bushing with this long-life nylon thing SO YOU DO NOT USE THIS SPRING ANYMORE**** (I'm showing it to demonstrate the next step in the original set up.) So I didn't re-use the spring. Next, I got under the car to double check the center marks on the steering box. Once they were spot-on, I set the wheel on the column being sure the banjo points straight down. Tighten the large 1-1/4" nut. I didn't go ape here, just so the nut dropped below the contact insulator. Here's the nut installed and the wheel is tight. Next, the horn ring. Then the center medallion with the "Buick" upright. Install the three screws from the back that hold the cover in place. There is a spring under there also that has to be positioned correctly. And now the wheel is finally in, wired and tight. Have a great night Gary

THANK YOU!!! Perfect!

Another question: I installed new battery and ground cables tonight. Nice "zero" sized ones. I have the ground directly to the engine and the frame. Why do I get a little spark at the battery when I touch the "+" cable to the "+" battery post? Doesn't a spark mean a short somewhere or is it normal to spark a little when first connected?

Hi Ken! I don't know if it helps, but in post 660 I also had to run a new wire down the column and solder it to the brass contact ring in the column. I un-soldered the wire that was there, attached a thin "snake" wire to it and pulled the horn wire up into the car. This left the "snake" wire hanging in the car to attach the new horn wire to. Then pull the "snake" wire from the column and the new wire will be in position to get soldered into position.

Hi Billy! I'm using the self-adhesive Dynamat on all the floors, and any extra up the sides. I still have most of the original Buick material stuck to the innards so I'm really just concerned with the floors.

Wednesday October 11, 2017: (Nine months today since the beginning of the restoration) Today we installed the following stuff: Steering column / Horn wire / Pitman arm / Drag link Map light Transmission cover Pedal and transmission cover plates Accelerator Pedal I like to start the day with the parts that I'll need all laid out and organized. The index cards are labelled, and sometimes I have notes regarding installation hints written out. STEERING COLUMN & HORN WIRE: We started by jacking up the front of the car for better access. Honestly, this was very difficult to get the column in. I don't know why, because I removed it by myself and it seemed to fall right out. We ended up loosening the master cylinder from the frame, disconnection the brake pedal, which gave us more room to finagle it into position. Here you can see the column wrapped up in towels to protect the paint from scratches. Finally, after lifting, turning, changing the approach angle..... It finally came through. John is getting the frame bolts started to hold it. While it was still loose at the frame, I got under the dash and lined up and installed the two mounting fasteners. A long screw on one side, a bolt on the other. Again, the bolt gave us quite a fit for some reason, but finally it gave up Once the column was secured at the dash mounting, John tightened up the box to the frame. Now in position, I removed the tape that was covering the horn contact. You can see where LARES soldered a new wire on to the brass contact when the box was rebuilt. But again, another problem arose at the top end. The wire is soldered here but...... It was cut off flush up here. so the wire is useless because you can't get the spring plunger installed. I tried running the fine green wire down to see if any of the wire was bunched up somewhere, but that's it. A new horn contact wire did come with the new wire harness. So we unsoldered the red wire from the column and hooked the green wire to it. Then, by pulling the wire up, it left the green fine wire to use as a snake for the new wire. Here you see us hooking the new orange wire to the fine green wire and beginning to pull it down to be soldered. Here's the new contact button, but honestly, it's no good. The "spring" looks like someone just wrapped wire around it and the movement is very tough. Compare this to the original: Look at the quality of the original spring. It slides in and out super easy. So, we made the decision to ditch the new contact, unsolder this spring assembly from the wire and simply re-use this with a new 12-gauge wire. So again, it's unsolder the orange wire, pull it up and through creating a snake, and snaking the new wire with the original contact to be soldered into place. DRAG LINK / PITMAN ARM: Today we're focusing on the stuff on the left side above. The center ball is already attached. My notes. Again, using the left side where the drag link will insert into the pitman arm. Great overview how everything is installed. Flashback: January. Condition of all the Drag Link / Pitman Arm connection I cleaned all the gunk from the grease groove and polished the ball. Before I installed the Drag Link, I made sure the steering box was in center position. LARES made this mark when they rebuilt the box. I double checked by putting the steering wheel on the column first. The Buick wheel makes four full turns "lock - to - lock". So I steered full left, counted two full turns and went under to check the marks. They are spot-on. Then I got the front wheels to point straight, and as there is only four ways the arm can go on, it was pretty simple to get it in the correct position. Attach the Drag Link with the heavy lock washer and large 1-1/4" nut. Torqued it to 100 lbs. Then began the Pitman arm rebuild. First, I heavily greased the internals Install following my notes: Spring Stop, Spring, Ball Seat. Keep the neck in the proper orientation. Grease the ball and install the spring and dust shield Pop the ball into the large hole and tug the pitman arm to seat the neck into the groove. Finish the outer side with the Ball Seat, Spring and the Spring Stop. Following the Buick manual, I tightened it fully, then backed off 1-1/2 turns Cotter it and call it done. MAP LIGHT: You get a new wire in the new harness. You have to use all your old guts to rebuild the socket. Strip the end of the wire, slip the socket, insulator, spring, insulator over. Then solder the wire end onto the wire and pull it through the socket. Install the socket into the back end of the map light fixture. That "hood" simply snaps into position. You won't see that yellow wire once the radio is installed. FLOOR STUFF: Flashback to January with the dash area stripped, transmission out, all pedal plates removed... Installed a new gasket and the top of the transmission. You have to be careful here to be sure those sliding plates line up properly and don''l lose the springs in the back. Then placed the rubber boots over the pedals that are under the pedal plates. Then the pedal plates and finally the rubber footpads on top of the pedals. Transmission cove plate and boot. Accelerator Pedal It's really starting to come together!! Tonight the radio, then the headliner installation. Have a great day!! Gary

Hi Tom! Check this post out for the divider build:

Wednesday Morning, October 11, 2017: Delivered Front Fenders to the Paint Shop (And I need a questioned answered) This morning I loaded up the Sequoia with the two front fenders and delivered them to the paint shop, As Bob was looking over the job, he noticed that there are differences in the sheet metal in one area and I was wondering if anyone out there knows the correct orientation metal pattern. I'd certainly rather get the metal in it's proper shape prior to paint. Off we go! These things fill the entire cargo area of the truck. QUESTION: Drivers side front fender has a rolled and spot welded metal extension, but then it has that other part that is bent up almost to form a clip. Compare that to the passenger's side. It also has the rolled up / spot welded piece, BUT the other one makes sort of a "shelf". So, if anyone has insight on this, I'd like to straighten out the bent one, or bend this one??? Thanks again! Gary

Tuesday Evening October 10, 2017: Preparation and installation of the dash. This is an exciting one! While I was at work, I used a little fine pumice and acrilustre on all my plastic knobs and pulls to try to clean them up best I can. Got home around 8:00 and began laying parts out to do some preparation before installing the dash panel. Well, one thing led to another and here I am, three hours past my normal bed time, but had to show the results: Fine pumice with a slow speed wet cotton wheel. This removes the surface staining and smooths out some imperfections. The next product is called Acrilustre. It gives acrylic a nice shine and smooth appearance. Puts a little gloss on it too. Got home at 8:00 tonight and got right to it. Laid a heavy cotton tarp thing over the kitchen island and began pulling parts out of the "parts storage room" And the other parts and fasteners I would need The knobs and pulls look a lot nicer after the pumice and polish. So, I figured I'd do some preliminary build up while the dash was in the kitchen. Much easier access to a lot of this stuff. First, install the missing four trinidad nuts to keep the speaker grille tight to the dash panel. Build the dash ash receiver. Run the screw through the inner hole, the front backing plate, then the wood grained plate, through the metal and finally into the pull knob. The screw is passing through three pieces of metal at this point. Slip the metal trim piece over the screw and screw on the pull. Slide it into position and one thing on. Install last night's project, the glove box clock into position in the door. There are very short special screws for this so you don't dent the outside door finish. Looks sharp in there! Next, push through your glove box lock, attach the locking cylinder with one screw and that's it. All these little parts that I spent hours wire wheeling clean, painting....Nice to see all those bags emptying out. Attach the lock plate to the top of the glove box opening. Attach the hinge to the door Again, these are 10-32 screws. Watch your length if you are replacing with new fasteners. I'm re-using all the original stuff here. Attach the hinge through the bottom, being sure when the door opens it does not hit the bottom of the panel. It will ruin the finish quickly. All the screws are adjustable, so take your time here with all four screws to get the door to line up nice. Once satisfied with the fit of the door, do the final adjustment of the door catch and tighten it down. Next, I installed a new glove box, Only two screws here. I found it easier to kinds "square off" the upper corners a little. It just seemed to sit better. Grey felt lined. Glove box stuff is now complete. Next, install the wiper actuator. Remove the large nut, serrated washer and the pot metal housing. Align the slot with the slot in the dash. Once through, simply reinstall the pot metal part, the serrated washer and the nut. Then, install the cigar lighter. I took this all apart and cleaned it all up. Remove the outer brace that supports it, slide it into position And again, once through, put the support brace over the entire piece and tighten it down. READY TO GO IN!!! I think I did as much pre-install that I can. (That map reader is just sitting there for the picture. I have to build that socket in the car tomorrow) Out to the garage. I placed a carriage bolt through the hole where the rear hood retainer drops down. This is temporary so I can install the radio mount inside and finish all the under dash wiring. Assemble the radio mounting hardware. And attach it to the carriage bolt. OK.. The only other thing I did inside the car was to loosen all four of the nuts holding the instrument cluster to the sub frame. Just in case it had to move slightly while the dash was being seated. Remember, it's late. Everyone is asleep. I'm working alone so I don't have photos of it actually being installed, but I do have .... This! It actually fell right into position. I tacked it in with four screws for now. I hooked up the light switch and ran the two screws that secure the cowl vent arm to the bottom of the dash. So, I'm ready for tomorrow, when I hope to be installing the steering wheel, horn stuff, and the radio. The woodgrain is just beautiful. It's 1:16. It's now Wednesday. I'm beat. Have a great day out there! Gary

Tom....any photos or “order of operations “ would help me considerably!! Appreciate any help here. Like you, I have no reference. I did order the fisher body book, but as far as the actual procedure any hints would be great!

Monday October 9, 2017: Clock and Instrument Cluster Tonight I re-wired and polished the back of the clock, getting it ready to be reinstalled into the glovebox door. Then at 7:00, UPS dropped off my temperature gauge, so I first tested it in a pan of hot water and it works. But I had to paint the needle white so it looks like the other gauges in the cluster. Not a tough job, just another thing. Finally, I got the instrument cluster installed in the car and hooked all the gauges up and wired it. My clock. The wires are all brittle and the new clock harness comes with the new wires. Remove the lower light and socket that illuminates the face when the dash lamps are lit. Then remove those two little screws to gain access to the internal wiring. Remove the back. I took a minute to line up the new wires to the old to be sure I have them correctly aligned. The posts are labelled though. The white wire is ground. Now clean up all the corrosion. Shines like a jewel! I spent time on the case also. Buffed it up with jeweler's rouge on a slow speed leather wheel. Pull the 2 amp fuse while you're there to be sure it is still intact and not blown. Once the back is wired and back in position, time to rebuild your light sockets. The new wire harness has two new brass wire ends that you use with all your socket guts. Keep your springs and insulators. Solder on the new end And the old socket is as good as new! Be careful of the side lamp that lights when the glovebox door opens. It has about 5 small brass beads in it that roll to make contact when the door is open. You don't need to open that part of the socket, but mine just all fell apart so just as well to clean it all out and now it works perfectly. Finished back of the clock. Finished front. Here I carefully removed the chrome bezel and polished it the same way with jeweler's rouge. I cleaned the glass, very, very carefully on the inside as not to mar the numbers. The face, again a very easy cleaning and put it all back together. I hooked it up to a spare battery and you can hear that winding motor kick right on. Then UPS came and finally my temperature gauge was delivered. I wasn't to happy that they didn't paint the needle, but I tested it in a pot of water on the stove and it works. So I had to pull the old " Nine of Diamonds" trick: I cut a very fine slit, taped the bottom, used Flat White spray paint... Gave it a shot outside, removed the tape and the playing card And that looks much more presentable! Remove the "Fuel / Temperature" plate as a single unit You have to run the sensor through first, then pull the long copper tube Then seat the gauge in its position. Matches pretty nice. Button it up using the 6 machine screws and you are ready to install it. The other day I sat with the wiring blueprints and labelled everything so I didn't have to constantly refer to the chart when time came to install the cluster. Here, I'm getting the speedo cable lined up, the oil pressure gauge line oriented properly and generally getting a sense of the way things fall into position. Using 4 #10-24 nuts and washers, the cluster was once again back home. Then, 45 minutes of this. Here's the view from the back side. All I need is the instrument bulbs to finish the install. That's the high beam indicator hanging down in front there. This, of course, was the absolute hardest part of the night. Getting the sensor, the bolt head and the large square nut through that tiny opening in the firewall grommet. Sensor installed and sealed with some of that tape. Spark plug cover back installed and its looking nice. There it is. Ready to get some juice flowing to it and watch it light up. So, I think the next thing is the dash. (Any hints, send 'em along..... Do I have to install the door windlace before the dash?? Does the dash sit on top of it by the pillars?) Have a great night! Gary

Saturday October 7, 2017: Need some help with installation of the rear roll-up windows If someone out there could please post a photo of how the window channel kit gets installed into the rear window opening prior to inserting the glass, I would be very appreciative. My car had NO felt or rubber "sweepers" where the glass comes up from inside the door. And the chrome-edged felt channel liner was literally stuck to the glass, and fell right out so I have no idea how these parts are supposed to be installed, and what hardware is used?? Here's the window channel kit I received. 4 chrome-edged felt lined channels and 8 felt "sweepers?" So, I'm assuming a sweeper for the inside surface of the glass and one for the outside surface. The inside has three "bump-ups".... do they play a role? Or does the sweeper attach to the garnish molding? The inner aspect of the outer surface is just flat. Is there supposed to be screw holes? Do you just epoxy it into position? Any help would be greatly appreciated. (Photos, instruction sheets...) Thanks guys!

Silicone and Paint: Taylor Made and Konga Man: You are correct........ Bob and I had this very conversation just before the "body drop". I told him I was going to tack the rubber body mounts to the frame, and maybe use a little silicone on the top surfaces of the rubber mounts so the body could slide easy. The answer: "No Silicone" products are allowed near the paint shop. Never. If there is silicone in the area or in the atmosphere around where you are painting, the paint will "fish eye", and the job will be ruined. So, after hearing that, now being totally paranoid, I asked him if the silicone would hurt the clear coat or the paint, if I could use Windex near the new paint..... His answer "The paint is cured, buffed and the silicone will not affect it at this point." Being I don't do the painting here and it's all done at his shop, he told me it's fine to use. He actually used a shot of it on a tight corner of the windshield install. As far as the actual silicone, The very first line in Steele's installation instructions says "lubricate the 1/4" glass groove with glass lubricant or very soapy water...." When I searched, "glass lubricant for installing glass" there are products by 3M, WD-40, CRC, Blasted, Home Depot........ All silicone based, all safe for rubber. Because it says "safe for rubber" I will sometimes use a small spritz on those tight rubber grommets to get them seated without scratching or scarring the new rubber. They slip right into position. ( Off topic, but even my treadmill, with its rubber belt, came with a silicone to lube the belt once a month..) So I don't know what to advise here. Although you did scare me enough to run out into the garage this morning to make sure my paint was OK... and it's still gleaming!! Like always, I will always defer to the experts and correct the record if I have posted wrong or misleading information. I research and ask questions every step of the way, and would hate to pass on misinformation here. Thanks for keeping me honest! Enjoy your day Gary