Morris Minor Owners Club

About two weeks from now I'm going to begin that most arduous of processes, refitting the glass back into Mog. I'm having an automotive-glassworking friend watch/help/do it for me. But the job has sort of snowballed, and I want to get some advice on the order and lay of things.

First, there's the glass to put in, all four windows that don't go in doors. I'm given to understand that the rear window stays out until after the new headlining goes in.
So, question 1: Do I put the windscreen and the side windows in before or after the headlining? Does it make any difference?

Second, I don't remember how the side windows came out and I can find no literature on the topic (BMC manual, Haynes manual, exhaustive searching here and on t'other forum).
So question 2: Do the side windows in a saloon (the ones trailing the doors in a two-door) go in from the inside or the outside of the car?

Third. I've discovered some surface rust in the passenger door aperture, along the top, underneath the guttering where it joins on to the roof panel.
Question 3: Do I fix the rust (brushing, sanding, priming, painting) before or after the headlining goes in? I'm concerned about potential overspray or slipping of the wire brush onto the headlining, which, being my most expensive purchase since the floorpan, I'd rather not harm.

Fourth. There is at least one shallow dent in the roof, leading edge center, about two inches trailing the top of the windscreen aperture. Obviously I repair this prior to putting in the headlining.
Question 4: How? Do the suction-cup dent-puller gizmos do anything, or should I take a hide hammer to it from inside?

Fifth. I was a bit unkind to the headlining front board when I took it out, so that it's now missing its clips. I have a spare, but it has no clips. It seems I can't buy replacement clips.
Question 5: What's their shape, so I can replicate some out of sheet metal? Or what similar thing might I buy somewhere?

Sixth and finally. The side windows have a set of five clips for each window.
Question 6: Do they serve any purpose at all? I have all ten, and I will put them back, I just want to know.

By the way, I AM going to have a professional coachtrimmer come and put in Mog's new headlining. I don't want to risk tearing it and having to spend another $150.

That's it for now I think, chaps...

Lots of questions!!!!

Firstly I would fix and finish the rusty bit and the dent before the head cloth goes back in. Your right the the back window goes in after the headcloth. Taupe drew a diagram for someone a while back that show how the clips work and position, if you cant get new ones the trimmer who is fitting it may have something suitable or your could make something similar out of some light steel or copper, originals were sort of copper plated.

The back and side windows are fitted from inside the car and the front screen on a 1000 from outside. The clips on the side window are fitted to the the lip before the window is fitted, the idea behind them is so that you cant just push the glass back inside the car and get in! From memory 2 are fitted on the upright and bottom edges and one about the middle of the curve. Thses are then bent up on the inside.

I wouldnt make any difference to fit these other windows before the headcloth goes in. The side windows are fairly easy to fit, windscreen shouldnt be to difficult, although the chrome can be a bu**er to fit...... The rear screen is pretty difficult and I have ripped a coupl putting them back. Take plenty of time, use a good thick strong cord and something to help the rubber slide into place. Also good gloves as the screen goes into place the string gets harder to pull and can cut into your hands.

Hopefully I got most of your questions covered there

You might might these threads useful.

This one contains a step by step guide to headlining replacement:

http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?t=20065

This one contains photos of the various headlining parts, including the front clip:

http://www.mmoc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=29881

Thank you both very much! Your contributions were spot-on. I'd seen the headlining removal/installation guide before, which I used to get the old one out, but that other thread I hadn't seen and it really is marvelous!

Perhaps I WILL undertake these two jobs myself. Obviously I'll need help for the windows, but the headlining almost looks like a one-man job.

Rear windscreen.To add to David's sound advice re cord pulling.....if you tie the cord to a short length of wooden dowel , you can pull to your heart's content and not hurt your fingers.
Bob

All right, let's return to headlining for a moment. I assembled the thing this weekend and tried to fit it, and it is in the car, but the front board didn't go in properly, as you can see -- one clip remains out.[frame][/frame]
Perhaps as you can also see (chipped paint) no amount of hammering could make it budge. What can I do? I'm unsure what the problem is. We did make the new former out of slightly thicker wood, but it shouldn't've been so much thicker (no more than two millimeters) that it stops the former from going in. The interior light wiring is out of the way, I made sure of that. The tensioning wires are fully down the A-pillars. The frontmost cross-rail (that holds up the headlining, rear of the former) is close enough to the former that there's plenty of slack. There was no debris in the cant rail, as far as I could tell.