RE: alfa-digest V7 #791

[Chris Kane <branzck@domain.elided>]

Hi all,

The sealed windscreen debate has swung inexorably towards the Sud
(definitely an Alfa - if you don't believe so you haven't driven one), and
so it is time for my 2 cents' worth. The Sud originally used a bonded in
windscreen, but SudLore has it that the Neapolitans couldn't handle the
installation proceedure, and they used to leak. So Alfa went to a gasketted
screen, and some reinforcing around it to reduce flex. The problem was that
the gasket wasn't really up to it (you can take one out in less than 10
minutes) and nor was the reinforcing.

So, you had major flex at the bottoms and tops of the windscreen pillars,
water getting in to there past the gasket, inappropriately placed drain
holes, and steel made from old Russian tanks, all together in harmony. The
noise that resulted was the gnashing of owner's teeth as their Suds
dissolved before their very eyes.

As for Alfettas, well my '76 1.8 (I guess that's a "Sport Sedan" in the land
of Apple pie and gun nutters - sorry couldn't resist - I could not believe
that thread!) had a bonded in screen. My '82 Sprint Veloce (that's Sud
Sprint, not Alfetta GTV) and my 85 Sprint QV both have gasketted ones. But
my '77 Sud Ti had a bonded screen. Notice I say "had". It had to be taken
away in two pieces...

So that's the Sud angle. And for the record, the '89 Sprint 1.7s STILL used
a gasketted screen right to the very end, and STILL leaked and rusted. Like
somebody said, it didn't matter because it didn't make the car go faster...

Chris Kane
76 Sud Ti (Bonded AND gasketted)
82 Sprint Veloce (Gasketted and rusty)
85 Sprint Green Cloverleaf (Gasketted and worryingly bubbling...)
In NZ.

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