Two big jobs were completed on the White GTE last week; installing the windshield gasket and the fixing the hood bolts. I’ll talk about the hood later, but getting the windshield to fit was a big victory.

The car had a gasket that just wasn’t fitting right. Rubber gaskets these days for Ferraris are tricky. Depending on who’s making them, they can vary in size and fit. I’ve also hear over time, the molds for these gaskets can wear out, making the gaskets they make “grow” so knowing who has the best gaskets that fit helps.

On this car, the gasket seemed too small in some dimensions where the outer lip wasn’t catching the body of the car.

I carefully removed the windshield from the car and installed another windshield gasket. The new gasket seemed a little smaller than the other one, but the only true test was to install it on the car. I had the stretch the gasket a little bit onto the glass and really had to work to get the chrome trim to fit in the groove of the rubber gasket. After I got everything in place, I turned over the windshield and installed the rope that would help pull the inner lip onto the pinch weld in the car. Vaseline or some kind of lube is imperative to get things to slip into place.

It took four three tries to get the glass installed. maneuvering the glass into position takes just the right amount of force from slapping the glass to pushing it into place without breaking it. I also had a bunch of little tools used to coax the rubber into place and catch the bodywork.

Because the gasket was a little short, the corners didn’t line up perfectly with the chrome trim, but since this gasket fit the body and wasn’t in danger of having the glass fall out like the last one, I’ll take the slight misalignment. We also didn’t have to buy a new windshield. Win, win!