Had a new windshield installed here in Portland today.

Non-heated, Pilkington "Solar". Looks great and they used a new molding on the upper portion (I'd asked them to). $450 was the cost btw for anyone looking for a benchmark. Props needed for Cascade Auto Glass in Portland, OR (so much better than Safelite). Windshield install looks perfect and the guy was great.

All of the plastic around the windshield was off for the install so today was time for some new parts. When I bought this truck, it had been at a bodyshop (Rover dealer's bodyshop) and they had removed the cowl, A-Pillars, wipers, etc. Unfortunately every piece was broken and in a box in the truck. (the awesome PO had already bought new A pillars which were new in box). The cowl/plenum was on backorder for much of June/July.

I know this is super super basic but in ordering parts for this, I had questions and I could not find good high quality photos showing where certain things might go.

Here's the new upper molding. Do yourself a favor and if you get a new windshield, no matter where or how much, get a new part. Mine was the original 2000 windshield (!) and this thing has a metal strip, the rubber was messed up. Don't re-use it. If I hadn't specified the shop would have reused. Part # DCB101510, $80-100 depending upon where.



Here's the new windshield after I made it home. FYI - I went to the facility instead of having them at my house, better controlled environment. I had a bad experience with Safelite on an E92 M3 at my house on a misty/rainy day long ago. Never again.

The Range sunshade is from my old 2016 RRS 5.0 Supercharged. I feel like I'm back in a real rover with this Disco btw. Trying to protect the dash from curling. Probably futile.



Found a bit of cracking and what looks like rust starting in two spots bottom left and right. Body seam sealer issue. This... Shouldn't be too concerning. And a similar area on the upper drivers A pillar top when the windshield was out. Primered the top one.


Drivers Side (LHD US)

Passenger Side (LHD US) - I guess from flexing from repeated hood opening/closing? Either way will keep watch on this spot.

Overall looked pretty good after a cleaning.

So you really need to scoot the hood out of the way a bit to make room for the cowl. In Rave and parts diagrams, the cowl is called a plenum btw. It IS possible to install or remove a broken cowl with out removing the hood, but reinstalling a new one that's not cracked is tough and stresses the plastic around the hood hinges. I chose to mark the hood hinges and remove the hood. Following Atlantic British Doug's video, I left the hood on top of the engine and used a towel to protect the grill from the hood release/latch. Worked great. Very stable and not in danger of falling. If you had a second person and a large blanket, you might want to disconnect the washer line and put it upside down on top of the truck/roof but that's overkill.



Marking hinges for placement. Hood is perfectly aligned and hoping it stays that way.

Marked hinges on top

And on both sides with little marks

After removing bolts


Hood about 8 inches forward. Laying on engine. Towel under to protect grill from latch.

Also I realized the hood WILL hit the fender slightly, so not to mar the paint I put little towels up at the corners by A Pillars and at the front of the fenders. Couple pics.





Oh btw don't forget about this seal that runs across the car. It had gotten removed on my truck at some point so I put one from a junker back in. Here it is. Took me a second looking at junked cars to realize I was missing this.


This seal was missing on mine, replaced w/ used

Before I put the cowl in I ran a bead of urethane sealant around the air intake. I was convinced it was leaking around the top edge (not through the opening into the fan as they often do, I had it covered).



Got the cowl in. It clips UNDER windshield in 4 spots, plastic clips on the cowl. There's a 10mm bolt in the center I didn't show , the wiper arms secure to it with large washers (pictured) - self explanatory. Keep things slow. Get it centered on the windshield, between A Pillars and of course wiper arms. Don't rush it. It was a pain to align.



The rubber thing...

It has an adhesive strip which isn't totally needed but it helps hold it to the cowl while you install it. LH is marked LH and RH is marked RH btw underneath in the rubber.

Here are the bits that hold it down on left and right edge. There's a small plastic washer that's probably never reinstalled... it goes on top of the metal bracket, and under the cowl. Probably a bit of friction cushion if there's any movement. And then little screw in clips.



I love new black plastic bits

This is where the washer and clip go. Washer between metal and cowl (underneath what you see here)



Wala! Cowl in.

Wiper arms on!

 

So -- screw these jack knocking A Pillars. What a pain. There are lots of vids on how to install so I won't recall, but it's just a bit of luck, hold your mouth the right way, I drank a few beers. I just used hands (no rubber mallet as Atlantic British dude does in the videos, I did not want to break something).

Got the drivers side on first. Forgot the little rain gutter trim up top, I wasn't going to remove the A pillar for this only after fighting with it for AN HOUR to get the top clip latched, so I just trimmed off the bottom that goes under the A pillar trim, and stuck it on. We'll see if it stays. Basically you need to have the rain gutter end piece on BEFORE you reinstall A-pillar trim.



Here you can see the rain gutter removed. Why, I don't know. I should have had it back on. I forgot.



Drivers side. I did A pillar first. So, I just cut off the bottom of the rain gutter piece and slid it on. It should be rain gutter piece, then A pillar.

Did it correctly on this side.


Almost done, just the passenger A Pillar to go.

FINISHED !

Total cost of this job = $1210 and about a day. Of that $450 was unheated Pilkington windshield. This matches pretty well with some of the insurance estimates I read about on here when people needed new windshields and filed insurance claims because the costs increased due to broken cowl/plenum/pillars.

 

Holy Cr@p!!!! Thanks for the detailed install and Pics! Sticky worthy!!!
I really need to replace my cowl, both A-pillars and both top corner gutter trim pieces.

 

Awesome, were you getting leaks? why did you replace the windshield?

 

This is exactly what I needed to see, the PO replaced the windshield but it was/is a terrible install, I had a 6” gap in the sealant at the bottom, wind and rained came in from underneath. I removed the bottom cowl and caulked it up and that solved that problem. Then on top there is a layer of tape to prevent leaks, probably because that top trim component you mentioned was broken and they didn’t want to fix it. The install is so bad I’m actually going to contact my insurance company and see if they will replace it (I have windshield coverage).

 

Apparently prior to my owning the truck, the cowl/plenum was cracked from age. Somehow while removing that cowl (I didn't do it, before my ownership) apparently the windshield got cracked across the bottom (cracked about 20" long). So when I got the truck it had no cowl and needed a new windshield. The car has gone awhile without a cowl !

I noticed when the cowl was off that water droplets were on the passenger floor mat in the morning a few times. I had the ventilation opening taped up very well with gorilla tape in multiple layers (always on recirculate which was growing annoying), so I was pretty sure it wasn't leaking through the fan air intake. But when I poured water around it, it was leaking *around* the fan opening, Which makes sense, there's probably some old foam seal in there which is long gone, and it did seem to have a little gap. That's why I used the sealant.

 

That new trim under the wipers is awesome. I just can't see spending the money...now you have me thinking.

 

Got in the Rover which was parked outside my house (it's abnormally hot - today is 100 here in Portland). Car outside in full blazing sun. Turned the car on for a few mins w AC on in the driveway before putting my dogs in the back, got in no less than 5 mins later, new windshield cracked across the bottom. I literally saw it happen. Crack coming up from underneath the cowl in the center under driver's wiper.

So yea there's that. Back to the windshield place tomorrow it is! Now my quandary is ... do I let them deal with my new plastic which they'll surely crack up, or remove it all again carefully.

 

I had the same brand of windshield installed in mine in May of this year. I went with the non-heated version because it was about $600 cheaper. Total installed cost was about $450. I really like the new clarity and you don't see the tiny wires from the heating elements now. I typically don't park outside in the winter, so I'm sure I won't miss the heated version.

 

I found the heated version was most useful when driving while it was snowing, specifically wet snow at or about freezing temps... It makes up for the weak wipers. Yes even the D1 wiper arms did not help with this... But the arms collect slush then that freezes and they don't work so well... The heat elements soften the build up so you don't have to stop every 10 minutes to manually clear your arms and windshield.