I'm working on getting Mike's '70 on the road in time for Red Rock Classic. It started right up today after sitting for 2 years and it's all ready for the side-shifter tranny and exhaust swap.
Unfortunately, the windshield has a crack in it and it needs to be replaced. It's not worth investing in a new windshield given the condition of the rest of the car and Mike's expectation that it will get parked again after RRC. We've got a perfectly good windshield in Mike's wrecked '73 so my question is - how do you remove a windshield so that you won't break it? I'll pay a windshiled shop to install it in the '70, but I figured I'd see if I could get it out of the '73 myself.
So other than "very carefully", what do you actually do to get a windshield out of a 914 without breaking it?
Full Version: How to remove a windshield?
Ernie,
Call the windshield company you are going to pay to install it.
It is worth the extra change to have them remove the old one.
It should not be a big upcharge.
Otherwise, be very careful
One of these would help
Call the windshield company you are going to pay to install it.
It is worth the extra change to have them remove the old one.
It should not be a big upcharge.
Otherwise, be very careful
One of these would help
I have yet to see a windshield, of any car, be removed without it breaking.
Be the job done by pros with tools, or me without, the job always ends in tears. Sure, I've heard rumors of it happening. Some of my friends have even said they have done it. I kinda think of a successful windshield pull kinda like bigfoot - lots of people have said they know of someone that has done it, lots of shaky camera phone pic, but nothing that car really prove that it was real.
Zach
Be the job done by pros with tools, or me without, the job always ends in tears. Sure, I've heard rumors of it happening. Some of my friends have even said they have done it. I kinda think of a successful windshield pull kinda like bigfoot - lots of people have said they know of someone that has done it, lots of shaky camera phone pic, but nothing that car really prove that it was real.
Zach
I just removed one successfully. Used the technique in the book. Take a small wire, I used a small guitar string. Poke one end of this through the seal, and then gently saw it back and forth around the window. At the clips for the trim, make sure the wire goes betweent he clip and the glass. This worked OK on mine. It had the really sticky adhesive, I assume butyl. It was also about 100 degrees outside, so maybe that helped. Good luck. JoeO.
i broke 2 windshields using that fancy tool. both times trying to get around one of the lower corners. you need to remove both of the A pillar interior pieces and the lower dash to windshield seal. start in one of the corners and be very careful if the seal is in good shape. the tool will tear the hell out of it. after the outside trim is removed, let the car sit in the sun for awhile to soften the butyl.
k
k
After watching the glass shop pro replace the windshield in my 73 I would say don't even try it yourself or you will walk away bummed out.
I cracked mine within seconds of trying to remove it. It happened when I was poking a hole through the butyl for my wire. I used a little punch and the larger end stressed the glass when I stuck it through. The crack was only a few inches long, but long enough for me to trash it. That sucked. The rest was easy with the wire. Just be careful poking that hole. I think a small drill bit or something completely flat would be the way to go.
Here's a post I wrote a while back:
BTW: the knife pictured above is called a cold knife, and you never use one to remove a windshield you hope to reuse. Other than on a windshield that is nearly ready to fall out by itself, a cold knife is guaranteed to break the glass.
QUOTE
Hey Boys,
I was an auto glass installer in a prior life.
Couple things to add
1. Whether heating the seal will help depends on what is holding in the windshield. There are 2 proper methods and one bad, but common improper one. The proper methods are Urethane caulk and butyl tape. The bad one is silicone caulk. BAD, VERY BAD!!Heat will only help if it is butyl tape. You will know its tape if from the INSIDE of the windshield, when you stick something into it (i.e. wire, nail etc.) it has a consistancy like chewing gum. It is common to cover the tape with another sealer like silicone or urethane on the outside, so the outside surface is not a good indicator. Tape is cut with a hot knife in a glass shop, and it literally cuts like butter. But, like I said, it is normally top coated with urethane, which doesn't react much to heat. SO, for the do it yourselfer, your best bet is piano wire. Piano wire will cut anything used to install a windshield. You could swing by you local glass shop, and I'm sure they would sell you several feet for a few bucks. Glass shop wire is not actual piano wire anymore, but rather a similar wire with abrasives imbedded in it.
Rather than vise grips to hold the wire, a better method is to drill a thru the middle (the short way) of two 6" ish pieces of old broom handle or similar round object. You thread the wire thru the holes, and twist it off, so you end up with a handle like the pull handle on a lawn mower, at each end. You wire ONE end as I descibed, then, push the other end thru from the inside of the car out, in an upper corner with needle nose, as described above. pull it thru on the outside by grabbing the end with the needle nose and pull thru. THEN twist up that end like the first. It is easiest to cut out the windshield with 2 people, one in and one outside the car. If you find that as you cut, the seal sticks back together, then you have a seal that is at least based on a strip of butyl tape. You simply need to apply slight outward pressure as you cut initially. Once you have cut far enough that there is a decent gap between the winshield and the tape bed, just stick objects in like a screw driver or such to prevent the winshield from making contact with the tape untill you have cut the whole thing.
Also, be very careful of your dash as you cut. I ALWAYS put a piece of smooth sheet metal about 18" long over the dash where the dash meets the windshield, and move it along as a I cut . Any thin hard surface will do. The key is to make CERTAIN that the wire is not touching the dash as you are pulling back and forth to cut. One stroke across the dash with that wire will make an irrepairable cut. Trust me.
There are a number of other things you might want to know about this whole windshield gig, but the above should get it out fer ya. If you want to know more, just say the word. None of it is rocket science.
I was an auto glass installer in a prior life.
Couple things to add
1. Whether heating the seal will help depends on what is holding in the windshield. There are 2 proper methods and one bad, but common improper one. The proper methods are Urethane caulk and butyl tape. The bad one is silicone caulk. BAD, VERY BAD!!Heat will only help if it is butyl tape. You will know its tape if from the INSIDE of the windshield, when you stick something into it (i.e. wire, nail etc.) it has a consistancy like chewing gum. It is common to cover the tape with another sealer like silicone or urethane on the outside, so the outside surface is not a good indicator. Tape is cut with a hot knife in a glass shop, and it literally cuts like butter. But, like I said, it is normally top coated with urethane, which doesn't react much to heat. SO, for the do it yourselfer, your best bet is piano wire. Piano wire will cut anything used to install a windshield. You could swing by you local glass shop, and I'm sure they would sell you several feet for a few bucks. Glass shop wire is not actual piano wire anymore, but rather a similar wire with abrasives imbedded in it.
Rather than vise grips to hold the wire, a better method is to drill a thru the middle (the short way) of two 6" ish pieces of old broom handle or similar round object. You thread the wire thru the holes, and twist it off, so you end up with a handle like the pull handle on a lawn mower, at each end. You wire ONE end as I descibed, then, push the other end thru from the inside of the car out, in an upper corner with needle nose, as described above. pull it thru on the outside by grabbing the end with the needle nose and pull thru. THEN twist up that end like the first. It is easiest to cut out the windshield with 2 people, one in and one outside the car. If you find that as you cut, the seal sticks back together, then you have a seal that is at least based on a strip of butyl tape. You simply need to apply slight outward pressure as you cut initially. Once you have cut far enough that there is a decent gap between the winshield and the tape bed, just stick objects in like a screw driver or such to prevent the winshield from making contact with the tape untill you have cut the whole thing.
Also, be very careful of your dash as you cut. I ALWAYS put a piece of smooth sheet metal about 18" long over the dash where the dash meets the windshield, and move it along as a I cut . Any thin hard surface will do. The key is to make CERTAIN that the wire is not touching the dash as you are pulling back and forth to cut. One stroke across the dash with that wire will make an irrepairable cut. Trust me.
There are a number of other things you might want to know about this whole windshield gig, but the above should get it out fer ya. If you want to know more, just say the word. None of it is rocket science.
BTW: the knife pictured above is called a cold knife, and you never use one to remove a windshield you hope to reuse. Other than on a windshield that is nearly ready to fall out by itself, a cold knife is guaranteed to break the glass.
Thanks for all the input. I'll let you know what I decide and how it comes out. I'd forgotten that I may have a windshield available that's already out of a car. The "spare cars" are all wrapped in tarps so it takes some work to look inside them and see what I've got. If I've still got that windshield and it's in good enough condition, then I'll use it.
I was removing the trim on my front windshield and all was good till the last foot. Then the sound. I cracked the windshield. I also have 2 small strange horizontal matching cracks on the left and right side or the rear window near the base 3 inches up and 3 inches from the edges. (Very strange)
The question is should I call a window company in to come and putt the front and rear glass out or should I do it myself. I do not want to get cut and I do not want to make a mess. I do not mind spending some reasonable money.
Next question is replacement glass. Where to get it?
Thanks,
Bob
The question is should I call a window company in to come and putt the front and rear glass out or should I do it myself. I do not want to get cut and I do not want to make a mess. I do not mind spending some reasonable money.
Next question is replacement glass. Where to get it?
Thanks,
Bob
I have cut out several windshields and reused them also. Big trick is to go SLOW ! I have had really good luck using an old guitar string as a saw to saw through the "glue". If it is the butyl, I have even had decent luck using an old thin blade putty knife heated a little with a propane torch. It can be done, it just takes patience!
Piano or guitar wire, push it thru, wrap ends around wooden dowel....saw away. I've broken two out of 10.
OK, I will do that but where will I get a new front windshield in the Los Angeles area and what do they cost. What to do for the rear? Do you remove all the crap in the area and do you renew the clips up front. I see new ones on EBay back east. Are they around in town or are they hard to come by in 2008.
Bob
Bob
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