The old guys always told me cut the glass 1st, then make the chop conform to the glass. A good way to have gone with the Lincoln would have been to drop the stock windshield into a pocket made into the firewall/cowl, then no glass cutting is needed. Then cut the top to match.
, i've heard of cutting the roof to the windshield also...but his original windshield is cracked so he doesn't have a good one at the moment. maybe we can cut the cracked windshield to fit and put it in until he finds a good windshield and used his cut cracked one as a template..
Looks cool with the chop, but I'm personally terrified of chopping a car with curved glass that much. Mark and I have had lengthy discussions about it since he did his Olds. He seems to think that 2" is the max without sinking the glass. Makes sense because you can cut off the corners and lean the glass back, so you get you get the drop but also keep the correct width on the top and bottom. The Kopper Kart is a good example of hat happens when the curved glass is chopped past that point, as the corners can't be cut any more and a gap begins to form in the channel, which was masked by custom metal shields. Maybe he can chime in and set the record straight. Looks cool though, I did those cars big time. I have faith you guys will figure it out and make it look sick
well i guess it's to late to say step back and put the sawzall down. now you got a good reason to buy a tig welder, because somebody gotta weld all that s/s trim back together and I won't even chime in on the glass,
Call me for my view on windshield fitting, BEFORE you start cutting and welding the A pillars....IF you want real glass. 4 in. might be too much, without major trim and pinchweld work. Lexan just plain sucks. Can spot it a mile away, and it doesn't hold up well.
You mentioned a purple for the car. In case you wanted to see what the sabre wheels look like in that color, here are mine...
BAD IDEA, lexan is fine in a race car but it NOT LEGAL OR ADVISABLE ON THE STREET. lexan is flexible, without bolting it in place your asking to get punched in the face with a large peice of plastic. Also the scratchproofing is decent but hardly scratch proof. Sorry to rain on your parade but I have used lexan for years in race cars and I know its limitations better than most. I would never even think about it on the street. EVER! Also if the company that you found to make your lexan starts with P, ends in Y, and has an ercy's in the center, the optics are terrible and their "scratchproof" coating will craze and flake off.
Talk to a few people who have sucessfully chopped cars with wraparound windshields and got the glass to fit. Some think you can just make relief cuts in the upper and lower whindshield posts to line everything up like you would do with a flat glass windshield. Others say not to do this as it changes the shape of the windshield frame enough that the glass will never fit (cant bend glass). Ive seen people make their relief cuts in the roof, just inside of the wrap around portion of the opening, and spread the top to fit the lower posts. This way the windshield opening retains its shape. A buddy of mine took 2" out of a '57 Chevy wagon roof, relief cutting the upper and lower posts, and they were able to get a windshield in the car. Yours being a 4 1/2" chop, Im thinking you would be better off spreading the top only. I would pick the brains of as many experienced customizers as possible before I welded anything up. I think the chop makes the car look great...lexan would do the opposite, IMHO.
its your car Dude, do with it what you will. But you should always be ready for naysayers and negative comments. Try to help a fella out and get called an asshole for doing so makes you the bigger asshole for saying it. dont worry though, I been called worse by better people.
if you have an original windshield you might cut it. I've lost two AGP windshields ($1000 each) on this 57. I feel that an Original Windshield would work far better
sonim38 - Minutes after you started this thread, I posted "What are you going to do about the glass?" ... but not wanting to start any "drama", I decided to delete my post. I don't see these posts about the glass & stainless trim as being "negative comments" ... but rather constructive criticism ... i.e., fellow car guys just trying to help you out! ... IMO, you're the one that has come across as a bit of an a-hole. There's been dozens of threads here on the HAMB that started out just like this thread ... and 6 months later, the owner/builder of the car has realized that he f-ed up his car ... can't afford to have a windshield made for the car ... scraps / shelves the project ... and end's up trying to sell the car. Also ... You think chopping a '57 Lincoln is trying "something new and different"? ... think again ... as you stated, there are several chopped Lincoln Kustoms ... including this one: John D'Agostino's "Royal Emperor" '57 Lincoln I'm pretty sure "testicular fortitude" had little or nothing to do with the building of this award winning Custom ... I'm sure that builders John D'Agostino (John D'Agostino), John Aiello and Darryl Hollenbeck (hollenbeck32) carefully planned out how they would modify the car and tackle the glass & stainless BEFORE they even got out the sawzall, plasma cutter, or cutting torch. This all stated ... I hope you prove all of us "naysayer a-holes" wrong!
Andy - "backwards" ... its top is actually two rear halves of a '57 Lincoln ... and the windshield is actually a back window.
I hope you saved all of the pieces that you cut out. I would recomend the following: -tack in temp braces along the side of the roof to hold it up so you can cut the front windsheild area and rear window area free from the roof. REAR WINDOW_putting the rear back to it's stock configuration, make sure the window fits, pull the glass back out, weld some bracing in the window frame and then lean it forward to match the roof. Almost like the window would pivot from the very rear/lower portion and the front/top would rotate down ward until it matches the roof. FRONT WINDOW-sinking it like most of everyone else had said...so putting it back to stock, make sure windsheild fits, weld in braces and then sink the frame into the cowl until it maktches the roof.
Yo Ryan i wanna make a fiber glass template of your windshield and see how far off it is. Fiberglass is alot easier to cut then glass