Sometimes I come up with odd new ideas that I have not tested but sound good in theory... Hoping others could post their new ideas here as well. My idea has to do with chopped rods and curved windows. Lots of cars have been chopped and are using lexan or plexi as replacements for a curved windo they cannot fabricate... cant cut the originals to size because the whole angle and dangle of the glass has now changed. My idea was to cut a thin sheet of lexan to size and fit it in with rivits if necessary until it looks like its right.... then to heat it up with a heat gun so it will maintain its shape... leave it in for a week or two. Then remove it, and it should have retained the curve and shape desired. Or even make a fiberglass one... Then take this plastic window to a windshield shop and ask them if you can place it against as many windshields as you can until you find one that its lays against with the least space between your form and the new windshield... it may take some time. When and if you find the correct curvature, tell the guy you'll buy that windshield if he'll cut the piece out that forms up plus his labor and a 12 pack. That's one idea im going to try. Any other wild ideas out there??
Worth a shot I suppose, but most glass shops don't keep that many windshields in stock and then only for newer cars. Those seem to be much flatter than most classic windshields. Not a bad idea, good luck.
Guys have done the pattern thing before. I've read of guys making the fiberglass copy of their original windshield (wax it up then lay the glass and mat on top), then cutting it to fit the chopped top. Take the cut fiberglass pattern to the glass shop and maybe they have a close match. But if you've got a very curvy car you might not be lucky. Lots of 70's-80's Chevy truck windshields were cut to fit chopped cars. Even used for chopped newer cars with curved side windows. I'd suggest making the fiberglass pattern of the original glass, THEN chopping the car and making sure the metal will be able to fit a cut version of the original windshield. Much easier to bend the metal than to bend the glass.
How about going really round about? Fiberglass mold off the original? Junkyard trips to find something that works? Go from there? Or is the issue that the original glass doesn't exist? Already chopped top? Then the junkyard trip would just be a side trip to your original idea. They're not so common in yards anymore but I'd tossed about the idea of usin a Brit roadster windshield on a chop project that got aborted. Most LBCs have bolt on windshield frames. Pull the whole assembly and make it fit.
Odd new ideas? Hmm, I'm going to eat the next thing that falls out of that chickens ass! LOL Just goes to show, not all new odd ideas are bad! I don't think I have many odd new ideas, but I do like to incorporate things in my build that make me learn something new. (next will be some cast aluminum parts so I must learn a little about foundry work)
one idea is to take the existing curved windshield into consideration before chopping top. plan around windshield on what it will take to cut it, lower into cowl area, etc. instead of chopping roof and then trying to find/make glass to fit new "custom" opening
Not a bad idea but lexan doesn't mold itself very well. The windshields and back glass we used in Late Model Stock Cars were pre molded, flat sheets will curve but don't hold their shape too much when you take them out of the car.
I've heard of guys doing this with a fiberglass mold and using it to cut a windshield down to fit into a chopped rear window hole, since you can't cut down a rear window glass which is tempered, although it seems more popular to lay the rear window forward in one piece or replace it with a smaller one from an earlier car.
The mold thing has been around for awhile i would make a mold of the stock glass and cut it to fit then use that as a template to cut the glass......but you wont find anyone who will cut any windshield before you pay them for it ! They break it you buy a new one unfortunately....
Does not work on the topside with a curved window... The top inset and corners gets a more drastic forehead and the curve changes. The old window will not fit back into its place after a chop usually.
I remember reading a post somewhere where a guy was trying to find a rear glass to fit modified opening. It needed a relatively flat glass, not like a 50's curved windshield but I thought the idea was pretty slick. He took a piece of plywood slightly bigger than the opening and ran screws in just far enough to touch the pinch weld all the way around the window opening. He then took that pattern to the junk yard and laid it on windshields until he found one where all the points would touch, matching the contour he needed.I remember his rear glass ended up getting cut out of a Pontiac Fiero windshield.
Yep... It's been done before then. So my idea is not so new. You can have custom curved glass made but the price is outrageous and it is a very long process. I think this idea is pretty good.
Well when you push the cut front top of the post forward to meet the lower which has been pushed back (to meet for the weld) it creates a deeper curve in the top corners than the original glass had.
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