So, I tried to cut my windshield last night with a Wetsaw. Well I managed to break it clamping it in the buck. I cut it with the saw anyway and I wouldn't have been happy with the underside of the cut anyway. I have read about using high grade Lexan and was thinking of trying it for a minute. I know the draw backs but I'd like to run it till it's not useable anymore then use it as a template to cut a new windshield. I know guys use it and I was wondering if anyone has installed it using just the rubber. My truck is a 54 so it's curved but not a lot and it's chopped 6" so the windshield is only like 12" tall. I know it's illegal. I know it wont last. I know it's not traditional. Those are risks I'm willing to take. I really just want to drive my truck and cant afford gl*** right now.
The money you would spend on lexan would be about half of what the gl*** would cost. Just save up a little more and have a pro cut the gl*** for you. You might be satisfied driving the truck around the block with no gl*** just as a test run, untill you get the real thing. I think you already answered your question about wether you should get lexan anyway. Normal Norman
bad Idea, without mechanical fasteners to hold the lexan to shape and something solid hits it, it can and will fold up pop out of the rubber and punch you in the face. You want the number to a buddy of mine that got punched in the face by his 70 mph "temporary" lexan window? It only took him a year to get back to work. I've installed hundreds of lexan windows in racecars and they are perfect for that job, but to run one on the street is just (pardon my french) ****ing stupid.
As Da Tinman pointed out, gl*** is rigid and that is why rubber seals will hold it. At 60 mph with a good headwind, you could knock Lexan out without anything hitting it. When lexan is used in aircraft, it is formed, annealed and then screwed in place...and it can still fracture with a good bird hit. No way would I consider running it on the street, and I used to work at a plastics place, Lexan would probably be more than half the price of gl***, and would not last long enough to make the investment worthwhile. I understand the low buck consideration, but sometimes it is cheaper to do it right the first time....It is my understanding that Safelite makes "custom" windshields and side gl***. Not sure on the curved, as I have only had them make flat stuff, cut a piece of plywood so the edge follows the curve profile, trace the shape of your window and ask a few questions...sometimes the right way is cheaper than you guess it might be...
Does anyone have contact for "the gl***man"? Don't get me wrong I want gl***. I just cant spend 500 on it or have another broken windshield.
I ran a polycarbonate windshield in a rock crawler i built. Kinda like lexan i guess. Never had it blow out and smack me in the face. And it was held in with the same rubber gasket as the original windshield that i busted in a tree incident.
proabably 50mph at the most on the road. It saw some road time driving around my house and saw some roads to and from the trails.
I heat treated and bent a Lexan windshield for my open car, (kind of like a miget) and had to use the wipers once, very spareinly, and scratched it badly. Good thing it is so small that I can look over it while driving.
wow...I have had lexan in my chopped 54 for a couple of years...no screws or special process just the rubber gasket. Drove it a couple of hours the other day at 70, no issues Gl*** is crazy expensive for the old stuff, and if the gl*** guy breaks it, you get to buy another one. Sounds like it needs to be a priority tho...thanks for the heads up.
I had a gl*** windshield in a T-bucket come at me at 125 mph. lexan would have hit me at 45. no one says it will. but it can! and no insurance will cover you if they find an unsafe windshield has been installed
Lexan, is pricey,..as noted, and when you run the wipers over it,.....you'll be blinded, when the sun hits the scratches..... It's why we never had wipes on aircraft with Lexan windows.... Do the gl*** thing........ 4TTRUK
I would definitely go with gl*** for saftey. In my old chopped 52, I had mine water jetted for 50 bucks. The guys said the only reason it would break was if he dropped it. 80,000 pounds of pressure at the tip of the jet, very cool to watch. Drawback is it does fog the edge of the gl*** slightly but most rubbers will cover it, mine did.
Btw.. If u live in Austin it would be worth it to drive over here to Beaumont to have it done. When the time comes for real gl*** of course
Damn , no ****... That ****s. I guess I got lucky or he lied. Did he drop both? Lol sorry I couldn't help it.
Aw man.. Go figure. Your car turned out great regardless. Can't wait to see that thing in person at round up.. I ***ume u r going.
Actually I'm gonna be at the round up. Any one know of any gl*** cutters that will be there that might wanna little work?
took me about 20 minutes to cut and fit my 54 GMC windshield. just used a gl*** cutter. cut the outside first. just cut straight lines. do the corners last. Chris has a good thread going on a 55 truck. with great video too. 54 is 10 times easier than the 55
I just did a 3 1/2 on a 49 had one half AGP (Argentina) **** I hate them. the other was from China. I saved them both but the Chinese stuff (I hate saying this) is far better. I'd rather have US gl*** but hard to find anymore I cut his vent frames also
The Polycarbonate stuff doesnt scratch like lexan, you can run windshield wipers and all that like normal. Or so i was told/read when i bought the window for my suzuki samurai. Although i never used the wipers, but i had it for a year with that window.
Like killa fab, I put polycarbonate (Lexan) in a flat windshield. I used the costly scratch resistant stuff but it still was not optically as clear as gl***. When you drove into the sun, it looked like someone wiped your windshield with an oily shop towel....dangerous. Had it in the same gasket as gl*** and never had a problem with looseness or fit. Hauled it on a trailer at 80+mph without problems. Gl*** was cheaper (since it was a flat windshield) than the scratch resistant polycarb.
i'll be there with my 51 studebaker roadster look me up and I'll tell you how I cut my windsheild down used a 1/4 daimond router bit and a water hose worked easy.
Jim Stabe a member in San Diego posted a thread about cutting a windshield that had a bunch of good info in it. He does real quality work and posts detailed posts. Worth looking it up IMO.
I'm NOT saying that the op should run w/lexan.. but.. I've had a lexan window in the front of my old truck camper for 25 years , it's not screwed in ,[it mounts in channels & is siliconed in place] & has seen 85 mph when on the truck , it's never leaked much less blown out , & it's been thru 20+ states in all sorts of weather ! BTW ,it's legal & accepted in the RV world. dave
My Chopped Impala had a lexan/poly windshield in it from 1978 till 2008 when I took it out and had gl*** put in. It was held in with the rubber seal and had been from Florida to New York to Indiana and Illinois. After that many years it was warped and scratched up but it never came out. I like the gl*** better, but thick lexan will work. Not the thin 1/8 inch stuff.
The Jalopy Journal
