I'm having a pro cut my windshield in late Nov/early Dec. He cuts curved gl*** all the time. He's coming from Chicago to TN and WV to install gl*** for some customers and agreed to cut mine while he's there. It's a 5 hour drive from me, but I'm in RVA and C'ville regularly visiting my girlfriend. I could probably take your gl*** to him and have it cut at the same time. If you're interested, send me a PM and we can discuss details.
yeah, honestly I don't believe any shop is going to cut this. My third windshield came in last week and I gave it another shot last night with the best results yet. I've got one tiny crack that I'm going to seal up with resin to see how that goes. The nice thing is that gl*** for these is readily available
Take the window out, make a paper pattern off it chop the paper pattern the amount you want then put the pattern on a sheet of1/8 in Lexan Plastic and cut it out, then use a welding tourch with a moderate flame back about a foot and bend it to fit using a cardboard pattern of the bend. It'll take all afternoon and 2 guys bending it but it'll work. I did a couple of 56 Ford pickup trucks and it worked fine. Or find a gl*** shop to cut your gl*** window..
If you don't want to cut the gl***, you could grind(sand) it. Takes a long time, eats a lot of sanding belts/paper. Use wet-or-dry only, & keep it very wet, so's cutting medium lasts longer, gl*** stays cool(er), & sanding-gl***-dust is moved out of the way. Safer, but very tedious. & messy. I've used a DA w/success, but I didn't chop the gl*** w/it, just used it to "tune-up" the edges to both smooth them & also fit them correctly. Hand-sanding on a block worked too, but I wasn't that energetic. ~3". +/-, is a *lot* of sanding... When I chopped the Ghia gl***, the old oem one(pre-cracked, so for experimenting only) withstood at least 2 chops, maybe 3 - for practice. Went well. A new one almost went well, fracturing at the last cut. Another used one did cut ok, but I was nervous. A glazier friend of mine explained that since as the gl*** is formed, tension(s) are developed - & there isn't anything to be done about it. & age doesn't help any, either. So any windshield is a ****-shoot to cut & modify. There's *no* way of knowing which one will, or will not, take - & hold - the cut. He also warned me that even a successful chop could shatter later during, or after, installation, again, because of stresses induced thru fitting, or road-vibrations/etc. Marcus...
In the March 1998 edition of "Custom Rodder" Elden ***us showed how to cut down a Rivera windshield using a sander-polisher (1750 rpm), a box of 36 grit sanding disks and a steady stream of water from a garden hose. If you don't like that approach there are a number of videos on the internet that will show you how to successfully cut curved gl***.
thank you for everyone's advice, after going through a few windshield, I got it figured out and have successfully cut the windshield. I'm moving on to prepping the body for a respray then t******* out the interior pieces to prep for upholstery.
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