How I Cut the Curved Glass Down on a Chopped '55 Chevy Pickup

I'm ready to start cutting a '67 Impala windshield down to fit a custom frame I made. I'm chicken and am going to use the sandblasting method rather than risk cracking the gl*** by cutting it. I would love to cut it like Chris did because it is so much faster but, like I said - I'm chicken.

 

Wish I new some gl*** guys able to do this close by!

 

I wonder if the curved gl*** could be cut with a water jet cutting machine.

 

HOPE to be coming to a cars show or swap meet NEAR YOU!! I'm still tryin' to get the money saved up to take this show and hit the road with it!!! I finally have a good hand workin' for me down at the shop and we're gonna start touring the country for 3-4 weeks at a time with a load of gl*** and my patterns, table, and seamer, plus all the channeling and paraphenalia to do the installs, then come home for a couple months and get caught back up at the shop! We're gonna take orders and cut gl*** WHILE YOU WATCH!! Anybody wanna invest?!

 

You would need one with 3D capability and a way to digitize your windshield. Doesn't sound cheap.

 

For some reason it doesn't surprise me that the car windshields fit a chopped truck. The same folks designed both of them, right?

Excellent writeup Chris!

Question...how do you seal the job?

 

That's cool Chris, You must be able to buy laminated rear gl*** for those old pickups?

 

great job Chris.

 

I use urethane and with the smallest tip I have I put a small bead in between the gl*** and the rubber, on the outside. Its easier on the backgl*** than the windshield because the backgl*** on this truck has a lock-in strip and I put the bead in there before I put the lock-in strip in. What I do is kinda just let it squish out and DON'T TOUCH IT before soaking it down real good with gl*** cleaner. Then I just take a new razor blade and carefully "slice" the excess off the gl***. When you spray the foamy gl*** cleaner all over it, the urethane doesn't stick to the rubber or the gl*** and its a helluva lot easier to clean up!! (Gl***mans secret) I hope that makes sense!

Some people use liquid butyl or some other black gook, but I've found that urethane works best for me!

I typically don't put any sealer between the body and the rubber because its usually tight enough to seal up good if ya use new rubber. I don't like putting anything on the paint that I couldn't get off later if I need to, and most sealants are messy as heck!

 

Thanks Greg!!

 

hi thx for the tech article! just cut my first car window! (i have some experianse with regular house window gl***) it whent very well now i have a chopt 65 impala window ! i wanna do my 59 apache next winter. you have any tips on shaping the window if you dont have a seaming machine?

 

nice job. looks good.