Technical Heat to clear windshield delamination

Got to remembered some old dude(old as in im pretty sure if still alive he'd be old enough to call the old guys here whippersnappers lol) told me decades ago how you could clear up the fogginess from delamination using a camp torch. Tinkering in the 53 I realized that if I could do that I could postpone a new windshield much longer. Here laws on windshield state a windscreen minimum 8" in front of driver and no cracks or obstructions in line of sight. Way my windshield is cracked it'd be legal without the fog. Tried a little bit on the left with my zippo. Can see how it's a bit more transparent. Guess I need to buy a torch. Anyone else had any luck with this method?

 

If I was to play. along I would use a heat gun.

 

@The Chevy Pope I think your idea of "drivers line of site" may be way off the mark.
Check out the parts highlighted red in the attached document below.

The "fog" is moisture in the delaminated glass that has entered via the crack. Applying heat might evaporate the moisture out, but it will soon return. The heat might also cause the glass to thermally fracture if too much is applied.

I am trying hard not to comment on the excellent glue-up job............
Time for a new windshield..........

Title 11—DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY
Division 50—Missouri State Highway Patrol
Chapter 2—Motor Vehicle Inspection Division

PROPOSED AMENDMENT​

​

11 CSR 50-2.270 Glazing (Glass). The division is amending sections (3)(A), (5)(A), and (5)(D)-
(F), and section (4) of this rule.

PURPOSE: This amendment provides a definition for "driver's vision area" and provides
additional clarification of rejection criteria.

(3) Types of Damage or Defect.
(A) Outright breakage: Glass that is severely cracked, shattered, or broken to expose sharp
edges or missing pieces.

(4) Inspect glazing[ for proper markings, for material or conditions that obscure driver’s vision
such as stickers or tinting, and cracks, distortion or other damage]. The driver's vision area is
that area within the normal sweep of the wiper blades above a line measured four inches
(4") from the bottom of the windshield. [Also] In addition, inspect operation of window at
driver’s left.

(5) Reject vehicle if:
(A) Required glazing is not present or improper glazing [or nontransparent] materials are used;
(D) The windshield has [one (1) or more cracks or]any distortion [which would interfere with
the driver’s vision], or cracks exceeding three (3") inches in length, within the driver's vision
area;
(E) The windshield has [one (1) or more] any unrepaired star breaks, bull’s-eyes, half moons,
stone nicks, or stone chips [which would interfere with the driver’s vision] within the driver's
vision area, or [is] has any star breaks, bull's-eyes, half moons, stone nicks, or stone chips
more than two inches (2") in diameter at any area outside the driver's vision area; or
(F) Outright breakage, missing pieces, or any break exposing sharp edges is present at any
location

 

I'll send two bucks for the new windshield fund.

 

I’ll match it.

 

Not the $ that's making me put it off. It's the "fun" of install lol

 

Just replace it. Really not that hard to install....

 

> >Not the $ that's making me put it off. It's the "fun" of install lol >>

Call Travis. He loves doing this stuff for rich folks who claim it's not the money.
.

 

That's actually a wrench buddy of mine. When I had my 53 hauled to my job he was actually the one that hauled it lol. And I put an engine in another of my cars at his house before helping swap an engine in one of his cars. While he does good work (in fact I refer many glue in windshield jobs to him) he tries to stay away from gasket windshield jobs. Especially on cars that require the disassembly a 53 bel air does

 

Ha!
That windshield not cracked, it’s busted!!

My brother and I looked at a car a few years back with slightly cracked windshield like yours.
They guy had glued cool black plastic spider on the crack.
Ha ha ha..... nope.

 

Pull all the trim/garnish yourself. That’s what I do the few times I’ve had glass work done. Or is that the part you hate as well?

 

I shudder to think what the rest of the car is like.

 

A crack on a now 72 year old windshield makes you shudder? I'm going to assume you're on the wrong forum.

 

Yeah it's all the trim. Interior garnish no biggie especially as I want to repaint the garnish mouldings anyway lol. Main bit that gets me groaning is digging under the dash to pull the beltline trim lol

 

Build thread here: https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/53-chevy-bel-air-mild-custom-daily-driver.1301402/

 

Is this a lesson on ..."How to preserve windshield patina?"
I made myself laugh.

 

Naw just how to get by for a bit before replacing. Won't be night or highway driven for awhile

 

Did a '54 BelAire a while back and it seems to me there was plenty of room under the dash to remove the nuts for the beltline trim. Had more of hassle putting it all back together a couple years later when the guy lost the memory card with the pictures and also managed to get all the hardware unlabeled and mixed up.

Just go for the windshield, you need it and the car deserves it

 

That isn't just "a crack". That is totally fucking destroyed, to the point of being unsafe.
And it looks like Shit.
Just noticed, your profile lists your occupation as "mechanic". FUCKING WOW !

If anyone thinks this is acceptable, imagine them working on brakes and steering.

Sorry, oh wise one. My humble apologies. Please forgive me.
I didn't realize that smashed windshields were now considered "Traditional".
Or maybe you thought this was Old Skool Rodz ?

 

"Just like the 50s bro."
GERM.

 

Back in probably the late 70s I had a couple of friends that worked for the local
Coca-Cola bottler. The plant manager got his hands on one of the few promotional Coca-Cola Levis DENIMACHINE custom promotional Ford Econoline vans with the red, white and blue flamed paint jobs. (As designed and featured in a couple issues of Hot Rod magazine!) It had an inside rear view mirror mounted with a glued on bracket bonded to the inside of the windshield. Which was kind of redundant as the rear door windows on the van were covered with fiberglass louver panels which blocked any view out of the rear.

The owner decided that the I/S mirror needed to be removed to provide better forward vision and also wanted the adhesive bracket removed from the glass. The mirror was easy; the bracket, not so much. One of my friends decided a bit of heat on the outside of the glass might soften the adhesive. So he laid a drop-light on the outside of the windshield over the glued on bracket. The drop-light had the typical reflector and cage over the bulb so it didn't make direct contact with the glass. My friend left the lamp in place while he was doing some other work on the van.

After maybe 10 or 15 minutes he went back to check on the windshield and in fact the lamp had supplied enough heat to soften the glue on the bracket. But it also provided enough heat to bubble the laminate between the layers of the windshield glass in an area about the size of a 50 cent piece. The plant manager wasn't happy about it but decided that it wasn't so bad that he wanted to pay to have the windshield replaced. In the end he still had better vision out of the windshield than he did with the inside mirror in place. But too much heat in a concentrated area of the windshield may do more damage than good.

 

Actually it is no more compromised than any other windshield. And we're it not for the delamination likely wouldnt even be very noticable. Case in point there are many pics of said windshield on here with no comments on it.



As for your butthurt jabs at my car. My post said I was planning on replacing it. Something common when people build a car old enough to have been sold when brand new flatheads were new is damaged glass. And even more common to replace the glass last. Anyone in the right forum here wouldn't spaz out assuming the rest of the car is trash because of said windshield and owner wanting to drive said car sooner. Day one stuff

 

Whatever, Felicia.

 

You on my thread. Or do you not get forum functions either? Btw let's see your ride.

 

As far as I can see, @Unkl Ian only commented on the state of the windshield........ And correctly so.

Replacing the windshield would have been a good idea way earlier in the build process. Now you have to back-track stuff you have done to get it changed. It maybe should have been done as you say below....

It is in desperate need of a new windshield. I work/run my bussiness in the glass industry, and that glass is compromised. Just bite the bullet and get it done.......

 

Let it go guy’s.

 

"And I fail to see how doing the glass later in the build after knowing for sure is a viable project would be backtracking. Only "extra" work doing it now is removing a few screws on parts I planned on repainting anyway."

So........ Have you just answered your own question?
The windshield damage you have makes it unusable, but hey, that's just my opinion.
Like I said, I work in the glass industry. Have you ever had a glass splinter dug out of your eye?
I have. Not much fun, and something you should do your best to avoid.....

 

So I should risk close to $1k on a project before knowing it's even viable just to avoid removing a few screws I was going to remove anyway? Try reading through what I wrote. Brand new glass breaking will cause glass splinters just as easily as old glass. And in the end you're still rambling on about glass I said was going to get replaced in the original post. And acting like a windshield that has held my weight without so much as the crack growing a half inch is going to be a safety hazard at 35 mph. As for potential visibility issues none of the crack is visible in my line of sight with the sun visor down.....which with my light sensitivity they're ALWAYS down. And will be even with the new glass as I don't like tint on old cars outside of colored tint on gassers. And I've installed plenty of windshields. And in my younger years was in wrecks in junkers far worse than this one. Only one that came apart was on a rollover at high speed and it didn't break and rip at the cracks lol