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Author Topic: Windshields - SAME for wagon and sedan?  (Read 1690 times)

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Offline popbumper

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Windshields - SAME for wagon and sedan?
« on: December 02, 2014, 05:56:57 PM »
Are the windshields the EXACT same for the sedans and wagons? I'm wondering. I ask because I had a beautiful replacement windshield that I went to install last weekend it it, by stroke of luck, cracked in half during installation. I mean, could it be there was a slight difference? Because the fact that it cracked was SO odd - we weren't placing excessive stress on it, or using metal tools.
Restoring a 1976 MPG wagon - purchased 6/08

Offline Wittsend

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Re: Windshields - SAME for wagon and sedan?
« Reply #1 on: December 03, 2014, 12:04:24 PM »
As far as I know, NO, they are not different*. However, I was told their is a difference between the gasket-ed windshield and the glue in. Not sure what year that change was.  Make sure the edges are chip free when installing.  On the windshield mentioned below that was "cut to fit" the process left an irregular chipped edge.  Sandpaper actually smoothed it over without too much effort.

Also, IF the glue in will fit the gasket-ed frame (not sure how that would trim out) you could also try that as it is far more gentle to install.  Anyone do this???

* Good point though. Many wagons, especially from the '60's did have different windshields. On my '61 Corvair wagon it is nearly 2" higher. On my a '64-'66 Studebaker Lark the wagon windshield is about 1/2" higher, but just in the far outside corners. The Studebaker windshield are VERY hard to find.  I would up getting a wagon windshield and the seller cut the corners to fit.

Offline pinto_one

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Re: Windshields - SAME for wagon and sedan?
« Reply #2 on: December 03, 2014, 02:41:16 PM »
1971 to 1978 are the same, wagons ,sedans and hatchbacks, 79 and 80 are glued in and have a trim piece in the inside that goes around the side top and the other side, and a filler strip that goes on the top of the screws that hold the dash in at the top, had to use the glue in one on a 73 pinto because at that time you could not find the rubber seal anymore , now someone is making them , also you had a plastic spacer at the bottom to hold it at the right height when you glued in the windshield , I noticed the glass was  over an inch taller and wider than the seal type , and I know what you mean on the Studebaker's , had a 59 and later 60 Lark 8 , then got a 61 Lark with a cracked windshield , could fine new  windshields for the early lark , but not for the 61 up, that was over 35 years(or two wives)  ago,
76 Pinto sedan V6 , 79 pinto cruiser wagon V6 soon to be diesel or 4.0

Offline Wittsend

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Re: Windshields - SAME for wagon and sedan?
« Reply #3 on: December 03, 2014, 05:30:45 PM »
Well, it is nice to know you can use a glue in type - if you have to - on a Gasket-ed car.  The spacer obviously makes sense. Glass on metal is a crack waiting to happen.

PB:  The trickiest part is generally the last edge. Everything gradually drops into place, but the last edge goes all at once. If however the edges are not seated evenly there can be a torsional twist that will crack the glass.  When I was a kid I bought a salvaged car. Replace the broken windshield.  Then not too long later I was removing the trim to paint it, and cracked it again.  The replacement was 30% of my paint budget. A few years later I crashed the car and broke it again. 

P_1: Yea, the last years Studebaker stuff is the harder to find.  They made fewer of them and since they were going out of business who would want to make spare parts for those cars. I finally found two, 400 miles from my home. They were $100 each, both had a bull's-eye and one an odd chip. But after a year and a half, of looking, I took what I could get.   My son was going up and back that way and I made a special cradle for him to bring both back in his Honda Civic (see pics). It took 10 hours to make the cradle and I struggled for every last 1/8" to get the glass as vertical as possible. Notching the plywood for the glass, cutting holes for floor protrusions etc.


Everyone: I mentioned (recommended) in another post recently (based on my Studebaker experience) I was stockpiling irreparable/irreplaceable items like windshields for the old cars I have.  I'm seeing fewer and fewer Pinto's at the junk yards.  A 50% off sale got me a nice Pinto windshield for $22 out the door. Five years from now that could be a $500 replacement item.

Offline pinto_one

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Re: Windshields - SAME for wagon and sedan?
« Reply #4 on: December 04, 2014, 09:20:34 AM »
You are 100% right on Wittsend on the stockpiling pinto parts,  wish I had all the parts I tossed years ago , now I do not throw away anything pinto related , have a few in the back yard I save for parts but had to move them back of my property out of sight because every week someone would knock at my door and ask if I wanted to haul them away to the scrap yard or do I want to sell them, and its been years since I found any in the junk yards, (if I do I will pick it clean ) also if I stumble across any Studebakers down this way I will let you know, later Blaine
76 Pinto sedan V6 , 79 pinto cruiser wagon V6 soon to be diesel or 4.0

Offline amc49

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Re: Windshields - SAME for wagon and sedan?
« Reply #5 on: December 05, 2014, 12:35:23 AM »
'...Make sure the edges are chip free when installing.'

This X10. Any chip AT ALL is a flaw that if even slight stress put on the glass in proper fashion can crack it. The windshield install companies will tell you that and why commonly maybe 70% of all forcibly cut out junkyard shields break in a year or two. I chased two Pinto shields that were cut out and as part of the deal they cut one and let it sit while I farted around a day or two, simply letting it sit, it was summer and I wanted to see if shifting weight would crack it. It DID  while sitting from the slight chips in glass edge made when it was removed before I came back to pick it up. This was after the first one that I carried home after removal and it then cracked while sitting that night even though I tried to store it where it could not warp to crack easy. $75 out the door instantly. I didn't pay for the second as it broke sitting in their building. Why I then searched high and low for a rubber gasket one and cut it out myself carefully and then glued it in the next day. I used a sedan shield in a wagon.

If they are going to crack easy it often happens from the force of re-installing the trim pieces. A simple push down and not hard at all at wrong place and there you go. Depends on where the chips are in edges. 

I've wondering about how to sand the edges but have never tried. It could be an idea worth exploring..... .............

Offline Wittsend

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Re: Windshields - SAME for wagon and sedan?
« Reply #6 on: December 06, 2014, 10:48:44 AM »
You would be surprised at how easily the glass actually sands.  The guy I got my Studebaker windshields from actually had the rarer wagon/convertible version that kicks up about 1/2" in the outer corner.  He called me and said of the three he had he need one and I'd get the other two.  He said he was going to cut one and if it didn't work he would refund me my money.

All he did was use an angle grinder with I presume a metal disc. The cut was only about 1-1/2" long, one on each corner.  The edges were rather jagged, but they survived the 400 mile trip in the trunk of my sons car. That is when I took sandpaper (wet & dry type) and smoothed them over.  That was far more successful than trying to polish out even the faintest scratch.

I've seen on You Tube where people cut down windshields. They have a hi-speed cutter, diamond bits and forced coolant (water) and it looks very slow going. I'm curious why planes can have Lexan windshields, but cars can't. It seems a plastic replacement of some type would benefit the hobby.  I'm wondering when the day will come where we will have to cut out the windshield frames from other cars that are "close enough," weld them in and use more readily available glass.