how to replace your windshield with lexan

[spastic_chicken]

does it pass safety inspection?

Are you moving to STL or something?? They don't do safety inspections in IL.

[Creepy Cruiser]

It won't really stick very well to the lexan. There are some 2 sided tapes that will though. I'd mount it to the roof brace myself. Besides, the mirror is fairly heavy, and your lexan is not really thick enough to keep it from wobbling.

[pyro]

That adhesive needs to be applied to a cool to the touch windshield.

[ryan_ricks]

well i can't seem to get my rear view mirror to stick to the lexan. any suggestions? am i going to have to make some kind of mounting bracket that attaches to the roof?

[Creepy Cruiser]

I have no idea, we don't have those here, lol. (a very good question though).

Unless you tap on it though, you can't tell the difference. It truly looks like glass.

[Baker]

does it pass safety inspection?

[Creepy Cruiser]

I bought the piece for my windshield for about $100 at the local distributor here in town. I asked for a large scrap or miscut piece that would fit my dimensions, and they found one and sold it to me by the pound instead. (mine was not the new anti scratch stuff though.)

[ryan_ricks]

i guess it may depend on your vendor, but it spent about $230 for a 4x8 sheet.

[Baker]

I'll look further into this for mine.. How much does lexan usually run?

[Creepy Cruiser]

You can buff those scratches out if you want too.

Mine was 3/16", and worked prefect. I installed mine with butyl tape (a windshield sealer) before I screwed it all down, and never had a leak either.

[travlinman]

The vender steered You wrong, 3/16 was the way to go. Good for over 150mph in My old firebird. You right, now that You done it once, will be easy to upgrade. You will even have a good pattern with the thin one. Nice job.

[ryan_ricks]

this is supposedly a sheet of marguard. unfortunately, i scratched it up pretty bad getting it home. otherwise this project would've come out almost perfectly. you can see the scratch near the top in the center.

i went with 1/8" at the advise of the vendor. That of course ended up being a little too thin, so it bounces somewhat going down the road. I will probably replace it with 3/16 or 1/4" in a few months, now that i know the process and how easily it scratches.

[Creepy Cruiser]

Yep, that's just how I did mine.

Nice "how to". and the pics are great.

Mine lasted 10+ years (till I finally found a new glass one). About every 2 years, I ran a buffer with some polishing compound over it, to get out the light scratches (just from washings, etc,). I never ran my wipers on it though, so I'm curious how that new anti scratch type will work for that.

[spastic_chicken]

Is there an anti scratch coating?

[ryan_ricks]

So in case you can't find some glass, here's what you can do


step one - start removing the trim. This requires a special tool.



you can see some of the molding clips rusted into nothing



Side molding removed



cutting the windshield out requires special knives. rather than buy those, i just made my own from some old kitchen knives. it's amazing what you can do with some propane torches and pliers.



windshield is out. luckily i didn't shatter it nor destroy the vehicle in the process



this is kind of a crappy picture, but it is the windshield sitting on some lawn chairs



here is a closeup of the crack that spread out. and before you ask why i didn't have it fixed, it came with the car and was already too large to fix. it only started spreading out this winter.



here is making a template from the old windshield



masking off the inside to deal with some rust issues



closeup of some of the rust



lexan in place



securing it with screws and plastic washers.



removing the backing



lexan installed & secured



installing the trim



all finished