Removal of a orginal windshield from parts car.

Posted By: TX9H6E4CUDA

Removal of a orginal windshield from parts car. - 12/24/13 09:52 PM

Ok I have a 1971 Charger parts car with a decent original windshield in it.
Now I've removed windshield's before in my salvage days but I didn't do much care because I had a yard full of others to grab if I broke one. How can I get this out 100% without breaking it. Any suggestions?

Also the windshield has a wiper mark in it, is there anything I can do to remove it?

Posted By: Challenger 1

Re: Removal of a orginal windshield from parts car. - 12/24/13 10:07 PM

Can NOT remove or improve the wiper groove. Sure you want it?

I have posted this simple tool many times, guaranteed not to break the glass. I never have yet.

Cost 39 bucks. You can buy the brass braided wire for less at any auto parts store and it is not the same as musical wire.

Posted By: LO23

Re: Removal of a orginal windshield from parts car. - 12/25/13 04:14 AM

brush some old brake fluid on the butyl, let it soak a little. then cut it out.

Posted By: Aar1064

Re: Removal of a orginal windshield from parts car. - 12/25/13 06:23 AM

The wire I think is the best way to go. I cracked mine using a removal tool that had a L-shaped knife with a cable attached to handle. I was tore up and still not over cracking an original glass. When it came time to remove rear glass I pulled out a guitar e-string (the smallest) and fished it between glass and body. I used a heat gun to soften the sealant before threading the guitar string. I then attached small pieces of wood as handles to ends of string. My wife got on inside and I stayed on outside and we worked it around entire glass pulling back and forth like a sawing motion. Worked like a charm.

Attached picture 7970595-image.jpg

Posted By: Aar1064

Re: Removal of a orginal windshield from parts car. - 12/25/13 06:26 AM

What is "butyl"? Is that the sealant?

Posted By: screamindriver

Re: Removal of a orginal windshield from parts car. - 12/25/13 06:38 AM

Quote:

Also the windshield has a wiper mark in it, is there anything I can do to remove it?

Can you feel the wiper mark using your finger nail ??? If so it's toast...Wiper haze can be removed but anything you can "feel" in the glass won't polish out without distorting the glass...
Check it out carefully so you're not waisting your time..

Posted By: flypaper

Re: Removal of a orginal windshield from parts car. - 12/25/13 05:40 PM

if you use a heat gun on the seal just ahead of where the wire is cutting
it will go thru it like a hot knife on butter..

Posted By: Challenger 1

Re: Removal of a orginal windshield from parts car. - 12/25/13 06:18 PM

I have never needed heat or solvent, the correct wire will cut through even rubber gaskets with no problem and with no heat or solvent.

The L shaped tool with a T handle to cut them out is the dumbest tool ever sold for the job, imo. They need heat or solvent. They have cracked many windshields.

Posted By: belv2vert66

Re: Removal of a orginal windshield from parts car. - 12/25/13 06:33 PM

I have broke too many using the tool and sawing with wire. If you lift at all while sawing, you are stressing the glass and it may crack.

Call me crazy but I like to leave the butyl cool, in my mind it seems brittle and does not adhere as well. Once it is warm and sticky it seems to reseal and not want to let the glass go. maybe I got it too hot and just wasn't careful enough sawing.

My method takes forever but I have successfully got them out. I first just take a utility knife and cut the butyl around the outside edge of the glass, then using a very narrow and sharpened screwdriver, I scrape all I can out of the channel. I then use a tool that is about 18 inches long and holds a utility knife blade and go inside the car and just start cutting the butyl. The long knife won't work everywhere so I also use a regular utility knife. It takes a long time and that butyl if tough stuff. Eventually you can start putting a little pressure on the glass to see where you need to cut more.

As others have mentioned not sure it was worth the effort. Also this was on 68 B bodies so the angles from the inside using the long knife may not work.

I think what ever method you choose and none are fool proof. Patience is the key

Posted By: Anonymous

Re: Removal of a orginal windshield from parts car. - 12/27/13 07:51 PM

If the windshield has a rubber gasket around it, can't you just cut the old rubber gasket out from the outer half of the windshield and then pop the windshield out of the inside half of the gasket?

Posted By: RUNCHARGER

Re: Removal of a orginal windshield from parts car. - 12/27/13 11:04 PM

It's a piece of cake with wire. With the price of new glass though it isn't worth the labour to cut one out that has wiper marks in it.
I've cut them out with a long, sharp knife as well.

Sheldon

Posted By: belv2vert66

Re: Removal of a orginal windshield from parts car. - 12/29/13 12:25 AM

Quote:

If the windshield has a rubber gasket around it, can't you just cut the old rubber gasket out from the outer half of the windshield and then pop the windshield out of the inside half of the gasket?

The short answer is yes......His particular car has the butyl sealer.

If your car has the rubber gasket just cut it out. But again, go slow as they become somewhat firmly set in the rubber gasket too. Slow and easy !

Posted By: cudaman1969

Re: Removal of a orginal windshield from parts car. - 12/31/13 08:00 AM

i used the wire with good results,i would attach one end around an inside trim screw then run the wire to a hole on the other side, then pull back to screw, then keep moving the screw around the window till done. This method never raised or moved the glass and is a one man job. Squirt alot of pb blaster on the rubber also, helps stop re-sticking

Posted By: floridian

Re: Removal of a orginal windshield from parts car. - 12/31/13 08:14 PM

I enjoy these posts when they come up. I started at a auto glass shop when I was 19 ( 58 now ) in 1975...got into sales when I was 25 and now manage a RV glass warehouse in Florida. So while everything I say here is just my opinion, I do have experience in this..

There is NO guarantee on not breaking used glass when taking it out. When cutting glass you score it first with a cutter, than run it. EVERY rock chip in a used WS is technically a score, so just slightly working it will RUN the score..

Secondly if you have ever installed a new WS in a car it is so perfectly clear and spotless I just can't understand why anyone would put a scratched, nicked, sand pitted WS into a car.. MOST WS are still made and available for our cars and they are VERY reasonable, if not cheap, except in VERY RARE cases...

That being said, use of the piano wire is the safest way to cut out a used GLUE IN ( called a "butyl set" on this thread) WS

Posted By: Challenger 1

Re: Removal of a orginal windshield from parts car. - 12/31/13 09:34 PM

Quote:

I enjoy these posts when they come up. I started at a auto glass shop when I was 19 ( 58 now ) in 1975...got into sales when I was 25 and now manage a RV glass warehouse in Florida. So while everything I say here is just my opinion, I do have experience in this..

There is NO guarantee on not breaking used glass when taking it out. When cutting glass you score it first with a cutter, than run it. EVERY rock chip in a used WS is technically a score, so just slightly working it will RUN the score..

Secondly if you have ever installed a new WS in a car it is so perfectly clear and spotless I just can't understand why anyone would put a scratched, nicked, sand pitted WS into a car.. MOST WS are still made and available for our cars and they are VERY reasonable, if not cheap, except in VERY RARE cases...

That being said, use of the piano wire is the safest way to cut out a used GLUE IN ( called a "butyl set" on this thread) WS

I believe there are many different types of piano wire made of different materials. The wire I had in my hands many years ago was not at all like the braided BRASS wire that comes in the windshield removal kit and I doubt that it would function the same.

What are your thoughts there?