well its kinda of a good idea. i think that back glass weights like 200 lbs sorry if im wrong. but has anyone done a plastic or plexy glass one to save weight?

 

they have onea t jegs i think its liek 400+ for the drop in onea nd like 350 maybe or or less for the one that u need to trim

 

yeah, i seen that in jegs, pretty salty but thats for all the windows i though

 

The usual comments made every time this question is asked are that plastic would scratch much more easily, deteriorate over time in sunlight, wouldn't be DOT legal, and taking weight off from over the driven wheels probably isn't such a good idea anyway.

 

you wouldn't be able to tell the difference anyways.

As for weight on the back tires thats what rear suspension mods and slicks are for.

I say do it, I didn't even know they sold lexan kits for our cars. a new rear hatch glass cost liek 300 anyways so just pay the extra 100 and get the 30 lb.s one lol.

 

so jegs has one thats crazy. o i dont care about discolor i just want to be a little bit lighter

 

i seen a webpage with a back window made from a thick plexi glass material it costs around $350.00 it would make it much lighter

 

I did mine in 1/8" lexan. It's not streetable. I cut the entire seal lip out of the car then slid the Lexan under the outer skin and rivited it onto the skin. There's a couple of supports holding up the center. At the rear, the factory deck lid is gone (also very heavy) and a new deck lid was fabricated from a sheet of aluminum. The Lexan slides into an aluminum channel under the deck lid that's attached to both sides of the opening. It's not a pretty fabrication but it achieved what I wanted to do.

The Lexan back window is fixed and can't be opened. The aluminum deck lid is attached with a bunch of Dzus fasteners for access to the battery in the rear.

This is strictly a strip only setup. It isn't water tight and it provides no security. Even trying to replace the glass with Lexan for street use isn't practical. You would need to make a frame to hold the Lexan in the proper shape plus allow some rigidity to be opened. You will have to use Lexan since it can take the complex curves required for the back window. Plexiglass, even 1/8" thick, will crack if you try to bend it.

 

What (if any) is the weight difference between a notchback and the typical hatchback? Finding one might be tough, however.

 

1/8" lexan? that's stuff is sooo flimsy! I'm dealing with lexan on some stuff at work right now, doesn't crack as easy as plexi, so it's nicer to machine, but what about weight ? Very similar to plexi?

I got the idea you put it in flat, but you do have it curved. Did you simply lay it on top of your old glass, and heat it with a heat gun and bend it over, or something fancier?

I'd probably do it in 3/8" thick or so, maybe a smoked variety or something. Does lexan discolor from UV rays as well as plexiglass? Or, is there an alternative that's UV resistant?

 

There is a big weight difference between the two i would say at least 100-150 pounds lighter. PS if any one is selling a glass window for a notchback let me know,thanks.

 

I tried that with 3/16 Plexiglass. Although I did manage to bent it slightly, by the time you got anywhere close to the proper curce, the Plexiglass will be distorted. The proper way to do it is to put the whole sheet of Plexiglass in an oven. Once it's warm enough to shape, it's quickly molded over the form (old window) before it cools. That's an old trick for doing the smaller back windows on 40's and 50's hot rods.

Find a local powder coat shop. They'll have a big oven.

Even if you do manage to bend it into shape, it still doesn't have the rigidity of glass for a rear hatch that needs to open and close. That's why I mentioned a framework.

As for discoloring, over time, Plexiglass and Lexan will discolor from being in the sun. You can get a special Lexan called Marguard which resists scratching and discoloring but it's about 4x the price of normal Lexan.

For a street car, reducing the weight over the rear by trying to find a way to get rid of the back glass isn't really an option. There are aftermarket notch backs available. I think they're about $800 but don't quote me. A notch back is really your best option unless you're like me and want to do it for a track only car where close up appearance isn't an issue. I was considering the notchback look when I was on a quest to reduce weight. As much as it would have been a nice option, the car just wouldn't look like a Camaro unless it still had what looks like a glass hatch.

You can see in the picture that my car is gutted. Although there's probably not a lot of weight that can be removed from the rear from the interior, I have other stuff removed such as the rear bumper and a bunch of inner layer sheetmetal. My rear axle weight is now around 1230 pounds with me in the car and a battery in the back. What's the rear of a typical third gen weigh?