I was wondering where you can get nice lexan windshields and if any of you know of any places that sell the lexan and fiberglass combination rear hatches for our third gens. I am trying to save weight this year at the track and the windhsield and rear hatch assembly should save alot of weight.


Any help would be most appreciated.

 

jeg's, summit, etc. they all sell them. made by percy's

 

Be very leary of lexan if your going to street drive your ride and wash it frequently. We got lexan in the rear window of the truck and it's touchy. My buddies dad had his glass custom cut and installed last week in his 29 model A coupe and the glass guy brought over a sample of lexan because he was thinking of using it in the rear window. By just rubbing his finger back and forth over it he was able to demenstrate just how fragile this stuff really is by leaving multiple scratches just from his finger tip. I wiped down the rear window in the truck last year with a soft cotton cloth and what do ya know, scratches that I heard about the rest of the afternoon. I read somewhere GE has some other kind of glass that is either the same or maybe it was a little less weight than lexan and was just as durable as laminated glass. If I come up with that site I'll be sure to forward it to ya. Cant say they had any links to companies for a preformed hatch persay, but honestly unless this is going to be a show/track only car I might think of a different way to save a little weight unless you dont mind looking out of scratched up glass all the time.

 

Don't even consider removing the glass unless it's going to be a "track only" car.

I cut my windshield out of a piece of 3/16 plexiglass. Weight saving, 10 pounds. Lexan is about the same weight but costs more.

For my side windows, I cut out the plexiglass in the shape of the window. I removed all the window regulator, track and everything else needed for side windows. I fabricated a brace around the window from some 3/8 brake line and welded it to the top inside of the door. The plexiglass is screwed to the brace to hold it up. When it's hot out sitting in the staging lanes I have the door open. Weight savings unknown but there's a lot of metal removed from inside the door relating to the window hardware.

Rear glass. Now that's heavy but it's over the rear wheels which most cars will need. I have mine off right now since I'm doing a conversion to Lexan. The glass and trunk lid must weigh at least 50 pounds. I tried using plexiglass for the rear window but it's too brittle to get the bend on the sides. I'm going to pick up some 1/16" lexan shortly and fabricate a window from that. You can cut that with tin snips. The entire window lip has been cut out. The lexan will slide under the sheet metal into a channel (something that needs to be fabricated). Across the back bottom of the window will be a suppoting bar and bars from top to bottom with the lexan attached with dzus fasteners. The deck lid is a simple sheet of aluminum attached with dzus fasteners. It's not going to win any car shows but most race cars when you look at them closely never will.

If I realized just how much work it would take to convert the rear window to lexan I would have never cut out the seal lip. It will be worth it in the end but it's a bigger job than I ever planned and almost regret it now. I have about 12 weeks to get it finished. I've even considered welding in a bunch of sheet metal to fill in most of the rear hatch area and putting a small window in the rear but then it just wouldn't look like a third gen any more.

Now if you want kits, do a search through the forums for "notchback". There are a few fiberglass rear hatch kits available and some of them look much better than the one GM produced. As for Lexan kits, Jegs sells the Percy's kits. They claim the complete kit saves 77 pounds.

Complete kit = $1090
Windshield only = $380 (I can make about 4 from plexiglass for that price)
Rear window = $380

I have no idea what's included with the kits but I can't see them being just a simple bolt on.