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Can this windshield be saved


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Is it possible to get a windshield ('87-DL) out without breaking it? I've stripped just about everything else off the car and I'd like to get the windshield out for a spare. It dosen't look like much room there to get a hole started to be able to cut around it.

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It really depends on the temp. I worked in a junk yard with the proper tools and still in the winter we would break 2 out of 5 windsheilds. If you have a heated garge it helps and sometimes a heat gun to soften the glue. The hardest part is getting started , See if you can get a windsheild knife if not they sell a cable that you can use to cut around the glue. Be very careful around the corners as that is where they tend to crack the most. Where in northeast pa are you? I know a guy that will come to your house and remove it pretty cheap, He just gave me a price of 170$ to install with the glass on my 90 legacy so a simple removal should be really cheap.

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its not uncommon for a new windsheild to break during installation too. It really is all about temp and applying an even pressure on the windsheild. you have to push out from the inside of the car. The safest thing to use is your feet. If the windsheild breas, your feet are better protected then your hands.

 

This is one of the few things i gladly pay somone else to do, and i always get a new windsheild. SUcks to do all that work and the first time headlights hit the used windsheild it twinkles like a moonless night in wyomong..

 

 

nipper

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I was at a Parts Pull place and saw a window that looked good... and I needed one so I inquired and the guy at the desk handed my a roll of wire for $3. and a brief, "How too" luckly I had a pocket knife as a wiggled a little hole, slid in the wire, my son on the outside, I wrapped extra wire around a piece of something to create a handle and we went back and forth to create heat and found the more smoke (heat) the better.

 

It took us about 15 minutes and worked all around the window... worked great.

 

Next time I would have had leather gloves as wire end are like needles and wood round stock to wrap extra wire around for better control... kind of like kitestring on a rod.

 

That was my first experience removing a window...

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Are you guys talking about sooby windshields?... I've done other cars, but on this one, the gap is only about a sixteenth of an inch in places to a quarter inch at most, and it's not a straight shot like you could push an ice-pick or something thru, it would have to go around the glass. I have one of those wire - tools that also has a 90 degree knife to get you started, but there is no way you could get that blade in there. I don't know if all Soobs are this tight but has anyone sucessfully cut a windshield out of 85-93 Loyale?

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P.S. I broke it getting a hole thru... maybe I'll continue with it just for the practice.

Sydfloyd44 - (Rats! I missed your reply.) I'm north of Scranton is that too far?

I have several more cars I'm stripping - hope I can get one or more out for a spare.

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How far north of Scranton? My mother just moved south towards Lancaster after living in Clarks Summit for the last 10 years. My hometown is further northeast towards Honesdale. I usually travel 81 North and then pick up 6 near the Viewmont Mall. Like I said, I get up their fairly often. Can bring up some tools some time and pull some glass.

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Wow, from the sound of it, its a wonder some of you ever got a window out in one peice ;) I have got a few out by using a utility knife or a fillet knife. Its skinny enough to get in between the glass and metal. I have even used a propane torch to heat the knife. Once I get most of the glue cut, especially the corners, I use a hood release cable (junkyard tools are great) to finish the cut. If you want to do this alot I recommend buying a very expencive tool that cuts the glue like butter. It takes about 10min to get a window out using one. A used one might cost a couple bills :eek:

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Are you guys talking about sooby windshields?... I've done other cars, but on this one, the gap is only about a sixteenth of an inch in places to a quarter inch at most, and it's not a straight shot like you could push an ice-pick or something thru, it would have to go around the glass. I have one of those wire - tools that also has a 90 degree knife to get you started, but there is no way you could get that blade in there. I don't know if all Soobs are this tight but has anyone sucessfully cut a windshield out of 85-93 Loyale?

 

Yes I have cut many windows out of soobs without breaking them. You need the right tools for the job to do it. I use a paddle blade. It goes in a saw like a sawzall. The blade is flat 1/8" or less steel. it is 3 to 4 inches wide and foot and a half long. Use water to help with the cutting of the urethane. Start at the top and work your way down. Do not pull the chrome plastic molding off of the outside of the window. When you get the glass out, the molding should stay with the window. If it doesnt come off with the window, dont take the window out. set it back in place and cut with a razor on the outside of the windshield frame where the molding is stuck to the car.

 

They also make air knife which is a short flat pointed blade that moves side to side a 1/4" really fast.. they work, but they tend to crack the glass more than the way I listed above.

 

TAKE YOUR TIME and it'll come out fine.

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