Early/Late C3 door glass weight/interchangeability?

69427

69427

The Artist formerly known as Turbo84
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Clinging to my guns and religion in KCMO.
Just curious what the difference is in the later side glass compared to the earlier stuff (as in my '69). I've heard that the later glass was thinner and lighter, but does anyone know how much the weight difference is and will the glass fit the older C3s?

thanks,
Mike
 
although the same hardware is used to mount all C3 side glass the 68-early 69 mount differently than the late 69-82.
I don't know where the design break is, but if you have the first style, you need to change some other components to use the later style glass.

Have you tried dieting? :D

personally I'm a failure at it
i've been trying to shed 40 lbs
 
Geoff Coenen said:
although the same hardware is used to mount all C3 side glass the 68-early 69 mount differently than the late 69-82.
I don't know where the design break is, but if you have the first style, you need to change some other components to use the later style glass.

Have you tried dieting? :D

personally I'm a failure at it
i've been trying to shed 40 lbs
Click to expand...

225 here, +- 10 lbs for decades now....I forget to eat...only 2 meals a day, sometimes only one.....6'5"....not too bad for a olde phardt...

thing that mystifies me is how in hell my car weighs 3300 lbs...I have to have cut some 300 lbs off the thing, easy, but yet, there it was on the scale....I can't believe that 200 4r is all that much heavier than the Muncie setup....I would HOPE the wheel/tires off a C4 weigh less than the 15x8 steel OEM stuff....so I just scratch my ass and wonder....oh well....:crap:
 
In the many years of reading the Corvette forum websites, I have some recollection, of someone that would duplicate your glass in polycarbonate plastic with a great reduction in weight. I think the idea was that you sent them the glass and they then sent you back the polycarbonate plus your original glass. The polycarbonate doesn't meet federal safety standards for automobile glass, but I think you could get away with it. I'm astounded of the weight of my door windows. I have two glass window panes that I've bought to replace slightly damages window panes in my 68 Convertible. They are surprisingly heavy.

For my 1970, if I ever get around to it, the removeable rear window is glass. It's heavy. This would be an easy piece to replace with plastic.
 
I just bought replacement door glass for my '79. The new glass was thinner and lighter than the original glass but needed nothings special to mount it. The new glass is only 7 lbs. I don't know how much the OEM glass weighed.
Bee Jay
 
Glastek and summit carry the lexan windows for the c3 now, i think it runs about $1000 for all four windows, :devil:.
 
I have a early 69 vert, the difference is with the glass mounting roller channel inside the door, Corvette Central explains it well in the catalog.
Early 69's have 5 hole channel, late 69's 2 hole.
You need to convert the channels to use replacement door glass.
I have a used set of late 69 channels I bought but did not use.
 
I'll have to pop the door panel off one of these days (once I get everything else that's apart put back together) and take a peek to see if I've got the early or later design hardware.

If I get around to doing this this spring, what year did they lighten these windows? 1980? I suppose I could also just take my trusty HF digital scale with me to the swap meets and weigh the windows to make sure.
 
Do you have a 69? What about all the brackets that hold on the bumpers. Doesn't seem to much of a problem to repro them in aluminum. Since they can't be seen, you wouldn't have to do that much of a cosmetically appealing job.

What about the bumpers. They're steel. Have a fiberglass shop take molds and duplicate them in fiberglass and gel coat. Then have them vacuum metal deposited in chrome. They should like like the real thing and only be a fraction of the weight.

The stock bumpers on a 69 are pretty much worthless anyhow from a safety standpoint.

There was the long ago poster on CF, Norvald (?), who drilled holes everywhere in the steel parts of his car to reduce weight.
 
68/70Vette said:
Do you have a 69? What about all the brackets that hold on the bumpers. Doesn't seem to much of a problem to repro them in aluminum. Since they can't be seen, you wouldn't have to do that much of a cosmetically appealing job.

What about the bumpers. They're steel. Have a fiberglass shop take molds and duplicate them in fiberglass and gel coat. Then have them vacuum metal deposited in chrome. They should like like the real thing and only be a fraction of the weight.

The stock bumpers on a 69 are pretty much worthless anyhow from a safety standpoint.
There was the long ago poster on CF, Norval (?), who drilled holes everywhere in the steel parts of his car to reduce weight.
Click to expand...





Norval was a hell of a mechanic, think he was a engineer too, and yes his car was one rung out holey item, I liked most everything he did, but he had a kid in the machine shop business and so used all those tools to fab up most of his shit.....talk about a INN, that is golden, right there.....unless one has a billion bux under the pillow of course....

:hissyfit::hissyfit::eek::censored:
 
I need to take the driver's door apart one of these days to clean and lube the window mechanism. Presently it takes two men and a boy to roll the window up, so I'm assuming there's a bit of dirt, fiberglass dust, and dried up grease in the mechanism. While I'm in there I might as well change to the later (lighter) windows. I'm still unclear what model year the thinner lighter windows went into production. Can someone help me out here, and then I can start looking around for some good used glass?

Thanks,
Mike
 
Do the 68-82 fit -- across year groups?
Could a 68 fiberglass door "skin" fit a 78? On an 82?
Not so worried about striker patterns/hinge mounts - just seam and fit.

Any ideas based on your experience is welcomed.

Cheers - Jim
 
69427 said:
I need to take the driver's door apart one of these days to clean and lube the window mechanism. Presently it takes two men and a boy to roll the window up, so I'm assuming there's a bit of dirt, fiberglass dust, and dried up grease in the mechanism. While I'm in there I might as well change to the later (lighter) windows. I'm still unclear what model year the thinner lighter windows went into production. Can someone help me out here, and then I can start looking around for some good used glass?

Thanks,
Mike
Click to expand...

Picked up some windows from an '80. They look to be a touch thinner than the '69 windows, but it's not obvious to me that they're a whole lot lighter as I've read in threads elsewhere. Now I need help though. I got the door panel off a couple hours ago, but HTH do you get to the window bolts?

Thanks!
 
On my '72 I raise/lower the windows and find a hole in the panel to reach with a 1/4 or 3/8 drive socket 7/16 bolts as I recall....

and yes, it's a PITA.....:clobbered:
 
Got the effing driver's window out.

Well, got the left side window out (that was fun!) and compared it to the window from an '80.

'69 window:

IM001682.jpg

And the '80 window:

IM001683.jpg

There's actually more glass area in the '80 (it doesn't have the bottom cutout with the steel bracket like the '69), but the '80 window is 9.5 pounds and the '69 is 12 pounds. I was hoping there was more than 2.5 pounds per window difference, but that's the number I get. I weighed the '80 window on my HF digital scale, and I believe it's reasonably accurate, but the '69 window was too heavy for the digital scale so I had to use my Wallyworld/Sunbeam bathroom scale. I hate using two different measuring devices, but bathroom scales just don't seem accurate/consistent at small weights.
I believe my '69 is an "early" model as the windows are not directly interchangeable, so I need to figure out what I need to do to get the later windows installed. I need to see if I can get some pictures of a later car mechanism to see if I can determine which parts are different or if I need to swap over the whole windup mechanism.

While I was in there I noticed another example of GM's fascination with cheap heavy parts. The access cover (and electric motor cover, I assume) is a comparatively heavy piece of stamped steel. While I was trying to figure out the window installment issue I killed some time cutting out a piece of aluminum and doing some hammer metalworking on it. I got a piece that fits, and is a pound lighter than the stock piece (for a total of 3.5# per door or 7# for the vehicle.

IM001685.jpg

Once I get the window installed I'll finish the work on the cover and install it instead of the steel piece.

If anybody has a picture of their manual window mechanism I'd sure appreciate seeing it.

Thanks,
Mike
 
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