[sbf342]

hey guys,
im trying to find out where to get the front and back glass for a chopped 57 chevy pick up . we chopped 2.5 inches out and now need to find a place to get the glass. thanks for any help

[poncho62]

I am no expert, but I think that I would have cut the glass first and then chopped the top making the windshield opening to fit the glass.................metal is easier to shape than glass.

[IROC100]

Theres a guy in Connecticut that can cut your glass. all you do is make a template and he can cut it and ship it to you. If you can't find any one closer let me know and I will tell you how to get in touch with him. he's the one that cut my windshield on my 55 and he will be cutting my Pontiac glass when the time comes.

[sbf342]

iroc100,
thanks i would appriciate the info on the people you know for the glass work. do they also furnish the glass? we tried a couple of glass companies that told us they could do the job but failed.
thanks again

[MARTINSR]

Oh my goodness, you may be in trouble. I hope when you say you have "chopped the top" you don't mean it is done and in paint or something. Because you have some metal work to do. When you chop one of those trucks with the wrap around windshield you have to add metal to the lower corners. When the glass is cut it leans back and the corners of the glass have to be trimmed off at the bottom. This leaves the corners of the glass IN more than they use to be. You see, as Poncho said, you cut your glass first and then make the top fit the glass, not the other way around. Unlike a flat glass when you lower the top on that wrap around you not only reduced the height of the "hole" the glass sits in you changed it's shape. Well, you can't change the shape of the glass to match it!

Is this a big back window? If it is, you are really out of luck there. That glass is tempered and can not be cut. You need to have one made to the tune of about $1,500.00 the last time I checked, or make one out of lexan or plexiglass. If it is the small window, no problem. Even though it has a slight curve to it, a piece of flat safety plate glass will flex enough and fit.

Back to the windshield, I wrote this for another guy with the same problem a while ago. I imagine there are other says like making a pattern out of poster board or something, then cutting the glass and making the top fit the glass. I was told to make this pattern by a local top chop wizard and it worked great.

Brian

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The curved windshield is the biggest obstacle to overcome on a top chop project. This was the hardest lesson I ever learned about chopping, it was a 1956 Chevy truck and some jerk wasted $900.00 of my money trying to cut three new windshields of mine before he gave up! So, this is how you fix the problem.....

Get a new windshield. Using that glass, make a fiberglass "windshield". Go to TAP Plastics (they are all over the country, if not there may be another fiberglass/plastic specialty place near you) and get info on doing this. In a nut shell you need to turn the glass up side down, supporting it as good as you can so it doesn't flex. It is very heavy and it WILL flex. I used rolled up towels and things so it wouldn't get scratched. Now you wax the glass, and start laying fiberglass mat soaked with resin on the waxed glass. Be sure to press or "roll" out the air so you have a nice tight sheet of fiberglass when you are done. After you have covered the glass with about 1/4" of mat and it has cured thoroughly Take a card board tube and glass it in on top of this layer of fiberglass you have made.
Trim the out side to this "fiberglass windshield" to the EXACT size as the glass (well, you do realize that you don't need to go all the way up on the top of the glass with the fiberglass because you will be cutting it off anyway) then you need to cut the fiberglass down to approx. the height of the glass you will need to make your windshield. DON'T CUT TO MUCH, plan on putting it in and out of the "hole" ten or twenty times till you have it right. Now, when you have it cut down to the correct size you need to thin the edge, because you have made this "fiberglass windshield" on the INSIDE of the glass so it is not going to represent the glass but the rubber that the glass sits in. So the edge has to be about 1/8" thick, that way if you make your top fit this perfectly, your glass will go right where this "fiberglass windshield" has gone.

Do you understand where I am going with this? You make a "fiberglass windshield" to make a pattern for the glass cutter but more than that, you now need to modify the roof to fit the glass. Using this "fiberglass windshield" you can add the metal you need or remove the metal you need till the roof fits the glass, then using your "fiberglass windshield" as a pattern the glass man can cut your new glass and it will go right in.

When you just dropped the top down, you changed the shape of the "hole" the glass sets in, glass can't be modified, but the metal can. So you use this "fiberglass windshield" as a pattern to modify the metal to fit the glass. Down in the corners at the bottom of the posts will have to be extended, because when the glass is laid back (even that little bit) the corners of the glass will go inside the body now being to narrow for the opening.

The next step is to find a guy (or gal) who can cut the glass. It may need to be cut in half, then the guy can cut each half very easily and then "butt" the glass back together with silicone. Yes it will have a seam down the center, but at least it will have glass, and as much as you chopped it, you will hardly see it. Good luck

[MARTINSR]

I just noticed you only chopped it 2.5 inches, that should make this MUCH easier. The hole didn't change nearly as much as mine did with a 4 inch chop.

But that pattern is still the most important part of the process.

[MARTINSR]

Here is something that may be of help, http://www.peak.org/~classicglass/

Brian

[IROC100]

sbf342, did you get my pm?

[grouch]

Originally Posted by MARTINSR

Here is something that may be of help, http://www.peak.org/~classicglass/

Brian

I get a redirect to http://www.bobsclassicautoglass.com/

Thanks for the link! I've been wondering where to get a seamless windshield for my '49 Olds.