Quarter windows out

[shadeone]

So this weekend a friend came over and helped me get one of my quarter windows out... the other i started on sunday and finally got out last night....

advice to anyone doing this... i skipped the whole guitar string and dowel rod method and tried just using knives... the three main tools that i found extremely helpful are a long serrated bread knife, a swiss army / victorinox Farmer model (ill tell you why in a second... ) and a can of cooking oil (pam). the swiss army knife is an awesome knife but there is a specific model called the farmer that has the side scales made out of alox aluminum and is beefier then the standard plastic/cellidor sided ones. the main blade is also a tad thicker and stronger then the standard hardware store swiss army knives. the other very nice feature of this swiss army knife is the saw! my friend brought a leatherman over but the saw just really wasnt doing it... as soon as i got the swiss army saw in there it tore the rubber seal out faster then ever... the swiss army saw has a side by side tooth design that almost doubles the quickness of a cut and with the addition of cooking oil on the blade, make it seem like a butterknife through warm butter. the other nice feature is the little bumpy surface on the knife that helps the grip considerably.

The farmer model:

this is what the trim looked like as you can see there was very little left... thankfully i dont drive this car in the rain and my gas tanks are just fine!

pics of the windows out:

i know, i know... the masking job SUCKS right now but this was literally a few seconds after i got them out... this weekend will be my time to perfectly mask off the edge (im a bit obsessive compulsive so this should take a while). also going to get the border on the actual car cleaned up and prepped too... Ill keep you guys posted!

shade

[davegtst]

What are you painting the glass with? I thought it was polyurethene.

[shadeone]

the stuff ive been told to use for the seal is "Sika Flex polyurethane adhesive" or any other professional polyurethane windshield

adhesive... the black band that gets painted on around the edge is "Sika black primer 206 G+P"... gets painted on with a brush until light is no longer visible through it...

shade

[davegtst]

I'll have to have a look out for that. Mine needs doing pretty badly.

Edited March 6, 2009 by Kimbers
Remove duplicate sentence

[Vulcan Grey]

yep, that's how I did it.

With a good bond, I don't think the knife would be able to cut all around, especially under the intake area, but then I had only an antique serrated tool, that looked like it came from the 1600's, and another knife that I heated with a flame to get started through the adhesive.

Sika polyurethane to bond and Sika black primer for the black bands on the windows.

a foam paint brush works best for the primer, one quick thick coat is also best.

Edited October 10, 2008 by Vulcan Grey

[shadeone]

travis, someone told me that the matte black area beneath the windows, (on the actual body of the car), is the same sika primer... do you know if this is true? theres a few areas that i scratched up when taking the windows out and i would like to touch them up...

shade

[Vulcan Grey]

no it isn't. you do need to use the primer on the body where the window gets bonded, anywhere the glue touches. but the body is painted with a matte black paint below the windows. the sika primer is shiny like obsidian glass.

[sanj]

theres a few areas that i scratched up when taking the windows out and i would like to touch them up...

Lotus used (really) cheap matte black paint on those areas, you would be fine using a good spray can paint.

[shadeone]

thanks guys!

shade

[shadeone]

i cant seem to find that sikaflex and sika black primer anywhere...

an instruction sheet i got a while back for the quarter window re-do lists the following as working as well:

3m #08603 clear primer

3m #08604 black primer

3m window weld super fast urethane #08609

does anyone have any experience using these instead of the sika products? I would like to get my stuff today and start painting the windows soon and not have to wait for sika to ship to me directly!

shade

[Vulcan Grey]

I got my Sika from a local Elite Autoglass (large chain) store.

I had to beg.

but it was free

The 3M should work as well. You want to be sure not to buy the super rigid stuff for aluminum Audis... and pay attention to the drive away time for the particular adhesive... and then leave it to setup all weekend anyways!

Oh and get one of the bigger professional caulking guns from Home Depot. Don't use the folded sheet metal ones, they are a pain. The pro ones ar like $18 and have much better mechanical advantage in the handle.

[shadeone]

ooooook after searching for the past few days for the clear and black primers from 3m, i have found the following out...

they have been replaced by a single step primer, part 08681, and it comes in a 125 mL bottle. There is a 30mL bottle available too and tha is part number 08682.

hopefully this helps anyone who is going to attempt this fix...

shade

[Vulcan Grey]

I did a google search for "sika 206 G + P" and found may bottles for sale.

they are about $50/bottle though

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userp...uct.do?pid=3507

I got my partial bottle for free from an Elite auto glass store.

You'll need a black primer that matches the black border on the 1/4 windows, because I'm sure that will need replacing.

[shadeone]

finally had a nice day yesterday... painted the bands finally! turned out perfect!

shade

[Kimbers]

Nice job Jamie. Look great.....did it really take from October? B)

[shadeone]

haha! yes its been a long time of them sitting around... when i took them out i shelved the project due to the car not going anywhere (winter storage)... I had the windows masked off with tape since the beginning of the year and figured id better do something before that tape gets permanently bonded to the window or something haha! Its still going to be another month or so before they actually go back on the car... (the high this weekend isnt even going to come close to above freezing, and there will be lots of snow on sunday)

shade

[shadeone]

another update... my window motor is getting repaired tomorrow and next weekend may finally be the weekend the quarter windows go in finally!

Since i gashed up the black area on the car when taking them out, i decided to completely redo the black paint. last night i carefully taped off the surrounding areas and tonight i painted it... they are still somewhat wet in the pics but i just looked at them now that they are dry and they are perfect!

Ill keep you guys posted on the install!

shade

[shadeone]

getting everything ready to put my quarter windows back in tomorrow and by

chance took them out in the sun to see if there was any areas that needed

touching up... to my horrible surprise, this is what the edge looks like now:

a couple weeks ago, they were f**king PERFECT!!!!... now its starting to peel

away and they havent even been put on the god damn car yet!!!

well after i masked off the strip, i went in with some sort of window cleaner

that i had around the house in an unmarked bottle (probably windex)... i wiped

off the area that was going to get primed and i dont think i went all the way on

the surface up to the edge of the the masking tape (3m painters fine edge tape).

the areas that i cleaned with the window cleaner seem to have stuck and it seems

like the areas that i didnt fully reach with the cleaner are the areas that seem

to be peeling right now.

i just got done taking all the black off and im going to be repainting them

again tomorrow hopefully... this time im going to get some professional glass

cleaner, use some better tape and pay better attention to the cleaning process.

by the way, it was only the edges coming up... the further back to the outer edge

seemed to be pretty solid and i had a tough time scraping some of it off!

grrrrr

Jamie

[andydclements]

You really must use the correct stuff, you need the adhesive primer that the glass guys use, not the adhesive itself just the prime paint, it sticks to glass brilliantly.

[shadeone]

re did the sum'bitches today... took WAY more care to completely clean them before the masking job and also before applying the primer.... hopefully it sticks this time!

yeah i know they arent completely matching but that was the best freehand curves i could do.... some day when i get my car entirely repainted, ill have the windows taken out again and professionally done... i just want them in before this weekends car show.

shade

Edited April 26, 2009 by shadeone

[shadeone]

THEY ARE BACK IN FINALLY!!!!!

window weld urethane fucking SUCKS. to anyone attempting this, keep LOTS of shop towels handy cus that stuff gets on EVERYTHING.

pics:

in teh pic above, some of the black on the ledge below the window had come up due to the masking tape i used when i put thewindows in place.... i will definitely be using some better paint when i re-do it.

also take note that if you re-use your plastic finisher pieces as I did, they may not fit like they did before due to the thickness of the urethane seal changing... there is now a big gap on both sides between the finisher and the actual glass... I may have to use some caulking behind it to get it to touch the glass.... it IS a uniform gap so to the untrained eye it may look like its supposed to be there but it still bothers the hell out of me...

shade

Edited May 2, 2009 by shadeone

[ILoveEsprit]

Great job,shade~

Looks wonderful~

I've this problem with my car too......I suppose this is a common problem with older Esprit~

[shadeone]

yep, just another one on the list... if they would have only made the whole band with the stuff thats used on the thick leading edge part we would all be in good shape!!

shade

[dodgy]

Stone the crows.....

Would you believe we started to take the windows out of MarkTC's 88 turbo today, and there is a thread about it when we get back

[t70]

Indeed Dave... Now we know how! SWEET!!!!