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A friend and I are both replacing the glass in our Squarebirds. Thought I would share a few things that we discovered.
1. If you disassemble the wind wing frames for new chrome, be prepared to look for some tubular rivets to put them back together. Hard to find so I ended up drilling some countersunk rivets.
2. The industry pattern for the wind wing glass appears to be what I would call out of spec. The radius at the top and bottom of the glass is so large that it will leave a gap when installed in the frame. I contacted Bob's glass and sent them an original glass with the FOMOCO symbol on it and they custom cut me some glass that fit beautifully. The only glass that they cut is laminated and not tempered. I am okay with that as long as the glass fits and the tint matched my other glass perfectly.
3. The tempered door glasses are just a bit larger than original, but I'm pretty sure I can get them installed. The only problem with the glass being a little taller is that the screws that hold the s.s. side/upper trim piece won't go in. Going to give it another shot tomorrow.
4. The 1/4 glass installed with no problem, and I am using 1/16" setting tape for all the windows. If you need the large white nylon roller that is pressed into the window frame, the Bird Nest sells an assembly that includes the nylon slide that goes in the short channel at the bottom of the frame. The roller is the same roller that is pressed in the frame so we just cut the slide and used the roller. These are also hard to find.
5. If you change glass, and are thinking of using urethane to do the install, I would advise against it. I had a spare set of windows/frames and some of the glass was put in with the urethane. It is very difficult to get the glass out and not destroy the frame. Once I did get the glass out, it took a couple hours to clean up the frames. The s.s. frames, around the door glass, can easily break at the welded corner or distort when trying to remove. It convinced me to stay with the setting tape.
6. I am using the fuzzy side of velcro tape to reline the window channel runs for the glass. I am very happy with the results. I talked with guys at the swap meets and some have said they have had it installed for years and it holds up really well. Time will tell.
7. Getting the wind wing glasses in is a bit of challenge, especially where the frame has the rounded area for the window lock. It took a few attempts but came out pretty well. I did use a rolling pin to flatten the tape a little prior to sticking the glass into the frame.
8. I also found my old Black and Decker workmate is helping a lot. I clamped some wood pieces to the fixed section, to match the window frame shapes, and then used the moveable section with the jack screws to press the glass into the frames.
Just thought I would pass this along if anyone else has plans to replace their glass. I know a lot of the Birds seem to be breaking the door glasses. There is a small plastic insert at the top of the window channel run that helps guide the glass. These guides on all 4 windows were destroyed, so we replaced them. Avail. from TBird stores. Also if your felt is worn or missing in the channel, the glass can hit some of the rivets behind the felt and easily cause a cracked glass. Just a few more things to look at.
Eventually I will get to tackle the rear glass and windshield. May let a pro install the windshield due to the cost of the glass.
Nyles
1. If you disassemble the wind wing frames for new chrome, be prepared to look for some tubular rivets to put them back together. Hard to find so I ended up drilling some countersunk rivets.
2. The industry pattern for the wind wing glass appears to be what I would call out of spec. The radius at the top and bottom of the glass is so large that it will leave a gap when installed in the frame. I contacted Bob's glass and sent them an original glass with the FOMOCO symbol on it and they custom cut me some glass that fit beautifully. The only glass that they cut is laminated and not tempered. I am okay with that as long as the glass fits and the tint matched my other glass perfectly.
3. The tempered door glasses are just a bit larger than original, but I'm pretty sure I can get them installed. The only problem with the glass being a little taller is that the screws that hold the s.s. side/upper trim piece won't go in. Going to give it another shot tomorrow.
4. The 1/4 glass installed with no problem, and I am using 1/16" setting tape for all the windows. If you need the large white nylon roller that is pressed into the window frame, the Bird Nest sells an assembly that includes the nylon slide that goes in the short channel at the bottom of the frame. The roller is the same roller that is pressed in the frame so we just cut the slide and used the roller. These are also hard to find.
5. If you change glass, and are thinking of using urethane to do the install, I would advise against it. I had a spare set of windows/frames and some of the glass was put in with the urethane. It is very difficult to get the glass out and not destroy the frame. Once I did get the glass out, it took a couple hours to clean up the frames. The s.s. frames, around the door glass, can easily break at the welded corner or distort when trying to remove. It convinced me to stay with the setting tape.
6. I am using the fuzzy side of velcro tape to reline the window channel runs for the glass. I am very happy with the results. I talked with guys at the swap meets and some have said they have had it installed for years and it holds up really well. Time will tell.
7. Getting the wind wing glasses in is a bit of challenge, especially where the frame has the rounded area for the window lock. It took a few attempts but came out pretty well. I did use a rolling pin to flatten the tape a little prior to sticking the glass into the frame.
8. I also found my old Black and Decker workmate is helping a lot. I clamped some wood pieces to the fixed section, to match the window frame shapes, and then used the moveable section with the jack screws to press the glass into the frames.
Just thought I would pass this along if anyone else has plans to replace their glass. I know a lot of the Birds seem to be breaking the door glasses. There is a small plastic insert at the top of the window channel run that helps guide the glass. These guides on all 4 windows were destroyed, so we replaced them. Avail. from TBird stores. Also if your felt is worn or missing in the channel, the glass can hit some of the rivets behind the felt and easily cause a cracked glass. Just a few more things to look at.
Eventually I will get to tackle the rear glass and windshield. May let a pro install the windshield due to the cost of the glass.
Nyles