Body / Glass: Door Glass

[Old Radio Tech]

1949 2R5. Have new door glass, U channel, whiskers, separator strips, vent glass, vent rubber, etc. Have no cushion for between the glass and channel. The guy at the glass shop says - install everything except glass, including lift channel. Fill the channel completely with polyethylene adhesive, insert glass into the channel, roll up the window all the way and let it sit for a week or two. Trim excess polyethylene with blade. Thoughts?

2nd question. What kind of quality are you seeing on having flat glass cut and ground. Good radius cuts? even edge rounding?

[Old Radio Tech]

Polyurethane not polyethylene. Read a thread from stovebolt about this. Most people posting said it was a nightmare job using the tape. My channel is very tight as well and I would think the tape would stretch and tear getting the glass and the tape into the channel. Open up the channel put in tape covered glass, and then compress channel without breaking glass?

[wdills]

I had my glass guy cut new glass and installed it in the channel, I then installed the glass in the car when we got around to that point in the build. My glass guy couldn't get the glass to go into the channel with the rubber "cushion" on it. He ended up putting some sort of "black goup" in the channel and then setting the glass in and letting it cure before I picked it up. He trimmed / cleaned any excess before I picked it up. I think he used the same type of glass bedding adhesive that gets used during windshield installation but I can't swear to that.

[garyash]

The correct glass setting tape is a mixture of rubber and cork granules. It comes in various thicknesses in increments of 1/32" to 1/64" Don't worry about the width, just get some wider than the twice the depth of the channel plus the glass thickness. Measure the glass width (because modern glass may not be the same width as the old stuff), measure the inside width of the channel, divide the difference by 2, and choose a tape about 1/32 thicker. That is, glass = 1/4"(8/32"), channel = 3/8"", difference/2=1/16", so choose 3/32" material. Wrap the tape around the bottom of the glass and set it into the channel. Be sure the glass is aligned front-to-back. With the channel against a bench top, lay a wood block (2x4) along the top edge of the glass and use a wooden mallet or dead blow hammer to gently tap the glass and tape into the channel. Once the glass is seated, use a single-edge razor blade to trim the tape down to the channel. A few minutes and you're done! Twenty-something guys at the glass shops know nothing about how to do this.

Filling the channel with liquid urethane may work - but it's a mess and you wait a week!

See the Restoration Specialties page here for tape: http://stores.restorationspecialties...g-tape-liners/

[Skip Lackie]

I have some glass setting tape if you want to go that route. Would have to check to see what thickness.

[fh4ever]

ditto with Gary on the glass setting tape. You can put it on the glass first but it also works putting it in the channel first too. In my case, I had thinner glass with thicker tape (.090"), and trying to fold the tape caused the thicker tape to want to split. So I put it in the channel first. Just use patience and care and it will work. I also used liquid dish soap for lubricating it and the glass and rubber will slide in much easier. In a different window, the channel had spread open and the glass would not go in tight...a simple push thru a bead roller closed it back up to where it needed to be.