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healey windshield replacement

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We don't have sun here :( or at least haven't for about a week now, there is some talk it might come out on Sunday. Sorry, no I haven't tried that. I do have a heat gun with pretty good temp control and might try that next.
 
Yeah. I retract my suggestion (can you do that???). Heat gun's a better idea.

Hmmm ... now that I'm actually thinking ... maybe you can get one of the garrotte-like wire things with handles the professional windshield installers sometimes use? That, or a really thin blade of some sort.
 
On most modern cars, a now common practice is to use induction heating to release the bond. If you can load up the frame into your car, stop by your nearest auto-glass shop, and chances are they'll help you out. It'll only take a couple minutes, so they might just do it for free...
 
Well I broke it so I guess I need to figure out where to go from here. I guess it was just a matter of time given what I was doing to it in a feeble attempt to get that channel off.

Any thoughts? Where to get the glass, if I should just take this thing to Fourintune and pay whatever it takes, try to do it myself given how kluged up it seems to be now, etc.

Thanks in advance guys.
 
AFAIK, Pilkington/Triplex is the best, but twice the price of the no-name brand (which I suspect would give fitment issues of their own). I've experience with exactly one 100 windshield; my dad and I were able to get the (apparent) original windshield back together after a frame-off resto without much problem, but the frame and channels were in good nick.
 
You can buy from Pilkington direct at a much lower price than going through the usual suppliers. If you have a business or an auto business that will accept shipment for you, the shipping is much less that receiving it at home. I've had to purchase two. https://www.pilkingtonclassics.com/
 
Thanks John. It appears Pilkington only does glass for 6-cylinder Healeys according to that web site. I will call them today to verify this.

I'm still sort of at a loss as to what to do to get this disassembled. I gently heated the chrome strip to the point where you could touch it but not hold on to it and it still wouldn't budge. Apparently I got a bit too aggressive with the tapping and that's what broke it. I'm not sure if (since it's already broken) smashing the crap out of the glass will make it better or worse. I think I will take Randy's advise and haul it over to the local auto glass shop and see if it's something they want to mess with or at least have an idea on.
 
The idea of taking it to an auto glass shop is a good one. If this is flat glass, they can cut a new windshield from piece of stock glass - double safety glass with the safety membrane between the layers of glass. I have done that, for example, for glass for an older Jeep CJ5 and for heavy equipment. While not concours correct for a Healey, it should work well. They also likely have various thicknesses of sealing gaskets.
 
John Turney said:
You can buy from Pilkington direct at a much lower price than going through the usual suppliers. If you have a business or an auto business that will accept shipment for you, the shipping is much less that receiving it at home. I've had to purchase two. https://www.pilkingtonclassics.com/
Click to expand...

John, I did call Pilkington Classics and they do offer a windshield for the 4 cylinder cars even though it is not listed on the web site for whatever reason. I asked about it not being listed on the website and he said he was "pretty sure" it was because it's not a Pilkington glass but a Triplex from England that they just re-sell.

Good news, the windshield is only $202...bad news, they want $150 for crating and shipping and that is to my business with a loading dock. That's still ~$150 or so less than the usual suppliers but I was going to do some more research and see if there's a way around that. I'm having a pretty string of bad luck with windshields lately and have had two replaced in the last year at my local Safelite, I'm pretty sure at least one of those was a Pilkington brand so I was going to swing by there and see if they could just get it with their regular shipment. Any other ideas?
 
I ordered a new windshield for my BT7 from Pilkington and picked it up at a local freight terminal which Pilkington recommended. I think shipping was about $150. The crating and packaging was petty substantial and the piece arrived in good order. I haven't installed it yet but will attempt it in a week or so. I did buy new rubber seal kit from Moss.
Last time I replaced the windshield 15 years ago, I gave up after several hours and had it done by a glass shop. I'll try this new one myself, but only for a few hours.
 
WaltCasten said:
...bad news, they want $150 for crating and shipping and that is to my business with a loading dock. That's still ~$150 or so less than the usual suppliers but I was going to do some more research and see if there's a way around that. I'm having a pretty string of bad luck with windshields lately and have had two replaced in the last year at my local Safelite, I'm pretty sure at least one of those was a Pilkington brand so I was going to swing by there and see if they could just get it with their regular shipment. Any other ideas?
Click to expand...

Rob is correct; the crating and packaging is substantial. I don't have any other ideas. I was glad to pay much less than the usual suppliers.
 
A quick update on this. I ended up buying from Pilkington Classic, they gave me $25 off the crating/shipping charge since it went directly to my Safelite guy so it was $350 total. It was not a substantial crate but a cardboard box with foam or something in it, which is okay since it made it there unharmed. It was genuine Triplex brand Made in England.
 
I have just fitted a Triplex Pilkington screen to my BJ8. Not an easy job but the screen itself was a good fit. I was told that Pilkington use the original moulds. The supplier had a cheaper screen , less than half the pilkington but i figured it's not the kind of job to skimp on. Hopefully I won't be doing it again soon!
 
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