i'm sure any glass place that was worth it's beans could make you one.

i can see you standing with lexan and a blowdryer over your hatch glass, and for some reason, having it work perfectly....

 

haha, i wish...

I read some websites about lexan etc... you need 4mm thick lexan sheet. A positive and negative mold... (2 hatch windows)

And a way to heat all 3 parts to about 150deg evenly. If you can do that, the glass will sandwich the lexan and give you a perfect mold of the glass. Then youd just trim the edges and fasten onto your hatch..

Im gonna find some lexan sheet and do some trials

Sounds simple enough, but i can imagine heating parts this large can be rather awkward. A space heater blowing from the top and bottom might work though.

 

yeah, maybe, but if you managed to get your hands on like 4, 2 per side, with fans in them that move side to side, blowing air evenly over it, it might work.

it'd be far cheaper than OEM-lexan...

 

you could try to find a place that does pottery and see if you can use their kiln if it gets that low, or go to a pizza place those ovens would allow a piece of hatch glass to fit, or even just a resturant we have one at my work that could almost fit one...... or a warmer basically its like a fridge only its heats things those range from around 80 degreesF to around 300-400 degress F so this would be a slow task.

 

The glass doesnt have to bend very far. So i wouldnt be asking a lot from the lexan

I might even be able to sandwich the lexan to the right profile without using any heat, once the glass is clamped heat the whole thing and hope it holds the shape when you undo your sandwich

I just blew the next 2 weeks worth of dough on the hatch itself so im gonna have to wait a bit to blow money on lexan sheets, but im willing to give it a try.

Worst comes to worst i can just make a fiberglass rear window and use my side mirrors ...


For people shaking their heads wondering why id spend money trying this, the stock hatch, fully loaded, weights just under 80lbs. A cf hatch with sheet of lexan is just under 30lbs. You will find very few things on a 240 that will just dump 50lbs...

 

SOHC, nobody EVER doubts your motives for anything. putting a sohc into those time figures gives you the right to put a pinto front end conversion on your car and still be loved.

 

you could try to find a place that does pottery and see if you can use their kiln if it gets that low, or go to a pizza place those ovens would allow a piece of hatch glass to fit, or even just a resturant we have one at my work that could almost fit one...... or a warmer basically its like a fridge only its heats things those range from around 80 degreesF to around 300-400 degress F so this would be a slow task.

A kiln gets up to like a few thousand degrees, i dont need nearly that hot. A OEM molded rear hatch window is in the price rance of $500... atleast thats how much most FAL honda windows are, i could easily justify spending $100 on like wood and stuff to make a little heat box ...

I could make a 4 sided box with ports for propane heaters, once the temp inside hits 150-200deg, drop the sides and get moving. :thumbsup wood has to be well over 1000deg to ignite so if i keep the heat source right off the wood it should be fine.

 

SOHC, nobody EVER doubts your motives for anything. putting a sohc into those time figures gives you the right to put a pinto front end conversion on your car and still be loved.

I doubt that :greddy:

 

This sounds awesome! Keep us updated!

 

you could probably build your whole "heating box" out of a couple sheets of 1/2" plywood, and that wouldn't cost more than 50 bucks...

 

Exactly, we throw away assload of plywood away at work, i could probably build the box for nothing...

I already have 1 hatch window to use as a mold, id just have to find another...

 

Sheesh, this stuff is cheap too....

http://cgi.ebay.com/2-POLYCARBONATE...4-x-48_W0QQitemZ7581038447QQcategoryZ61795QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Full 4X8 sheets are only like $100.

 

finding another hatch glass wouldn't be hard.

 

chargespeed makes a nice acrylic piece

 

Picked up a CF hatch yesterday, i would prefer to find a piece of molded lexan or plexi glass to avoid having flat looking floppy windows in the rear.

The other alternative would be to attempt to do the job myself. I've molded lucite before using oven etc, hatch glass would require more space and most likely wouldnt fit in any ovens that i know of.

If its just a matter of laying the lexan on the hatch glass and heating it up til it sags and forms to the glass, ill do that but i have a feeling the whole thing needs to be heated and lowered onto the glass.

Anyone have any ideas? Im sure someone makes an OEM replacement window... or am i wrong?

anything but glass will fog up then your fucked.

 

The ebay stuff isn't big enough though

 

If you seach for "polycarbonate sheets" or whatever they're called, the ebay stores will have full sheets.

If ebay stores have them for $100 + shipping, you can guarantee local shops will have them for that price. Thats the one nice thing about ebay, always gives you a ballpark figure for what a discounted price should be

A no, unlike plexi glass, lexan wont really fog up... lots of VIP vehicles use lexan and never have problems. I plan on spray tinting the window from the inside anyways... ill try to mimic the factory bordering etc with black paint then ill spray a tail light spray type tint on the lexan to dark it out. It might look nasty from the inside, but from the outside, it should look like a perfect tint job. I also dont want rivets to show so ill try to find a molding thick enough to overlap them.

 

damn you sohc, yet another thing on your car i can't wait to see, then hate you for

 

go to home depot is you have those in canada if not order a sheet of poly carbonate material online big enough to cover the area. cut it to shape, remove rear wiper (im guessing youve done this already, this is just to make sure this stuff doesnt scratch teh window as this will scrath easily and fog up worse then normal glass as well) and rivet the window into the cf part to hold it in.
bam done and done.

 

www.mcmaster.com

 

theres lexan windows for the cf hatchs sure it will work on a oem metal one

 

i think if you sandwiched a sheet of lexus (mirimar finished (sp?)) between two OEM hatch glasses and heated one side at a time she'll take the shape of the glass.

i used to stretch ABS plastic to make tweeter pods and amp racks and sub enclosures. the heating element i used for bigger projects was somehting like this:

heating one side at a time would probably be an iterative process:

 

Please keep us updated on your progress. I haven't located an off-the-shelf polycarbonate rear piece anywhere, and the lowest quote I've gotten is around $450 since they'd have to make a piece from scratch. I'm going to go this route eventually after I get the front end lightened up a little with CF hood, polycarbonate windshield, and fiberglass fenders.

 

theres lexan windows for the cf hatchs sure it will work on a oem metal one

reading is fundamental.

And where is there lexan windows for CF hatches?

 

chargespeed makes an oem lexan replacement. the shitty thing about lexan is that you gotta rivet it in or one day itll heat up in the sun and fly off on the freeway or something.