Should I do flush mount glass?

[4birdman]

The 68 Camaro I am building has rust in the window channels and a lot of it needs to be replaced anyway. I love the look of flush mount glass. When I was up at the TA Nationals I fell in love with the glass on the YO Bandit car.

So, should I go flush mount the front and rear glass? I know it is a lot of work, but if the window channel needs replacing anyway, why not go for it? Advice?

I am also thinking about shaving the drip rails. I know it is a lot of work and a tough job, but I really want to make this car a clean looking ride.

[Taylor1969]

The 68 Camaro I am building has rust in the window channels and a lot of it needs to be replaced anyway. I love the look of flush mount glass. When I was up at the TA Nationals I fell in love with the glass on the YO Bandit car.

So, should I go flush mount the front and rear glass? I know it is a lot of work, but if the window channel needs replacing anyway, why not go for it? Advice?

I am also thinking about shaving the drip rails. I know it is a lot of work and a tough job, but I really want to make this car a clean looking ride.

I would save all of that work for down the road. Start really getting into the project and decide. It is a great deal of work and once you add in flush mounting glass and window channels you will be adding a lot more time.

[4birdman]

Would't I be working against myself to be replacing the window channels and then having to go back and do work on them again, though?

I have a lot of people helping on this, so I could get a day where I have three guys with two welders attacking the car.

[Yelcamino]

I say go for it if that's the look you want.

Back when I was doing the body on my El Camino I cut the drip rails off and I had no clue what I was doing. Fortunately I found a metal guy that was able to fix my mess and it all turned out great! I don't get very many compliments on it though, mainly because very few people catch such a subtle mod. The ones that do catch it are usually the professionals just wandering around the show or cruise.

[nbecker]

I say go for it,makes the car alot cleaner and smoother, the more subtle mods add up later to a really clean ride.

[4birdman]

You guys talked me into it, I'm gonna see what I can do here. :)

[B Schein]

The hardest part about flush mounting the glass on 1st gen is what to do at the top of the fenders and the cowl. I extending the fenders and the cowl to cover the glass on my car but then there are more problems like how to attach the cowl with no exposed hardware. If you want to talk about it on the phone PM me you number and I can tell you my experiences and where to start.

[Sir Don]

That is what I want to do with my 69. Its in the shop getting mini tubbed, pans and a body panel or two done. I wanted them to shave the drip rails and I'll look at flush windows later. There are a few posts on here about a year back, so try the search tool.

Nothing else to add, but had to jump on the thread so I can keep up with your progress. Go for it, I'm going to.

[DarkoNova]

Call me a noob, but what exactly does this entail? I never understood what people were talking about when they said flush mount. :confused:

Matt

[cluxford]

My 68 is getting flush glass, shaved rails and flush door handles of any 2003-2006 late model GM car...love the clean look.

But each to their own, if it is a look you like go for it....

[High Plains Mopars]

Call me a noob, but what exactly does this entail? I never understood what people were talking about when they said flush mount. :confused:

Matt

The best way to see this is to look at a new car. The windsheild sits flush with the body panels and is installed with a thin rubber seal. As compared to a mucle era car where the window is installed in a gasket that is 1-2 inches thick, set down into the the channel, and uses trim to cover the gaps. To create a flush fit window in an older car requires one of two things, either the glass has to be special made oversized around 1" to take up the gap the trim normally covers, and then be mounted in a raised position to make it sit flush, or the window channel its self has to be rebuilt 1" smaller to resize the opening to make hte stok glass set closer to the edge and reset the depth to make it sit flush.

[John McIntire]

I say go for it if that's the look you want.

Back when I was doing the body on my El Camino I cut the drip rails off and I had no clue what I was doing. Fortunately I found a metal guy that was able to fix my mess and it all turned out great! I don't get very many compliments on it though, mainly because very few people catch such a subtle mod. The ones that do catch it are usually the professionals just wandering around the show or cruise.

Hey Herb, what did you mess up when you cut off your drip rail? I've been debating on doing that also, but would like to hear your experience.
Thanks!

[SatisTraction]

i would not do it. i like the look of the trim

[DarkoNova]

The best way to see this is to look at a new car. The windsheild sits flush with the body panels and is installed with a thin rubber seal. As compared to a mucle era car where the window is installed in a gasket that is 1-2 inches thick, set down into the the channel, and uses trim to cover the gaps. To create a flush fit window in an older car requires one of two things, either the glass has to be special made oversized around 1" to take up the gap the trim normally covers, and then be mounted in a raised position to make it sit flush, or the window channel its self has to be rebuilt 1" smaller to resize the opening to make hte stok glass set closer to the edge and reset the depth to make it sit flush.

I kind of figured that's what was involved. Thanks.

I don't think I've seen too many muscle cars with flush mount glass. I know I've seen a 66-67 Nova with it, but other than that, I haven't seen much.

Not sure how it would look for a Camaro, but hey, may as well if the channel needs repairing anyway. :)

Matt

[Brian-Blade]

Look at my pics...
-The back window I did no additional body work

-The front I made the top upper corners a larger radius to let rubber flow & not bind, I lengthened the lower pillars to extend to fender
I used rubber to replace lower cowl chrome piece

The key to this was that I found a retired glass guy that had done MANY custom & hot rods so he is very open minded & understands wanting to have a custom or different look