joe_padavano

I need to pull the roof glass on my 64 to repair the pinchweld rust, and since I'm THIS close to MIGHTASWELL-ing myself into a body-off on this car, I probably should store it properly. I'm particularly worried about supporting it. I'd appreciate any experience folks might have here.

I suppose I should just build a proper crate and be done with it.

2blu442

Several years ago I had a nice back windshield from a 1974 Supreme. It has the curved glass so I put it up in the rafters of the garage. One day I decided to move it. When I dropped it, it acutally survived the initial impact on the concrete floor. Then a second later it shattered into a zillion pieces

I shipped the piece over the backseat of a 1969 Vista last year. First I hit the trash bin at an appliance store for Styrofoam since they have sheets, blocks, even what looks like 4X4's made out of it. Then I did build a crate out of 3/8" plywood and 2X6's. It took several hours but the glass made it to the East Coast intact.

Unless you want to run the risk of having to locate a replacement piece of glass I'd encourage you to do the crate thing. Especially if yours doesn't have bad elamination on the edges, it might be tough to replace.

My 2 cents....

Paladin31

You may have already thought of this Joe, but I would stop in to any auto glass replacement shops/ auto body shop/ new car body shops nearby to see if they have packing that the new glass uses. May be different in specific shape, but still be general ..enough.. to allow a little cut & slice on the foam blocks in their packing to offer a durable option. I have a few dozen in use on front & backlights, even door & quarter glass, all stored & have shipped across the country w/o issue. Best regards, Brett

redoldsman

How about using styrofoam peanuts and a box cut to size. I think that is what I would try.

jensenracing77

I am storing a windshield for my W-30 on 5 pillows. One in the middle and 2 stacked up on each end. This supports it very good. I also have some windshields stored like it sits in the car up against the wall with no problems. Not sure how your glass would do on it's edge?

oldspackrat

I had some stored standing up on the end in between the wall joists of my garage. I just nailed a 2x4 in place so they won't fall forward but otherwise they did just fine. Maybe store the center curved piece under your bed supported by some pillows and blankets?

66400

A tip for traveling with a windshield. Use a large tire inner tube in the bed of your pickup lay the windshield on top of the inflated tube, wrap a couple of strips of duct tape around to secure it and I have yet to crack one after thousands of miles.

PS make sure your tube doesn't leak!

Henry

MDchanic

Make a rack in an inaccessible place, such as the rafters of the garage, that will hold the pieces upright but horizontal (essentially as they sit when installed), separated by wooden uprights, such as dowels or scrap.

- Eric

joe_padavano

This is really where I was probably going to end up. I figure wrapping each in an old blanket then supported on edge between uprights. I was just wondering about other suggestions. Definitely some good ones above, thanks.

2blu442

Just don't do what I did. When your up on a ladder and things start slipping there's not much chance at recovering

Since posting this I remembered being told by a buddy that his shop purchases a lot of new automotive glass. It comes in a cardboard box, double layer, and packaged in bubble wrap. I don't know if old glass is more fragile than new, but he says they've never received a box full of pieces.

John

Yellowstatue

I use old heater hose split length-wise along the edge of the glass. As much as you need. Tape into place. Store vertical.

joe_padavano

That's a GREAT idea! Thanks. The "store vertical" is the question, however. For normal windshields and side windows, the preferred orientation is obvious, but for the long skinny Vista side roof windows, which is the preferred orientation? The concern is "sagging" if I go long dimension parallel to the ground, but the other dimension is so small as compared to a windshield that sagging probably isn't a realistic concern. On the other hand, if the long dimension is up, that exposes the glass to a higher risk of damage, plus the short edges are angled, so there would be pressure on the corner.

Yellowstatue

On long skinny pieces, the long side down, less vertical pressure overall. If it's already down, it won't fall down.

nsnarsk65cutlass

Not sure if it's tempered glass, make sure it's not in a high traffic area.Of course if it comes out in one pc it will be tempered the laminated ones tend to crack upon removal.

joe_padavano

Yes, except that the whole reason for storing curved glass on edge is to prevent the curvature from changing due to gravity. With the long edge parallel to the ground, you still have this problem.

Yellowstatue

The long side down- IS the long edge parallel to the ground, stored vertically. With the opposite long edge pointing up at the moon. UP { like this }. You just wait until I figure out how to post pictures by my lonesome.

joe_padavano

Right, which means the curvature axis is also parallel to the ground (horizontal), which is not what you want for curved glass. When you store a windshield with the long edge parallel to the ground, the curvature axis is vertical, not horizontal.

Yellowstatue

But the glass is so narrow it won't matter.