Deleting rear window?

[Kevin M]

I had this idea I wanted to "round table" with you guys. I have seen a few pictures of people deleting their side windows on coupes and heard TEAMHT mention he did it to his truck. I was wondering how they went about it. I had this crazy idea that I would try it with the rear window in the Malibu. Right now it is covered in plastidip and I haven't used it since I built my first wall 2 yrs. ago.

I think it would be fairly straightforward. Clean and cover the window with a mold release agent. Lay up several layers of cloth and matte to create a shell. Trim to size. Remove the rear window. Clean and sand the mounting area. Use a layer of butyl rope in between the mold and the sheet metal and attach using screws. Then use dynaglass and body filler to smooth the transition on the inside and outside and paint.

Does that sound feasible? I am curious whether body flex would be an issue? I live in Chicago and the temperature in the winter does get low but the car is garaged. I am thinking the mold would have to be at least 8-12 layers thick. Is this even doable? I would like to integrate the third brake light into it as well. It's a crazy idea I know but I have not been able to find any information on it online. Really not sure how to search for it to be honest. I am still in the research stage but next summer I would like to try it.

Suggestions? Ideas?

[BobbyG2]

I forget who it was, but I saw someone do a complete roof out of fiberglass. I'd say go for it, maybe try to make it thicker and glass it to the window frame to help support the body a little against the flex?

[Kevin M]

I think it was Pioneer Saturn. I did follow his build of the death horn. He took glassing to whole new level.

[mbdblue]

I think it was Pioneer Saturn. I did follow his build of the death horn. He took glassing to whole new level.

yep thats who it was.....But I wouldn't do what your thinking out of fiberglass. Like you mentioned, temperature difference is your worst enemy....along with body flex. It would most likely just start cracking around the edges. If you were gonna go to that length, your better off welding metal in. When you have the glass out, the pinchweld would be a great place to lay in a metal sheet; you would just have to strengthen it up so it doesn't move.

[Chris Hammer]

Is that the guy that did a resin sand mix or somthing, looked like concrete in his sunroof.

[Kevin M]

Is that the guy that did a resin sand mix or somthing, looked like concrete in his sunroof.

That's the one.

I think it was Pioneer Saturn. I did follow his build of the death horn. He took glassing to whole new level.

yep thats who it was.....But I wouldn't do what your thinking out of fiberglass. Like you mentioned, temperature difference is your worst enemy....along with body flex. It would most likely just start cracking around the edges. If you were gonna go to that length, your better off welding metal in. When you have the glass out, the pinchweld would be a great place to lay in a metal sheet; you would just have to strengthen it up so it doesn't move.

That's what I was afraid of. I have jack for experience working with metal. That would be something I would have to farm out for sure.

[mbdblue]

Is that the guy that did a resin sand mix or somthing, looked like concrete in his sunroof.

That's the one.

I think it was Pioneer Saturn. I did follow his build of the death horn. He took glassing to whole new level.

yep thats who it was.....But I wouldn't do what your thinking out of fiberglass. Like you mentioned, temperature difference is your worst enemy....along with body flex. It would most likely just start cracking around the edges. If you were gonna go to that length, your better off welding metal in. When you have the glass out, the pinchweld would be a great place to lay in a metal sheet; you would just have to strengthen it up so it doesn't move.

That's what I was afraid of. I have jack for experience working with metal. That would be something I would have to farm out for sure.

Yeah man that's what sucks.....plus if you ever wanted to go back, you'd have a hell of a time getting it out. Here's another idea though....What if you removed the back window and just made a fiberglass piece to fit where the glass was. instead of molding it to the body, you can urethane it in, just like the glass would be. The only bad part would be there is still gonna be a seam.

[Kevin M]

Is that the guy that did a resin sand mix or somthing, looked like concrete in his sunroof.

That's the one.

I think it was Pioneer Saturn. I did follow his build of the death horn. He took glassing to whole new level.

yep thats who it was.....But I wouldn't do what your thinking out of fiberglass. Like you mentioned, temperature difference is your worst enemy....along with body flex. It would most likely just start cracking around the edges. If you were gonna go to that length, your better off welding metal in. When you have the glass out, the pinchweld would be a great place to lay in a metal sheet; you would just have to strengthen it up so it doesn't move.

That's what I was afraid of. I have jack for experience working with metal. That would be something I would have to farm out for sure.

Yeah man that's what sucks.....plus if you ever wanted to go back, you'd have a hell of a time getting it out. Here's another idea though....What if you removed the back window and just made a fiberglass piece to fit where the glass was. instead of molding it to the body, you can urethane it in, just like the glass would be. The only bad part would be there is still gonna be a seam.

That could definitely work. I could do some glassing and filling so it would be a really fine seam as opposed to a giant piece of rubber around the outside. I am redoing the rear deck and would like to tie that into a fiberglass window that connects the infinite baffle and the midbass enclosures in the seat bottom. The amps would be at rear deck levelon a floating rack above the subs. I can see it in my head but to build it the way I want the window has to go.

[TeamHT]

I almost shaved off the rear window because I loved shaving off my side windows so much. I've done it twice now since my brother wanted his 95 Chevy to look clean and solid. But the more I thought about and I practically had the metal in hand...then realized it would look so much like a boat. And I really didn't want that.

I'm not in my truck today but I can take pictures of both trucks with the site windows deleted as soon as I get home. Both trucks will be walled off so having rear windows was of no use and I really wanted to do something different and original. But with the rear window...I felt that the look of the glass outweighed the pros of having it all metal.

[mbdblue]

Is that the guy that did a resin sand mix or somthing, looked like concrete in his sunroof.

That's the one.

I think it was Pioneer Saturn. I did follow his build of the death horn. He took glassing to whole new level.

yep thats who it was.....But I wouldn't do what your thinking out of fiberglass. Like you mentioned, temperature difference is your worst enemy....along with body flex. It would most likely just start cracking around the edges. If you were gonna go to that length, your better off welding metal in. When you have the glass out, the pinchweld would be a great place to lay in a metal sheet; you would just have to strengthen it up so it doesn't move.

That's what I was afraid of. I have jack for experience working with metal. That would be something I would have to farm out for sure.

Yeah man that's what sucks.....plus if you ever wanted to go back, you'd have a hell of a time getting it out. Here's another idea though....What if you removed the back window and just made a fiberglass piece to fit where the glass was. instead of molding it to the body, you can urethane it in, just like the glass would be. The only bad part would be there is still gonna be a seam.

That could definitely work. I could do some glassing and filling so it would be a really fine seam as opposed to a giant piece of rubber around the outside. I am redoing the rear deck and would like to tie that into a fiberglass window that connects the infinite baffle and the midbass enclosures in the seat bottom. The amps would be at rear deck levelon a floating rack above the subs. I can see it in my head but to build it the way I want the window has to go.

that sounds like it would look sick man.