Bee Jay's Heavy A$$ Door Weight Loss Mod

I got the drivers side door beam out tonight. I repeat, what a pain in the a$$. You gotta really want to do this. But I didn't break the window this time. New window should arrive tomorrow.
Bee Jay
 
Two door side gaurd beams and door metal comes to about 20lbs. Definitely not worth the effort, but you never know till you try. I still need to weigh one of the doors after the mod to compare to the 80lbs before weight.
Bee Jay
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Didn't see a weight on the glass per side.
Just wondering how much of the 80 pounds is the glass.
It might make using lexan a very viable option for infrequently/not street ride.

Cheers - Jim
 
phantomjock said:
Didn't see a weight on the glass per side.
Just wondering how much of the 80 pounds is the glass.
It might make using lexan a very viable option for infrequently/not street ride.

Cheers - Jim
Click to expand...

Good question F4 Jock. I got the new glass last night and haven't installed it yet, so I can weigh it tonight. It's not very heavy though. I wonder if the replacement glass is lighter than the original. I'll weigh the glass, install it, and weigh the door to see how much lighter than 80 lbs it is now.
Bee Jay
 
I think there may be somewhere you can send your glass to them and they'll duplicate it in plastic. I think they essentially take a sheet of the plastic, heat it up, and let it mold itself to the glass, and then remove and trim the shapped plastic.

I have a removeable rear window 70. It'd be easy to replace its glass with plastic since the window is flat.
 
There are a couple of outfits that already make the windows in Lexan. Speedglass http://www.percyshp.com/SpeedGlass.html is one that comes to mind and Summit sells their product as I recall. Whole set is around a grand. Apparently there have been some good mods to help keep more scratch free/resistant - Marguard(?).
I probably would NOT use the sides in a daily - the up/down might mess the lexan protective surface. Suppose you could make a sliding "port/hatch" per the Lola/Gt40/etc Lemans style to pass the patrolman your DL! ;)
Weight saving is pretty good can be as much as 1/2 of the glass (50% - 75% lighter than glass (depending on thickness).

Cheers - Jim
 
phantomjock said:
There are a couple of outfits that already make the windows in Lexan. Speedglass http://www.percyshp.com/SpeedGlass.html is one that comes to mind and Summit sells their product as I recall. Whole set is around a grand. Apparently there have been some good mods to help keep more scratch free/resistant - Marguard(?).
I probably would NOT use the sides in a daily - the up/down might mess the lexan protective surface. Suppose you could make a sliding "port/hatch" per the Lola/Gt40/etc Lemans style to pass the patrolman your DL! ;)
Weight saving is pretty good can be as much as 1/2 of the glass (50% - 75% lighter than glass (depending on thickness).

Cheers - Jim
Click to expand...

I plan to replace the heavy 78-82 rear glass with plexiglass someday. I've never seen the weight for that, but I hear it's very heavy. I replaced the passenger window last night, much easier than I thought. It only weighs 7 lbs but is much thinner than the original glass. The original glass in the drivers door is 7mm, and the new glass is 6mm.
Bee Jay
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The iron crossmember here that lifts the window is 3/16" thick!!!!!!. It probably weighs more than the seven pound window it lifts. I Norval Wilhelmed it and drilled five lightening holes. Then I removed the door to weigh it. The 80 lbs door now weighs 58lbs. 63lbs minus 5 lbs for the blanket its sitting on. Remember, this door has a thinner side glass now, but that's over 20lbs savings. I need to drill the ligtening holes and replace the window with the thinner glass on the drivers side now. But no hurry.
Bee Jay
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Bee Jay said:
...............I plan to replace the heavy 78-82 rear glass with plexiglass someday. I've never seen the weight for that, but I hear it's very heavy. I replaced the passenger window last night, much easier than I thought. It only weighs 7 lbs but is much thinner than the original glass. The original glass in the drivers door is 7mm, and the new glass is 6mm.
Bee Jay
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Click to expand...

Has anyone been able to come up with the weight of the older thicker windows, and also what years the lighter stuff was used?
 
I have the window glass out of the 77 we are building, you guys want me to stick it on the scales to see how heavy it is?
 
Bee Jay said:
I plan to replace the heavy 78-82 rear glass with plexiglass someday. I've never seen the weight for that, but I hear it's very heavy. I replaced the passenger window last night, much easier than I thought. It only weighs 7 lbs but is much thinner than the original glass. The original glass in the drivers door is 7mm, and the new glass is 6mm.
Bee Jay
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Click to expand...

Over on CF a poster mentioned the window weights of 12 and 7 pounds. The 7# certainly agrees with your measurement. Phil, or anybody, can you get me a measurement of the older window to confirm the accuracy of the 12# quote?

Thanks,
Mike
 
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