I am planning how to fit the door glass in its holder.The groove is 6.86 mm wide and the glass is 5.00mm thick. I read that it was originally seated in soft semi cured rubber sheet . I think i would rather use a polyurethane adhesive. i wonder if anyone has secured the glass this way ?
The glass is set into the frame with glass ‘setting tape’, a butyl rubber tape that you can find online or at most auto glass stores. The quarter lights are set with the same type tape and that’s where I learned about it. There are different thicknesses, but the tape is cheap, so no problem ordering several thicknesses to get the right fit (the thickness would be approximately half the difference of the glass and channel width, since it is wrapped around the glass, effectively doubling the width of tape in the frame).
It is easy to work with and holds the glass well (it’s what was originally used).
Polyurethane will work, but may be less forgiving of a positional mistake and might be a beast to remove later - such as if the window is set a little to far forward/rearward in the frame.
Hi Ch, Thanks for yr input. I suspect that the glass should fit snugly into both the horizontal and the ( semi) vertical arms of the metal seat with grooves ?Maybe someone can read on that one.I tried to upload a pic, but it won’t work for me this time!!!??
Yes, it needs to be very tight in the channel. If not, the resistance of the weather seal on the top of the door panel can pull the window right off the channel.
I used both glass setting tape and urethane adhesive. This was due to the fact I didn’t calculate the needed tape thickness properly - for me, 5/64 was way too thick and 3/64 was too thin (seemed OK but pulled off the channel when the window was rolled down due to weather seal pressure.) The gap seemed like a lot for just the glue alone, so I used the tape too which centered the glass well. Holds tight after curing.
The urethane adhesive takes several hours to gain strength (and anywhere from 12-72 hours to reach full curing depending on the temperature. So there’s time to adjust the glass before it sets.
Do not use great force to press the window in place if using the tape. I’ve heard some people use a mallet - I can only tell you that the glass regulator channel bends with less force than you would think. So while it can’t be pressed in with hands alone, if it takes a lot of mechanical force using a a tool, be very careful.
I have a bunch of 3/64" and 5/64" glass tape left over that hopefully I’ll never need. If one of these thicknesses seems like it would do the job, I’ll send you a section. Just let me know. 460mm or so was plenty for a OTS window in my case.
Dave
Hi Dave, Many thanks for yr input, your comments of the cure rate of the PU adhesive are are important , so I will procede in that direction .Thanks for yr response, John H.
I have now used PU sealant to glue the glass in the metal holder.In 2 places i used metal sheet shims to hold the glass centrally in the metal groove, and the PU was placed in the groove in 3 spots.After 5 hours the the glass panel plus the metal holder was linked up with the glass mechanism, and the only thing left to do, is to fit the square nut and bolt to the low front of the window regulator.
I have now found that the glass holder slides within 1/4 inch from the end of the carrier, so there is insufficient room to fit the 1/2 inch square end stop. I am contemplating fitting a 4-40 screw in the end of the carrier in case something loosens up !!?? I now find that the when in the fully up position the glass is not fully in its slide groove at the front top so some alignment is necessary. I think a 3 holed shim on the carrier frame where it rests on the door lip might fix that ??!!