#44
Next up was glazing the car. A big milestone in the cars build!
I had previously bought a heated windscreen from
Ricky Evans Motorsport last year so checked that that all fit OK. We will see how we get on with it.
@Tony Hunter had mentioned the amount of screens he goes through during racing due to stone chips and cracks you can get from bumper to bumper racing. If we end up in the same situation we may revert back to a cheaper front screen and demist via other means.
Fits great.
In the never ending quest to save weight we order a complete set of Poly windows from Plastics 4 Performance. I had dealt with them before as they supplied windows for a few projects I worked on at McLaren GT. Paul the MD there is really nice and extremely helpful. I ordered the following:
RENAULT - Clio Mk2 Pro - Polycarbonate window kit
- 5 Piece Thermo formed Lexan Polycarbonate (with black borders)
- 4mm Clear
- 1 Clubman Slider Kit (with detents to prevent the slider moving under accel and braking)
- x2 Sikaflex 291i Adhesive
- Basic Car kit (installation Polish, General cleaning polish)
The thermoformed panels really do fit great, worth the extra money IMO!!
As I alluded to in a previous post (reason why I didn't remove the rear boot inner skin) I'm not fitting the rear screen until we get a fiberglass boot lid. It just worked out cheaper in the long run to buy the complete kit with it in.
I started off by prepping from the rear windows. I had cleaned up and painted the rear pinch welds. These can get scratched from the glass removal process.
Due to the variable offset in depth around the leading edge of the window next to the doors I bonded on multiple spacers to set the depth of the window before bonding (makes fitting a lot easier) . I used some M4 rivnuts that worked out nicely. A small amount of silicone was used to bond them to the pinchwelds in equal spacings. I also prepped some strips of masking tapes to secure the window during bonding.
I gave the window a thorough clean around the inner border (don't use and solvent based cleaners as these can ruin the windows, I just used some soapy water)
I applied a continuous strip of silicone around the pinch weld about 15mm deep (using a caulking gun) I made sure I went fully around each spacer, to ensure a good seal.
I then went inside the car and using a wet finger smoothed out the silicone. This was again repeated on the outside to give a nice finish. (extra silicone may be required to fill the void to the quarter panel to get a smooth exterior finish)
With the rear windows curing I turned my attention to the front windows. I wasn't sure initially how I was going to secure these to the doors as there isn't much info on here about how others have done it.
I fitted the original seals back into the doors and pushed the drivers side window in the seals to see what I was working with.
The windows fit really snuggly into the seals so I only really need to secure the lower edge of the windows to prevent them from dropping.
I ended up using a similar technique that a friend used on his Saxo. I drilled holes in the inner door skin where the lower inner seal locates. 4 equi-spaced along the length of the door. Into which I installed M6 Rivnuts.
I then re installed the poly window and drilled through it using the front and rear rivnuts as a guide. I left the two middle holes un drilled. I fitted an M6 bolt into the front and rear rivnuts that self tapped into the window pilot holes I'd just made. These will hold the window up and push the window out onto the outer window seal. I then fitted another couple of M6 bolts (length determined by inner to outer door skin gap) into the middle two rivnuts, which I wound up against the window, again to ensure a really good seal to prevent water ingress into the doors.
I then marked up and drilled clearance holes through the inner window seal for the heads of the bolts.
Inner seals fitted up.
I then fitted the drivers side widow slider, which finished off the fitment of the front windows.
The final job was to fit the windscreen. I'd been nervous about doing this myself, I had thought about getting an Autoglass guy in to do it. But it was pretty easy actually.
One of my good friends Chris, who's an engine builder at Mercedes HPP came round to give me a hand installing it. (He has a pretty Nippy Saxo too)
As the screen is heated, it has two pieces of glass with the heating element sandwiched between them. To make sure the element is protected you have to seal the circumference of the screen with silicone. (water ingress can make the element short out/corrode and reduce its life)
Once this was done we set about priming the screen from bonding onto the car.
I had bought a bonding kit off ebay:
Dinitrol 500 Fitting Kit - It came with:
- Dinitrol 500 Adhesive x2 (only needed one)
- PUR 520 30ml Glass Pre Cleaner
- PUR 530 30ml Black Primer (for both body and glass)
- Felt buds for application
The first step was to use the glass cleaner to remove all contaminants from the windscreen around where the primer was to be applied. (really strong solvent). You only need to apply this around the edges on the inside.
I then applied a strip of the black primer to the inside glass surface where the silicone would go. This is very important as it forms a surface for the silicone to adhere too. The silicone does't adhere very well to the glass, hence why the primer is applied. (This primer has so much curing additive in it, caught a sniff off it and it knocked me for 6!, drys in about 5 minutes though!) . I then ensured the pinch welds were again primed and free from bare metal.
The front lower windscreen setters were then re installed (look like a little black comb) that clips to the metal edge by the scuttle . A constant bead of the silicone was applied to the pinch welds, again about ~15-20mm in depth. The tube comes with a really good 'V' cut nozzle for this application.
Chris and I then got the windscreen suckers fitted and gently set the windscreen on the setters at the bottom, then pressed the top surface down onto the silicone. Pressing the windscreen down onto the silicone so that the windscreen is flush with the surrounding body panels.
Then again this was held in place with some masking tape while it cured.
Windscreen upper and side edge trimming installed, Protective film removed and poly windows sealed.. Job Done!!
lol
