plexiglass door windows

[zliminator]

Has anyone ever tried to replace the door windows with plexiglass? I'm in the process of replacing some body parts with fiberglass and thought it would be cool to replace the back hatch window and door windows with plexiglass.

 

Dan

[JMortensen]

Search and you'll find that race cars use Lexan, which is basically the same as Plexiglas but easier to cut and not quite so brittle. It scratches easily and discolors fairly quickly, but I want to say that 1/8" Lexan is 40% lighter than 1/8" glass. Problem with door glass is that it is curved. There was some discussion about how to curve Lexan previously. Search and you will find a lot more about bending Lexan, but bottom line is every time you roll the window down and up you'll be scratching the crap out of the Lexan.

[DAW]

I don't think you should consider rolling up and down Lexan or plexiglass windows because they will be destroyed. What works well is a window that is hinged on the top, with a brace/opening-strut on the bottom so that you can push the window open from the bottom about 3-4" and it stays open held by the brace. This lets in a significant amount of ventilation when the car is in motion. As a supplement, you can attach an aircraft plexiglass rotating vent onto the window which is adjustable to let in air, but not rain, either passively, or as a scoop for forced-air if oriented directly into the slipsteam.

 

I had this set-up on my antique airplane and it was simple but very effective. Check out Univair in Colorado for such parts. Simplicity and function over form are great in practice...whenever I landed on a very short dirt strip in various Mexican destinations, I requested my passenger open their door, as I was busy doing, so as to create drag...F-15's use spoilers; same concept. DAW