Broken rear window

rudymantel · Post by **rudymantel** » Thu Oct 16, 2003 6:13 pm

I flew my airplane this morning with the right door removed to let a friend take photos of his house. On deplaning I noticed the rear window was broken by a loose shoulder harness adjustment strap. I should have secured it.
How much work is it to replace that window ? Where's a good place to buy one ? Thanks for your advice-
Rudy

Dave Clark · Post by **Dave Clark** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 12:38 am

Rudy

You can get some 1/8 CAST (not extruded) plex from a local supplier and cut one out using the old one as a pattern. It's easy to do but requires a rivet gun and stuff. Plan on having to take all the rivets out from the top forward corner down to the bottom and all the way aft. You won't even need a partner to buck them. Touch up the new rivet heads with a small brush and you won't even notice it.

I installed new rear windows in the infamous 181 when it was being built, left the protective cover on through the painting process then pulled it off. It had very fine lines a little less than 1/8" apart and it made you see double. I had to "do over" and learned the hard way the difference between cast and extruded acrylics.

rudymantel · Post by **rudymantel** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 12:42 am

Dave thanks, that's good advice- I was hoping that riveting was not required...
Rudy

Post by **GAHorn** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 4:12 am

Rudy, you can use MS screws and fiber-lock nuts in lieu of rivets if you don't mind the appearance variation.

Dave Clark · Post by **Dave Clark** » Fri Oct 17, 2003 8:43 pm

Why not take it in to your local shop if you don't have a friend with a rivet gun? If it takes more than 1 hour shop time to have them rivet the thing in then theyre ripping you off. You could have the side panel removed for them first. Maybe even take a chance and make up a window by adding 3/8" around the metal cutout on a paper pattern. The plex is cheap enough to buy enough for two windows so that you'd have enough if that window didn't fit.

rudymantel · Post by **rudymantel** » Sun Oct 19, 2003 2:22 am

Dave, I'm gonna do that- take it to my shop. Their charges are very reasonable.
I ordered a window from Great Lakes Aero Products. Cost $30. Wag Aero had some on sale for $16 but I think they're for the earlier model 170's; my '55 has a slightly different rear window.
What sealer should I use ? Not silicone as I'm told it can cause corrosion-
Rudy

mrpibb · Post by **mrpibb** » Mon Oct 20, 2003 4:41 am

Hi Rudy,
Just did my rear windows last week. Also got my windows from Great lake, the fit was good as I didnt have to trim, I got the grey tint which is a very light tint. One thing you may run into is corrosion, I was going to try by just removing the the lower and foward retainer but when I did I found some light corrosion so I wound up having to take the headliner down ( prob. the first time in 55 years !!) taking the top retainers off, some scotch brite acid etch, alodined and prime. I wound up shooting rivets back in, I used the 3145 silicone (has no acid in it). The rear window install left and right took me a good day to do, also while the headliner was down I took the opertunity to install a set of hookers (the harness) and rig my flap cables..sooo. the whole ordeal was a weekend project for me. I took some pics of the window area to show how much i got involved If ya want to see.

rudymantel · Post by **rudymantel** » Sun Oct 26, 2003 7:00 pm

Yesterday my mechanic and I (mostly he) installed a new right rear window. It was about 3 hours of work. I still need to touch up the rivets with a little paint brush. The rear seat had to come out, also the arm rest and the side panel. The new window was a perfect fit. The old window had a rubber seal around its perimeter and we used that to install the new one.
Fitting the window in with that seal was a bit tricky. The drilling and riveting was the easiest part-
Rudy