The Stovebolt Site Forums Project Journals Project Journals 1949 Chevy Panel Truck

Cab Glass

I had bought the glass for the windshield as well as the corner glass for the 5 window several years ago but after having experienced the questionable fitment of aftermarket parts during this project I knew that I needed to do a good test fit on them. With the upper cab sheet-metal (roof, back glass panel, upper cowl) being aftermarket and all the glass being aftermarket, I had a feeling the fit might be poor. I wasn't too concerned about the flat glass but the curved corner glass could be problematic.

I placed the windshield glass in place and it was a bit off...mainly in the corners along the A-pillar. After reading several blogs and watching several videos on glass installation, it was apparent that the fitment needed to be spot-on or I'd be fighting it after the truck was painted with limited options. So I bought some 1/4” thick press-board and decided to make a template.
I had the windshield rubber on-hand so the key dimension looked to be1/4” from the cab lip and the pinch-weld being 3/8” long. I went around and measure the pinch-weld on the cab and it was really close to the 3/8” except for a few local areas that I went ahead and trimmed down. I then used the glass I bought and made a slightly oversize press-board template based on it but oversized in a few areas. I then used my contour gauges to get it dialed to fit within the lip on the cab. Next I took some 1/4” wide tape that I had and routed it around the press-board edge to mark it to trim off the 1/4” clearance needed for the rubber.

The rear glass templates followed the same basic principle but the seal is a bit different. The fit of the rear and corner glass is indexed off the EOP of the pinch weld. I measured the rubber around these areas and the glass needed to be ¼” smaller than the EOP of the pinch-weld, the pinch weld needed to be a max of 3/8” wide and the the lip on the cab also needed to be about 3/8” from the EOP of the pinch weld before it starts curving. The first thing I did was to assure the pinch-weld was 3/8”, then I made sure the flat was at least 3/8” long to keep the rubber from progressing up the contour. There was a few places that needed trimmed, so I dialed the cab metal in and then it is was pretty simple to place in the template, mark the edge of the pinch-weld on the template, run the 1/4” tape around the edge and trim.

I'll take these templates to a local glass shop and have them cut some new glass. Now on to the corner glass which was a bit more involved. The corner glass uses the same rubber cross-section as the back glass so the measurements required would be the same. The issue was how to rig the curved glass in place to properly evaluate the fit.

To help me hold it the curved glass in place, I 3D printed a few clamps that mimicked the rubber seal. I used these in conjunction with some painters tape to allow me to position (or re-position...and re-position) the glass to try and get the best fit in the cab. It worked pretty good but I also took the rubber seal and cut off a few small (1” long) pieces and used those to also wedge it in place. I had to take these in and out several times until I got it to the best fit and and marked and trimmed. I didn't take any pics with it at final trim but I think I got the edge of the pinch-weld trimmed to be right at 1/4” to within about 1/32”. I also had to work on some of the punch-weld contour to better fit the glass. The bad thing about the corner glass is that the glass can't be modified so all the “correction” had to be on the cab. I'll make sure and eat my Wheaties before I put the corner glass in.