Quote:
Originally Posted by BeckyAnt
One other question--on all the side windows of my 74 Sovereign, it appears there's a plastic pane as well. I noticed a couple threads mentioning the plastic panes in the vista windows but I haven't heard anyone mentioning it in the windows that open. Can you tell me anything about that? I assume I'll just have to remove it to get to the double pane glass, but again, trying to research ahead of time. We all know "what happens when you assume..."
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This was better suited to it's own thread since the question was originally asked in a thread about wing windows. I was going to post this anyway so here it is.
We have a '72
Sovereign. We had an extra pane on our front window, it was not glass, it was plex I think. It detached fairly easily. I think there were just some screws holding it in. I'll have to double check with the hubby as he took it apart. We just finished removing and applying new tint to our windows. They were a bear to get the old tint off. I had to scrape with a razor blade/window paint type scraper to remove the old stuff. You must change your blade often to make sure it is always sharp for best results. They were a lovely purple color. I then cleaned it well with goof-off to remove any residual adhesive ( you could probably try MEK also, as an alternative), then a final cleaning with naphtha to remove all remaining oils fingerprints, etc. Make sure all traces off old tint/adhesive are off before applying new tint. We went with the off the shelf Gila brand tint from Lowes (you can get it at Home Depot too). I used the platinum tint, it had the best heat reflection rating, it has a slight mirror finish. I did all the windows, including the vista & lower non-opening ones for around $100. I used 2 boxes of the 2ft, and 1 of the 3ft size (I think), with 2 bottles of the application spray & tools. All are available in the same area at the store. It helps if you have someone to help you with the application spray and film/backing separation steps. They take a bit of practice to get the hang of smoothing out the bubbles and cutting the excess off. Also if the weather is not hot or the sun is not directly hitting the window they can take longer to cure. They normally take about 7-10 days to cure and for the smaller fine bubbles to go away. Granted not all the bubbles completely disappear, but for the lower cost compared to getting them professionally done ($300 & up), they look just fine to us. It was a bit labor intense as is most of the DIY projects on the AS. We also replaced the rubber seals/gaskets. That required scraping off all the old and again thoroughly cleaning the aluminum (used the goof-off & naphtha again), then applying adhesive to attach the new ones. Now they look great and seal up nicely. This will help the A/C work more effeciently and keep the UV and heat from the sun out.
I hope this helps someone.
Mary
See photos below. The first is the old purple tint, the second is the new tint and seals.