1 One Piece Windows

Has anyone here removed the vent wing windows and installed larger front door glass on a 2nd Gen Chevy before?

It has been done before, just can't remember who????

Thanks G-Man. I was thinking of giving it a shot & was looking for possible pointers/pit falls.

I think the biggest thing would be making the window track bigger and firguring out how to put a fuzzy where there wasn't one

Agreed..... and if can you physically fit the one piece glass down into the door & get it into the track.

Pretty sure theres room, just making it seal good will be a issue

its been done & is somewhere in our postings. I do remember when GM did away with the wing windows in the product lines. Sadly never allowed the cool air from outside to clear the heat from the inside areas, without the wing windows -think they called it "Flow thru ventilation" ? Nothing ever seemed to "Flow thru?

I'm not opposed to the vent wings at all. It's that mine need a fair amount of attention & I'd like to put that same energy into making something a little different on my van.

There is a small cross brace in the door just aft of the vent window division bar. This brace connects the inner door to the outer door and in my opinion is necessary for structural integrity of the entire door. The metal of the door is prone to cracking right there, so it is obviously a stress point in the door. You would have to remove the brace for the mod you are thinking of... and you would probably have to come up with some way to internally reinforce the door with that brace removed.

For the removed brace, you could build a long U out of square tubing. Have a section of channel to guide the front of the window (PINK), and the legs of the U go on the outside and inside (YELLOW). Make the bend of the U at the front, with enough bracing so that it won't spread.

thanks for the info kookykrispy thats the kind of stuff I was looking for.

Rodstrace thats a good idea I was also think about making a rigid panel of sheet metal by bead rolling it down the length on 4" centers & then spot welding it to the inside of the outer door skin. The spot welds would be in an alternating checkerboard type pattern... not sure I explained that very well... that should make that outer skin nice & rigid for a modified brace to tie into.

In the spring, once the weather is dry I'm going to take a closer look at this.