1-Piece Window and a better bodyline....??? (pic)

[-Greg72]

I will start with two apologies:

1. For my poor photoshop skilz
2. For blatantly "borrowing" a members recent side profile shot.


Here is an example of something I've been pondering for a while. It's a combination of a 1-piece window mixed with what I can only guess would be a SEVERE amount of door mods...




One of the things that bugs me about my K5 is that I can't rest my arm comfortably on the doorframe because the wing-window is just a bit too close, and the overall height of the door is too high.....Aesthetically, I have always been bothered by the fact that the door doesn't line up visually with the front fenderlines, or the top sill of the rear quarterpanel.

After photohacking that pic, I really like how much cleaner the door looks and how much better it "flows" with the rest of the body.

Has anyone already DONE this??? (I have a feeling it's been done a few times). If you have pics of the completed door, or better yet descriptions of how the heck you were able to create new window scrapers, and fabricate the new door areas I'd love to see them.

[LUV2XCLR8]

Maybe build something like this

[-Greg72]

WOW! You are way better at photoshop than me!!

[LUV2XCLR8]

or this

[LUV2XCLR8]

or even this one

[LUV2XCLR8]

These are actuall pic's, no idea how to use PS

[-Greg72]

Originally Posted by LUV2XCLR8

These are actuall pic's, no idea how to use PS

That first one is INSANE!! Looks like they also layed back the windshield frame.....almost makes the front end look too "chunky", which is surprising on the 67-68 fronts since they always look more streamlined than the later ones. Is that body sectioned too???

The second one looks good, but it almost looks like the window area was just welded shut?? It's going to be hard to fit the top back on with the upper 1/3 of the windshield gone too (fixes a common rust area once and for all though!)

Third one is the exact OPPOSITE of what I'd want. It accentuates the bulkiness of the door instead of bringing it down to match the other panels... IMHO


Keep 'em coming....and I'll just keep hitting "File -> Save As"

[LUV2XCLR8]

The 3rd one I believe those are just removable caps and the top goes on,
here's another one that I found, but I think this is all that I have now

[LUV2XCLR8]

Oooooooooooops, one more

[jaros44sr]

IMO the grey and white one looks the best as far as body lines go. That mod. is way above my talent level, but these guys on here never cease to amaze me with their projects!

Good luck -Greg, keep us posted on your thoughts and plans.

Always enjoy your posts! J.

[raggedjim]

Greg, most of these are roadsters (no side windows) It would ge tough to build one with windows but it would be cool...

Good luck, Rg

[bouncytruck]

There isn't any support for the window while it is half way up to run 1 piece glass in a Blazer. All the blazers above have caps over the doors and are made into roadsters (with the possible exception of red one with the white interior and the '68 nose - it looks like a photoshop job to me).

I have seen a few where they put more modern-day mirrors in the corners of the windows with tracks in them to function.

[-Greg72]

Originally Posted by bouncytruck

There isn't any support for the window while it is half way up to run 1 piece glass in a Blazer. All the blazers above have caps over the doors and are made into roadsters (with the possible exception of red one with the white interior and the '68 nose - it looks like a photoshop job to me).

I have seen a few where they put more modern-day mirrors in the corners of the windows with tracks in them to function.

BT,

Can you explain this a bit more? I realize that the Blazers don't have the traditional perimeter frame of the truck doors, but the guide track on the door handle side is the same, right? On the hinge side, things could get sketchy since the new location of the guide might interfere with the door stop mechanism....

Your "window half-way up" comment is the one that's got me puzzled. The angled part of the glass on what used to be the vent wing won't touch the frame until the window is completely rolled up....so the whole assembly is only ever going to be supported by the two vertical tracks inside the door. If that's true, I'm not understanding why a Blazer door is any different from a truck one???

[raggedjim]

I think the red one w/ 68 front has regular doors (not cut down) with the vent window removed...

[bouncytruck]

Originally Posted by raggedjim

I think the red one w/ 68 front has regular doors (not cut down) with the vent window removed...

It might be, but there are other things on it that are photoshoppped, like the wheels, which makes it all suspect.

[cstanley]

i agree, i wish for one piece glass. i like the idea of the side mirrors from a more modern vehicle.

on the silver/white one, how did they do the phantom grille? is it a kit, or completely custom?

[raggedjim]

I'll try to help bouncy out on this one. The problem comes in once the window is halfway up and above. There's just not enough window in the guides to keep it from wanting to cantilever over.

Hopefully the pic will help...

Even on my blazer the window wiggles around quite abit if it is about halfway up. Try this with your blazer, then try to imagine how much it would move without that front guide...

Good luck, Rg

[earl87gta]

you could just keep the windows down unless the top is on. or if you use a soft top you could use a set of truck doors to make a removable window frme.

[-Greg72]

So is the window only supported by a horizontal mount on the underside of the glass??

(I was imagining a vertical "guide" running up both sides on the interior of the door.)

If it's only supported from underneath, I can understand why the truck door is better....at least you have SOME support from the perimeter frame (on the door handle side) as the glass rolls up.

I guess I need to crack open my Factory Assembly manuals and remind myself how the regulator and window guides really look....

[raggedjim]

It is supported vertically by the felt channels that run from the bottoms of the door to the top of the door in the rear and the top of the vent window channel in the front. Once you get so high you have the vent window channel and just a small amount of door channel in the rear holding it. If you take away the vent window there would be little support at all.

There's probably a way it can be done, but i'm not smart enuff to figure it out (as you can tell by the pics I have posted, I've been thinking about this for a while...)

Good luck, Rg

[bouncytruck]

The PU's can run one piece side glass because they get support from the rear door frame. As raggedjim explained, the Blazer is missing this support so the window would wabble and possibly break. By adding a modern day mirror you can gain a vertical channel above the top off the door for support.

[pharcyde05]

hear is the start of one but its not going to have side windows at all
a one peice would be a good idea it wouldent be easy to make work it would be a very large window you wound have to make up the diffrance that you cut off the door in glass and relocate the regulater so the glass would go down into the door and not stick out the top when all the way down

[-Greg72]

Originally Posted by pharcyde05

hear is the start of one but its not going to have side windows at all
a one peice would be a good idea it wouldent be easy to make work it would be a very large window you wound have to make up the diffrance that you cut off the door in glass and relocate the regulater so the glass would go down into the door and not stick out the top when all the way down

That's a good point about the glass.....it's going to stick up about 2" from the door even when it's fully rolled down!!!

As long as there's room in the door to lengthen the stock regulator, that one seems solveable.

In your photos, it looks like in addition to cutting down the door tops you also cut off the entire A-pillar area from the door. (where the vent wing would have gone)... Is that correct, or just something odd with the photo itself?

I don't plan to cut that part of my doors off....I will need that to stabilize the glass as much as possible. There is certainly a risk of breaking the glass because of how vulnerable and unsupported it can be. However, like most of you I plan to leave them down 99% of the time anyway. I'd only roll them up if I got caught in some bad weather or something like that.


BTW -> The feedback and help provided in this thread (and a few others) have already proven to be extremely valueable to me.....so I decided to pony up the $25 for a membership to show my appreciation!

"Pink" wasn't my color anyway......


.

[LUV2XCLR8]

I wanna do this soooooo bad, but a roadster in TN is easier said then done

[raggedjim]

Luv, just buy a wet/dry vac!

Rg