Given it has cracked in somewhat the same place, I'd guess that the opening is not flat - that there is a shift to the front or the rear where the crack originates. My logic - glass is pretty strong as long as you don't bend it - I would guess the challenge is it is being bent along where there it cracked. I'd get a straight piece of wood and see how straight the edges of the opening are. It may be possible to tweak them a bit by bending the flange forward or backward a bit. I know when I looked at the opening behind the motor there is about 1/8 inch flex from one side to the other, with the middle portion being farther back than the two edges. I am in hopes the rubber I bought will have enough flex to accommodate this. Hope that helps. Stephen Nelson -----Original Message----- From: DeTomaso [mailto:detomaso-bounces@server.detomasolist.com] On Behalf Of cengles@cox.net Sent: Monday, July 25, 2016 6:57 AM To: rob@dumoulins.net Cc: detomaso@server.detomasolist.com Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Rear Window Cracked.....again Dear Rob, From what little I know..... This is the first time I have heard of this problem. I suppose that if the poor Pantera is eaten up with secret rust, then it could flex enough to break the glass, but that would a first. There are a lot of rusty Panteras that don't break the rear glass. Perhaps there is some abnormality of the manufacturing process so that the fit is too tight or that there may be some small offending ridge of weld or metal that is stressing the glass. I would suggest that the simplest approach would be to pull the glass and closely inspect with your glass man and re-install if no problems are found. Warmest regards, Chuck Engles On Mon, Jul 25, 2016 at 8:22 AM, Rob Dumoulin wrote:
When I got 1488 eight years ago, the back window was cracked from right above where the driver side seat belt mount bolt goes through the back trim panel to the roof line. This was a single crack with no side "spider" cracks deviating from it. I have no theories of how the glass was cracked before I purchased the car.
During the restoration, I bought a new gasket and had a piece of automotive glass cut using the original as a template and installed by a friend who is in the glass business. The car has an adjustable rear cross member brace installed over the ZF as many of us have and the car was sitting on jack stands with the wheels off for 2 weeks prior to the wheels being reinstalled and taken off the stands to put the new windshield and back glass in.
The car has been drive on one long trip (to SE Pantera Prez Tim Clinger's house), a few docile cruises, and a few sporty ones since the install. No major driving events and only a few time in the 90-100 MPH range.
The new back glass cracked again but this time it cracked more inboard from the first crack. The new crack starts just above the driver side frame rail and has 5 "spider" cracks fanning out from the bottom point of origin to the top.
My glass guy says he may have made the fit too tight and will replace it no charge. I'm looking for any other theories that could explain it before I put another one in and it breaks again. Is it possible that the car being on jack stands could have tweaked the car enough to cause the glass to bind as it re-tweaked to its natural state?
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