does anyone know if the glass sailpanels from an 84 will fit in an 86?

that i know of they wont fit.

I'm almost positive that all notchback sail panels are the same. You should be able to use the glass ones on any notchback.

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The '84 sail panels were the only ones made of glass (instead of plastic). I don't know what (if anything) you have to modify, but there have been some who have used the glass sail panels in '85+ Fieros.

I removed the glass from the 84 frames, then used the double sided stickey tape to mount them onto my 86 frames. The glass part is held on with a plastic trim that I cut off with wire cutters. The one edge is a little bit more difficult to remove. I've had them on my 86 for about 18 months now.

The 84's mount onto the body a little bit different than the 85's up. I didn't have the rear edge metal retainers for the 84 frames. They usually disappear when you remove the 84 frames from the body.

This was a man trying to take my Fiero last Xmas. You can see the glass panels mounted.

[This message has been edited by josef644 (edited 09-29-2008).]

You can mount the entire piece from an 84 onto an 86 or later, but you have to drill some holes and stuff. (I only heard this, I have the same thing planned for later.) I can look at both types next to each other and see very little difference. I will try to get a picture later today.

Brad

thanks for the answers

twofatguys it will be great if you post the pic.

what im paning to do is just tape the glass in to the frame so i guess there will be no drilled involved right? im going to use my 86 frames not the ones from the 84

I had 84 glass panels on my 86 SE, they had one of the pegs cut off so they bolted up just like the stock 86 windows. Then they glued them to the body.

The later notchie sail windows used a plastic expander peg at 2 locations on the trailing edge. These pegs inserted through a hole in the body flange. The 84's used a metal pin of about 3/32 inch diameter. There was a spring steel clip that slipped over the body flange and the metal pins on the back of the sail panel trailing edge push into those clips. The only difference in the body is that the 86 and up has a larger hole in the body flange to accept the larger plastic expanders.

When my first 85 was wrecked, the body shop replaced the quarter with a later year sail panel and drilled out the holes to accept the plastic pins. I later converted back to the 84 glass windows and only had to install the spring steel clips to make them work. So, if you're getting 84 glass windows, be sure to get the spring steel clips for each of the metal pins.

Sorry, no pics. PIP doesn't work for me any more.

As stated immediately above, YES. They will fit.

I have 84 Glass panels on my 86SE. The only thing I had to add was the spring steel clips that came off the 84. That's it. Nothing else.

They bolt right on and look great.

I'm about to upset the apple cart..... The glass panel will not fit into the frame that a plastic panel was in. If you want glass panels you must use the same type frame the glass came in.
To make a long story short you must move the glass panel with its frame to the next vehicle. I discovered this when I tried to put glass panels in my 86 frames. It won't happen.

It's been done but I don't remember by whom. Seems like it was a massive amount of work and/or didn't look right. The entire assembly (glass and mounting panel) are needed to ensure a quick and easy swap.

Just pull the whole sail panel off with its plastic frame. It's a special frame that covers the edge of the glass. Pull the body fasteners while you're at it. They're not too hard to install.

You can kind of see where the studs are in this picture, mine are cut off and the person that installed the panels just use the one bolt and glue at the studs to hold them on. I had the car for 3 years and they stayed put, it was my daily driver.

quote Originally posted by Synthesis: As stated immediately above, YES. They will fit. I have 84 Glass panels on my 86SE. The only thing I had to add was the spring steel clips that came off the 84. That's it. Nothing else. They bolt right on and look great.

EXACTLY!

I don't know where all this "cutting pins" or "drilling holes" comes from.

You just need to remove and replace the entire frame. The glass is held into the frame by a rubber seal.

It should also be noted that the 1984 frame has a thin rubberized coating where the 85-88 is hard plastic coated.

To remove the 84 glass panels you need to remove the inside panel and there is a hole just above the seat belt tensioner where you need to remove an 11mm nut. Then pop the panel off. (be careful not to drop the nut in the frame rail)

The 85-88 panels can pop off and you need to remove the same 11mm nut to get the bracket off. Push the 84 panel on and align the bracket pin into the hole and reinstall the 11mm nut.

I have a set of 1984 SE glass panels on my 1986 SE. I did the swap way back in 1996.

The ONLY difference with the panels in terms of fitting is the 84 glass panel frames are a hair smaller than the later plastic ones. They are around 1/16" smaller on the trailing edge (towards the back of the car.) So once you remove the plastic panel, use a polish to clean the body around the sail panel frame.

Replacing the Pontiac crest is easier on the 84 version since the rubber coating allows you to pop out the old and replace it with the risk of chipping the plastic like the newer ones. I just used some mink oil on the 84 frames to make the rubberized coating clean and semi-glossy, It has lasted 12 years and they still look new. The newer plastic ones can "gray" over time.
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[This message has been edited by Oreif (edited 10-01-2008).]

quote Originally posted by Oreif: You just need to remove and replace the entire frame. The glass is held into the frame by a rubber seal. It should also be noted that the 1984 frame has a thin rubberized coating where the 85-88 is hard plastic coated. The ONLY difference with the panels in terms of fitting is the 84 glass panel frames are a hair smaller than the later plastic ones. They are around 1/16" smaller on the trailing edge (towards the back of the car.) So once you remove the plastic panel, use a polish to clean the body around the sail panel frame. Replacing the Pontiac crest is easier on the 84 version since the rubber coating allows you to pop out the old and replace it with the risk of chipping the plastic like the newer ones. I just used some mink oil on the 84 frames to make the rubberized coating clean and semi-glossy, It has lasted 12 years and they still look new. The newer plastic ones can "gray" over time.

Actually, the frame around the glass is PVC, not rubber, but close enough.

The frame is coated in a rubberized coating, which looks better in my opinion when treated properly.

And yes, the frame IS a hair smaller.

Click for a larger view, please disregard the camera quality, and the ugly dude in the reflection.

what i was planning to do was just buy the 84 glass sail panels and put them in mi 86 frames with double sided tape but for what im reading its not possible right?

quote Originally posted by nibotolu: what i was planning to do was just buy the 84 glass sail panels and put them in mi 86 frames with double sided tape but for what im reading its not possible right?

That is exactly what I did. I said before, you can stick the glass sails on your 86 frames with out even removing them from your car.
Passenger Side:

Driver Side:

quote Originally posted by nibotolu: what i was planning to do was just buy the 84 glass sail panels and put them in mi 86 frames with double sided tape but for what im reading its not possible right?

It is possible, but I recommend against it.

Sure, it will stick, but the glass panels with the PVC frames just look worlds better in my honest opinion.

quote Originally posted by Oreif: EXACTLY! I don't know where all this "cutting pins" or "drilling holes" comes from.

Well I don't have anything to compare mine to but it looks like there were some "pins" or studs on the frame that were "trimmed" and there were big globs of glue at those places to hold it to the body. The only other thing holding them on was the one bolt at the lower part of the frame by the Pontiac arrow.
If you look at my picture it looks like there may have been some kind of a stud on the sloping side of the frame.
But thats just mine others may be different, I haven't seen any of the newer windows as all of my Fieros have had glass windows and I didn't mess with them.

Here are two shots of the 84 frames unaltered fresh off of a parts car: You can see the side with the three small studs. The lower two when mounted are the ones that catch on the metal tabs/springie thingie's. You can also see that the larger stud is made onto the frame. So one must remove the inside trim to access the nut holding it on the car. There are several plastic stud things along the bottom edge. I guess that is what someone was refering to when speaking of needing to drill holes. I would just remove these if they were in the way. Cut or grind. These are really easy to mount on 86 frames, or to mount whole on the 86 car. Nuff said

I have 84's in my 85's and they just poped righ on and bolted in. No mod needed to mount it.

Now as stated the frame is just a hair smaller and the rear edge will leave as line where the paint is marked from the 85 and later frame has rubbed the paint.

The fix is to get a car in the junk yard that has a wide window wipe and take a knife and cut it off. Use 3M weather seal glue to glue it in place on the back of the panel donw the real edge and it will extent the window to cover up the rub mark and make a gasket to prevnt more rub.

You only ineed a thin strip as it needs to stick out only a 1/4 at best.

It must have worked well on mine as no one has ever noitice them unless I point them out. They look like part of the frame.

quote Originally posted by Jake_Dragon: Well I don't have anything to compare mine to but it looks like there were some "pins" or studs on the frame that were "trimmed" and there were big globs of glue at those places to hold it to the body. The only other thing holding them on was the one bolt at the lower part of the frame by the Pontiac arrow. If you look at my picture it looks like there may have been some kind of a stud on the sloping side of the frame. But thats just mine others may be different, I haven't seen any of the newer windows as all of my Fieros have had glass windows and I didn't mess with them.

It sounds like the person who originally removed/installed them could have just cut the studs not knowing they really don't need to be cut.

quote Originally posted by Oreif: It sounds like the person who originally removed/installed them could have just cut the studs not knowing they really don't need to be cut.

Could be, they were already on the car when I got it. They were a ***** to get off due to the glue they used and the original paint was shown behind them so they must have been on the car for a few years before I got it.