Does anyone have any tricks to install the GT sail panel. Thay are purchased from the fiero store
I don't have a GT, but if you're concerned about how they're attached properly with the double-sided tape, then my recommendation (on similar types of projects) would be to put the duct tape on the car first, and not on the window. Then you can carefully position a corner of the glass and sort of angle it and then lay it down and press. Make sure you clean the area really well before you attach the double sided tape.
That is a good method with aftermarket windows. OEM had the tape already applied, but you need to do a trial placement before installing aftermarket windows. Apply the tape to the body, leaving the liner on the tape. Check the gap around the window and also that the top corner of your door window is going to clear the quarterwindow when you open the door. Try it with the door window in various stages of opening. Bad hinge pins can cause the window to chip or quickly remove a new pair of windows. Also be sure to leave enough room at the top to remove the drip rail if you ever need to.
Thanks for the hints. It is on back order now so this week the car will have a window with a crack in it. Car show is in Budweiser plant in Jacksonville. Free tour and samples.
I received the tinted sail panels from the fiero store . I let the sails sit for 5 days to let the paint cure, thay smelled freshly painted and I had no tape yet. I put the tape on the car with little tabs on the corners then I proceeded to put it on not very straight. Non feeling very good with my self I made it worse and pulled it off and took paint off the sail panel in 3 spots. I used 4959 tape and it sure does stick well. My question is has anyone ever used Jerry nickel border spray paint for polycarbnate windows. This is the only paint I found on the web that would work in this application. What kind of paint do all the sail panel builders use? My other side looks better because my wife helped me line it up.
Some vendors use spray paint to paint the solid black background. Even with 'curing' it still has a soft feel to the touch. The only paint or ink that will properly bond to the acrylic sheeting is an acrylic paint or ink. BBQ grill paint or latex or enamels won't properly bite into the acrylic. Lacquers can be too 'hot' and melt the acrylic. Acrylics etch into the surface of the plexiglas and become one with the plexiglas. Enamels, latex, and other paints or inks only stick to the surface like an adhesive tape. It sticks, but isn't actually a part of it's substrate.
A way to tell if your windows were spray painted (except for the dot matrix which must be screen printed) is that just in front of the clear panel, you will see a difference in the finish, with a straight line running from top to bottom where the screen printing ended and the spray painting begins. Delamination of the paint can happen, even if you did get the windows positioned properly.
The only aftermarket manufacturer of the fastback quarter windows that I know of who uses the proper acrylic ink is ChrisCookDesigns. After my brother lost a set of someone else's windows due to the paint turning loose, I replaced them with Chris Cook's windows.
Not knowing what your vendor used to print or spray paint the windows with, any ink or paint coating you put over it will not make it bond, since your repaint will only stick to the defective paint that's already there. If the base isn't bonded, it will come off, along with your new coating. I'm sorry to say that you've probably just lost your investment in those windows.
I am interested also. The PO installed a dark tinted aftermarket sail on the passenger side of my 88GT. I'd like to reinstall the original which is in great shape.
I need to carefully remove the aftermarket quarter window and install new tape and mount the original quarter window back on the car.
The information I supplied above about the proper ink to be used on acrylic sheeting comes from my nearly 40 years of printing on acrylics and polycarbonates. Respectively known as Plexiglas and Lexan by trade name. Rolling or brushing onto these substrates is difficult to do without damaging the sheeting. Spraying is best done with a very fast dry aerosol and done with multiple light coats, drying well between coats and building up until the desired opacity is obtained.
Coating information might be found at a Rohm and Haas website, manufacturer of Plexiglas brand Acrylic Sheeting.
What a great response. I have a sail panel on my GT that is getting to look like the black is flacking from the inside. I was thinking I could remove and repaint the panel. It would have been a big mistake. I'll but your answer in my "Fix Fiero folder" for future reference.
We would often run a tape test on the acrylics we printed. Much like doing a hot wax treatment. Put a strip of clear Scotch Tape or some masking tape on the print, rub it down good to be sure it's stuck, then rip it off. If the ink came off with it, it hadn't cured well enough or it was the wrong ink.
I used NazDar Systems 2 or catalyzed Polyester screen printing ink for screen printing and vacuum forming. Later as I started my own sign business, I used Grip-Flex paint for spraying the sign faces before the letters were vacuum-formed. Both Systems 2 and Grip-Flex are very flexible inks and won't crack when stretched. That's a good indication that they've become a part of the substrate. Here's a substrate chart from NazDar.
