My home made steel rear window plug-NEW UPDATE 8/8/06 WITH MORE PICTURES !

[hotrod98]

Back last year when I showed my wife the vega plug, she said: "why don't you just cut around the orginal channel, tilt it up, weld it in place and use the stock glass and moldings." 

Larry...don't encourage her.

[daytonalo]

HOW MUCH SMALLER IS A STOCK BACKLITE WHEN COMPARED TO DAYTONA BACKLITE ?  AS YOU KNOW I USED A VEGA BACK LITE   LARRY

[Daytona R/T SE]

JUST A THOUGHT AS I LOOK AT MY ORIG WINDOW FROM MY CHARGER , ITS NOT THAT MUCH SMALLER THAN THE DAYTONA . I USED A VEGA PLUG BUT MAYBE NEXT TIME I MAKE A PLUG IN WHICH I CAN USE MY ORIG GLASS AND THE BIG THING HERE IS NO MOLDING PROBLEM !  LARRY

Larry,(Daytonalo) and Larry(Hotrod98)  I'm way ahead of you guys on this one. The first thing I did when I started on this whole clone thing was prop the original charger glass into the sail panel area to see if this idea would work, thought it would save alot of B.S, by just repositioning the rear glass/channel and building a plug around it...Well, it sounds like a good idea, BUT-The curvature of the glass was WAY off - too flat across the bottom if I remember correctly...so no dice, and yes I even tried it with the glass upside down  

[hotrod98]

Thank god I didn't sell the vega plug.

[daytonalo]

HOW MUCH WARPAGE WAS THERE ?

[Daytona R/T SE]

HOW MUCH WARPAGE WAS THERE ?

None...

[tan top]

 thats some awesome metal working  skill you have got there    awesome job

[Howie]

That  is some fine craftsmanship.    So when are you going  into production?!   That is the only part that I did not get from Janek when I was buying it.

[Daytona R/T SE]

    So when are you going  into production?!  

Hmmmmm...

[chargervert]

Nice work the plug looks great! I was watching American Chopper the other day,and they were making parts on the water jet machine,and it got me thinking,if someone scanned the rear window moldings,could that machine make them up maybe using billet,that could be polished! Just a thought!

[Howie]

 :popcrn:So how is that rear   plug  coming along? Inquiring minds want to know!

[Daytona R/T SE]

:popcrn:So how is that rear   plug  coming along? Inquiring minds want to know!

I haven't had much time to work on it lately, damned boss expects me to go to work every day

There might be some progress worthy of taking a picture of this weekend...stay tuned 

[472 R/T SE]

Very impressive set of hands you got, not to mention the know how.  Who ever said it couldn't be done hasn't met you.   


I would love to be able to fab something like that up. 

[Daytona R/T SE]

Well, I finally got around to finishing my Homemade rear window plug yesterday.
There are still a couple small details that I need to take car of, like mounting the bracket that holds the switch for the trunk light, and I need to remove the plug from the car a final time so I can flip it over on the bench and fabricate the mountings for the headliner "teeth". Then before I weld it on for good I need to test fit the glass and fabricate the stainless trim....but the really hard part, the major fabrication work is done 

Feast your eyes

The first pic is the header panel fabricated and ready to be fitted to the car.

The second pic is the header panel in place on the car.

The third pic is one of the side rails coming together.

The last pic is the finished plug temporarily tack welded in place...

[BigBlockSam]

wow, that looks great. 

[472 R/T SE]

Very impressive set of hands you got, not to mention the know how.  Who ever said it couldn't be done hasn't met you.   


I would love to be able to fab something like that up. 

Easier just to quote my last response.

[wetfeetmi]

Hey RT/SE, don't you worry about flash rust on all that bare steel? Sometimes I will return to the shop the following day after stripping steel bare, and I will see and feel rust forming overnite! I have been in the habit of spraying steel with zinc or etching primer out of a spray can just for this very reason. Maybe it is the humidity around here in MI. Rick

[Daytona R/T SE]

Hey RT/SE, don't you worry about flash rust on all that bare steel? Sometimes I will return to the shop the following day after stripping steel bare, and I will see and feel rust forming overnite! I have been in the habit of spraying steel with zinc or etching primer out of a spray can just for this very reason. Maybe it is the humidity around here in MI. Rick

Flash rust hasn't been a big problem for me. That's not to say I haven't had a few incidents (Nothing a few swipes of the ol' scocthbrite won't take care of.) I run a dehumidifier in my garage year round, and try to keep the temperature relatively constant. So far I've been able to manage it pretty well even though it does get very humid here in southern Illinois...

[tan top]

   awesome work

[Daytona R/T SE]

Thanks for the compliments guys, I'm very proud of how the plug turned out.

For those of you who have PM'ed me asking me to make a plug for you, (several of you have  ) the answer is no, not right now, anyway. I have to concentrate my efforts on getting my Daytona Clone done.

[terrible one]

Wow, your talent amazes me! That is way cool man.

[Blown70]

Thanks for the compliments guys, I'm very proud of how the plug turned out.

For those of you who have PM'ed me asking me to make a plug for you, (several of you have  ) the answer is no, not right now, anyway. I have to concentrate my efforts on getting my Daytona Clone done.

I bet you got several offers.  THAT IS GREAT WORK.  You would definately be able to sell those, however, time to make them is another factor. 

GOOD WORK, KEEP THE PICTURES posted as you go.

Tom

[hotrod98]

If you saw the blown magnumforce daytona driving down the highway on this week's episode of Wrecks To Riches, I'll bet that lit a fire under you. I know it gave me a chubby.

[THE CHARGER PUNK]

hell yeah dude saw that episode and my jaw dropped when i saw that blown 'tona rippin down the hwy, good thing i taped it  -MATT

[TomP]

    So when are you going  into production?!  

Hmmmmm...

I'm in for one if you do!