Cheap source for daytona rear window plug

[spoolinhard]

did anyone see this months mopar muscle? It has a charger 500 tribute car in it, the owner says that he got the rear window plug/glass/trim from a 74 vega hatchback. I would not have noticed unless it wasnt mentioned. He said that the dimensions were 1/8th of an inch off from the mopar dimensions. Seems pretty amazing to me.

[richRTSE]

Yep, pretty well known actually. Dimensions not nearly as close as 1/8" though. Quite a bit different actually, but most people never notice. Gray one is a Janak 'glass daytona plug, red one is a vega hatch. Definately a little work involved getting the Vega hatch to work. The shape of the glass is almost opposite....curved top/square bottom....

[hemi68charger]

Yep, pretty well known actually. Dimensions not nearly as close as 1/8" though. Quite a bit different actually, but most people never notice. Gray one is a Janak 'glass daytona plug, red one is a vega hatch. Definately a little work involved getting the Vega hatch to work. The shape of the glass is almost opposite....curved top/square bottom....

nice comparison photo there Rich...........   

[moparstuart]

  a couple of them installed

[41husk]

I have a vega plug in my daytona clone.  It was compare to an original in either the winged warrior or daytona superbird newsletters.

[hotrod98]

That's cool. Stuarts pic of the car in my paint booth is your car, Allen. Seems like so long ago now. I miss that car. I've been trying to trade one of my roadrunners for a real nice black 4-speed 69 Charger.  Maybe another wing car project. 
The best part about using the vega plug is the huge cost difference. A correct Daytona steel plug, correct glass and trim could set you back three grand or more. You can use a vega plug and a third gen dutchman filler for less than $500 usually. Maybe less. And, they're not that difficult to install. I've done enough of them that I can install a vega plug in about a day. A very long day I might add.

[A383Wing]

And, they're not that difficult to install. I've done enough of them that I can install a vega plug in about a day. A very long day I might add.

So, if I find a Vega plug, you can come up and install it one Saturday?

Free beer & pizza 

Bryan

[Old Moparz]

And, they're not that difficult to install. I've done enough of them that I can install a vega plug in about a day. A very long day I might add.

So, if I find a Vega plug, you can come up and install it one Saturday?

Free beer & pizza 

Bryan

Sounds like a good idea. 
I'll trailer mine over with the BBQ grille, burgers, & buns. 

[moparstuart]

And, they're not that difficult to install. I've done enough of them that I can install a vega plug in about a day. A very long day I might add.

So, if I find a Vega plug, you can come up and install it one Saturday?

Free beer & pizza  

Bryan

me too I'm in


Sounds like a good idea.  
I'll trailer mine over with the BBQ grille, burgers, & buns.  

ME!! too i'm in

[41husk]

From what I paid for my Daytona, I have to say I believe Larry's prices are very reasonable, but I don't think pizza and beer will do it.  Might need to go Champaign and lobster

[hotrod98]

I definitely have Champagne tastes on a beer budget...

If you saw how many customer cars I have torn down right now, you wouldn't even ask to get on the list.
I just wish that I could get caught up so that I could start on some of my car projects.  I need to finish my 70 RT/SE plum crazy Challenger, my 71 TorRed Cuda, my 71 Challenger convertible and my 71 sassy grass Barracuda. And after those are finished I can move on to my other projects.

Allen, I'll write you a check for what you have in your Daytona clone.     

[41husk]

That is not gonna happen.  I will say, I appreciate the deal you gave me and you can be certain she is being well taken care of.

[xx29440charger]

Hey Larry! Are you going to take a trip to San Francisco anytime soon? My Clone project wants to see you!

[tan top]

Yep, pretty well known actually. Dimensions not nearly as close as 1/8" though. Quite a bit different actually, but most people never notice. Gray one is a Janak 'glass daytona plug, red one is a vega hatch. Definately a little work involved getting the Vega hatch to work. The shape of the glass is almost opposite....curved top/square bottom....

nice comparison photo there Rich...........  

 that is good , never seen them like that before !
 i would be thinking if i was fitting a Vega hatch , cutting &  turning the glass channel up side down , so its similar to the daytona    although thinking about it is there any thing to gain  ,its just creating  more work for your self   ( although i normally do that   )

[hotrod98]

Yep, pretty well known actually. Dimensions not nearly as close as 1/8" though. Quite a bit different actually, but most people never notice. Gray one is a Janak 'glass daytona plug, red one is a vega hatch. Definately a little work involved getting the Vega hatch to work. The shape of the glass is almost opposite....curved top/square bottom....

nice comparison photo there Rich...........   

  thats is good , never seen them like that before !
  i would be thinking if i was fitting a Veda hatch , cutting &  turning the glass channel up side down , so its similar to the daytona    although thinking about it is there any thing to gain  ,its just creating  more work for your self  ( although i normally do that    )

The vega glass is over two inches wider at the bottom so that would be some extensive engineering for something that doesn't really stand out anyway.
We're all very fortunate that Dane figured out that the vega hatch would work in the first place. Certainly made the transformation much easier and much, much cheaper.

[A383Wing]

He figured it out, he can do them all for us

sounds good in theory

[tan top]

Yep, pretty well known actually. Dimensions not nearly as close as 1/8" though. Quite a bit different actually, but most people never notice. Gray one is a Janak 'glass daytona plug, red one is a vega hatch. Definately a little work involved getting the Vega hatch to work. The shape of the glass is almost opposite....curved top/square bottom....

nice comparison photo there Rich...........   

  thats is good , never seen them like that before !
  i would be thinking if i was fitting a Veda hatch , cutting &  turning the glass channel up side down , so its similar to the daytona    although thinking about it is there any thing to gain  ,its just creating  more work for your self  ( although i normally do that    )

The vega glass is over two inches wider at the bottom so that would be some extensive engineering for something that doesn't really stand out anyway.
We're all very fortunate that Dane figured out that the vega hatch would work in the first place. Certainly made the transformation much easier and much, much cheaper.

that was some clever thinking    , true when you see it on the car !! don't notice !!   

[hotrod98]

If you look at the pic above of Allen's car sitting in my paint booth, you can clearly see how much wider the vega glass is at the bottom.

[tan top]

If you look at the pic above of Allen's car sitting in my paint booth, you can clearly see how much wider the vega glass is at the bottom.

hmm yes it looks it  but  to me its seems to be like a optical illusion also , as the glass is sloping away from you anyway 

[hotrod98]

I have several vega hatches lying around. I'll measure one and let you know the exact dimensions.

[moparstuart]

I have several vega hatches lying around. I'll measure one and let you know the exact dimensions.

please dont break mine ,while measuring it   

[6PakBee]

Yep, pretty well known actually. Dimensions not nearly as close as 1/8" though. Quite a bit different actually, but most people never notice. Gray one is a Janak 'glass daytona plug, red one is a vega hatch. Definately a little work involved getting the Vega hatch to work. The shape of the glass is almost opposite....curved top/square bottom....

If you did flip the Vega glass so you had the curve at the top, it looks like you would then have the wrong taper on the sides.  I'd think this would stand out more than the difference in the top and bottom edges.  Or is this an optical confusion on my part?

[hotrod98]

I have several vega hatches lying around. I'll measure one and let you know the exact dimensions.

please dont break mine ,while measuring it   

Stuart, I seem to have a lot of your Daytona parts lying around...lol


Guys...the vega glass goes in one way and one way only. 

Next time I install one, I'll make a video of the entire process. Also, don't finish the deck lid before installing the vega plug. There's a process to make everything work right and have the correct body lines.

The two things that I dislike the most about building Daytona clones is one...aligning the headlamp assemblies to where they work correctly and two...getting the hinges working correctly on the deck lid. Other than that the entire process is simply sheet metal fab and assembly.

The one area that I don't see anyone talking about is the piece that has to be fabbed for the package tray panel to sit on. That one is fun to build. 
Have your trim shop build that package tray panel from scratch. The Daytona version doesn't fit properly. 

Oh, and don't bother ordering the Daytona interior molding kit. The contours are wrong and your trim shop can just use the trim that is similar to the original piece that was on the Charger to begin with. A good trim shop will know exactly what to do. On my first one that I did I went to the trouble to build the "teeth" for the headliner to attach to and when the trim shop installed the headliner he said that he was going to glue it all in anyway. That was about a half days work that didn't need to be done.

You can use the Daytona headliner but be sure and order the premium version from Legendary. It has the correct pattern and weight. Much easier for the trim shop to install. It has to be altered to fit but there again a good trim shop knows exactly what needs to be done.

[richRTSE]

We're all very fortunate that Dane figured out that the vega hatch would work in the first place. Certainly made the transformation much easier and much, much cheaper.

Dane was the guy who came up with that?? I never knew that...nice job Dane! 

[6PakBee]

.........Next time I install one, I'll make a video of the entire process. .......

I'd love to see that happen.  Let me know how much you want for one. 

[A383Wing]

I would hold the video recorder if you would put mine in 

[BigBlockSam]

Next time I install one, I'll make a video of the entire process

only if you do it in a g string 

[hotrod98]

We're all very fortunate that Dane figured out that the vega hatch would work in the first place. Certainly made the transformation much easier and much, much cheaper.

Dane was the guy who came up with that?? I never knew that...nice job Dane!  

If I remember the story correctly, Dane and his dad were walking through a parking lot and saw a vega. They measured the glass and realized that it was very similar to a Daytona setup. Maybe Dane will chime in and correct me if I'm wrong.

Next time I install one, I'll make a video of the entire process

only if you do it in a g string  

I've been working out but I still don't see that happening. 

[moparstuart]

We're all very fortunate that Dane figured out that the vega hatch would work in the first place. Certainly made the transformation much easier and much, much cheaper.

Dane was the guy who came up with that?? I never knew that...nice job Dane!  

If I remember the story correctly, Dane and his dad were walking through a parking lot and saw a vega. They measured the glass and realized that it was very similar to a Daytona setup. Maybe Dane will chime in and correct me if I'm wrong.

Next time I install one, I'll make a video of the entire process

only if you do it in a g string  

I've been working out but I still don't see that happening.