Does anyone know if the OEM glass pieces have any films on them? If repairing the grid isn't an option, I may have it polished, but I don't want to burn through any films that may have been put on either side.

There's no film on the rear glass that I'm aware of. There is a narrow protective coating on the defroster grid lines. 

Since I don’t anticipate driving my Z’s in rainy weather, it doesn’t concern me if the defogger works or not. Still, it would be nice to have a workable solution.

As for the glass having any film on it from the factory, no, it doesn’t. The tinting that is there is in the glass itself. Even late model cars with dark tinted windows have the tint applied as part of the glass formula.

The only time you would see tinted film on glass would be when it was added after the car is manufactured.

 

 

 

Has anyone had good luck using a 260 or 280 rear glass in a 240 to solve this problem? A cursory Google search tells me the grid is the same and the only difference is that the glass is 5mm thicker and would need a different rubber seal, but I’m sure it’s more complicated than that. If it works maybe that opens up the available used parts enough to be able to just replace it.

at this point I’m thinking I’ll polish the grid off and forgo it. The only other option is the series 1 reproduction, which is $850 before shipping. While I like the look of the vertical grid, I don’t like it that much.

wow you can get repro glass with the vert grid. I did not see any for 280z with horz grid lines. Considering the effort to try and fix it by hand I would be interested in that. I presume the repro grid is like the OE and not some stick on variety? or if it is a stick on its the same quality as OE?

I never got back to trying my masking tape designed for pin stripes. I was planning g on doing that when I pull the hatch to install the outer rubber seal, just have not gotten to it (my rolling restoration wants to keep rolling more than restoring...)

45 minutes ago, Dave WM said:

wow you can get repro glass with the vert grid. I did not see any for 280z with horz grid lines. Considering the effort to try and fix it by hand I would be interested in that. I presume the repro grid is like the OE and not some stick on variety? or if it is a stick on its the same quality as OE?

This is what I was referring to: https://jdm-car-parts.com/products/datsun-240z-260z-280z-rear-hatch-glass-reproduction-no-international-shipping?variant=13934211694701