New, lighter glass for our S30 2 Seater (street legal)

[PrincePaul]

Hey guys,

 

you might have seen my posts in the various facebook groups over the last couple of days, but finally I´ll post here too, after I gathered most infos about the commonly asked questions.

I’ve a glass manufacturer on hand who will produce new glass for our S30 Z’s (2 seater)

It will be thinner and therefore also lighter but still obtain all safety regulations including the E sign and also the DOT number. So fully street legal in Europe and the US including all necessary testing that goes with it.

Some might think thinner means a weaker windshield and also a higher risk of damage due to stone chips or what not. I ask for a statement from the manufacturer which at least to me makes sense.... so due to the fact that it’s thinner it’s also more flexible and absorbs the impact better. As our cars are not relying on structure integrity of the windscreen, it also doesn’t change any rigidity of the car.
Thicker and therefor harder glass is also more brittle.

The windshield for example will be approximately 5kg lighter due to the reduction from 6,76mm to 3,96mm. We’re still looking into how to seal everything but it probably has to be glued into the window seal. Then we would still be able to use the standard gasket. But that’s also the case iaw the Nissan FSM, at least for the 280z.

I’m looking for people who are also interested in new door glass and rear hatch glass as they have to build a new form for it.

We need in total 10 pieces made to justify the cost for a form.
The sides will be 3,15mm instead of stock 3,85mm. Same for the rear hatch window.

Horizontal Heating will be possible in the aft one but can also ordered without heating. Vertical heating is still questionable due to low demand, probably. (another tool has to be made for "printing" it on the glass.)

Prices are without TAX but including shipping in germany, for exact shipping quote send me your address via pm and I forward it to the manufacturer.

Windshield:

390€ with 2x 1,6mm glass 

240€ with 2x 2,1mm glass

 

Still waiting on raw material for these ones... sadly...:

Door and hatch glass:

With 10 orders: 500-600€ a piece.

With 20 orders 350€-450€ due to the tooling costs.

These prices are very rough calculated as the manufacturer is still waiting for answers from their supplier regarding the blue tinted glass (like OEM) in the right thicknesses. So I hope they will go down by a lot. Should know more in that regard beginning of next week. Maybe it has to be clear, let’s see...

Iaw the parts catalog at least windscreen and rear hatch glass are the same across 240/260/280z. Door windows have differences in the MJ, for now they would use a 78" 280z for the forms, I hope they´re able to use them for 240/260Z too, as the general form should be the same for the door glass, just the holes and the part which mates to the metallic window mechanism has another cutout... but lets see.

Shipping and selling will be done through the manufacturer and is possible worldwide.

 
Please comment for general interest. I´m only trying to get it going with the manufacturer. Let’s see if they actually start to produce it.

Bigger group buys will get an additional 10-20% off.

 

Alright, thats it 😄

comments welcome, please discuss the idea 🙂
 

Edited January 15, 2021 by PrincePaul

[AK260]

This is a great initiative! Well done you.

Slightly off topic - do you know if they also do rear screens?

[PrincePaul]

What do you mean by rear screens? Never heard that wording S30 related 🙄

[dutchzcarguy]

19 hours ago, AK260 said:

they also do rear screens

I think the rear hatch glass is meant..?

20 hours ago, PrincePaul said:

at least windscreen and rear hatch glass are the same across 240/260/280z.

An amerikan/english confusion.. 😉 

Are they gona make them tinted and in blank glass? the 240z's glas is tinted blue-ish..

[PrincePaul]

Ah ok.

Yeah as long as we´re at least 10 people they gonna do a mold and start producing it.

Then the options would be no heating or horizontal heating... vertical heating is possible but would require another tool been made, so here is the demand probably to low.

 

Regarding tinting... atm they are trying to get a glass supplier for that blue glass. If they´re able to find the right thicknesses they will produce oem looking blue tint glass. If not we have to see what options we have. I should know more about that next week.

And then they will provide a more detailed price too, as the one mentioned are only rough calculations.

[dutchzcarguy]

20 hours ago, PrincePaul said:

they are trying to get a glass supplier for that blue glass

BTW.. is the blue in the glass or is it a tinted blue inner layer in the front glass?  (I think it's in the glass itself as it is in the rear hatch glass?) 

 

[PrincePaul]

As far as I´m aware of its the glass itself. 

Exactly, thats why door glass and rear hatch have it as well. And thats also why its hard to get your hands on the raw glass for manufacturing our windows...

[PrincePaul]

UPDATE:  At the moment there is no supplier for blue tinted glass in the right thicknesses in Europe. The manufacturer is looking into other markets to still produce it.

For the Windshield they are gathering data for the necessary test to obtain the DOT and E approval.

 

I ask for a Kit in clear glass as well, so lets see.

 

These are the ones they start to produce now as lightweight version:

Audi		VW		BMW		Porsche		Mazda		Opel
A4 B6		Golf 1 - 4		E30 / E30M		997		MX 5 NA		Speedster
S2 Coupé				E36
				E46

Atm in pre stage:

Audi		VW		Nissan		BMW
A3 8L		Golf 6		R 32		F 80
TT 8S		Golf 7		R 33		F 90
A4 B6 / B7				R 34
				R 35

 

 

I hope there will be a column Datsun, soon....

[PrincePaul]

Alright guys, the final prices are here.

 

Frist there is still no supplier for the raw glass the manufacturer would need to produce lighter door glass or rear hatch glass....they are still working on it thou.

 

But they will go in production with the windscreens now.

There will be two thicknesses available. One that consists of two 1,6mm panes which actually got a bit cheaper and one that is made out of two 2,1mm panes. Both blue tinted like OEM. Both with DOT and E Sign.

 

2,1/2,1mm                 240€ 

1,6/1,6mm                 390€

 

That price is excluding TAX but includes shipping within GERMANY. So for all others interested outside of germany the manufacturer needs your address to calculate the exact shipping costs.

Now that its actually happening we need to get at least 10 orders in so they will start to produce.

Iaw my list we have enough people interested but lets see who actually buys one in the end.

 

I´d say the easiest is, that everyone who is willing to buy a new windshield sends me the full name, address, contact email and the quantity of desired windshield version and I forward it all together to the manufacturer.

Lets see if, cause its some kind of group-buy, they add another discount...

 

Have a nice weekend 🙂

 

 

9 Orders ATM. 3 of them are shipping quotes for now.

Only 1 missing so it´ll start.

 

 

Edited January 24, 2021 by PrincePaul

[PrincePaul]

I send the list of people willing to buy one to the manufacturer a couple days back.

They finished calculating the shipping costs for all outside Germany and will contact you individually via given email address.

Leadtime is three weeks.

 

If all who send me a message are staying committed we´re making it 😄

 

Thank you all.

Dennis

[PrincePaul]

Seems that finally after a massive covid delay the first one got delivered.

A friend of mine received its package this week:

 

I hope the ones who ordered got theirs, too.

 

Maybe I´m swapping out mine during the winter, as the car is finally road legal since last friday. So I postponed my own delivery a bit.