want to do same thing on a fox body. Factory FORD glass is much thicker and higher quality (heavier) cost 250.00 versus new used 50.00. Piano wire or welding wire is what I heard, Interested to hear advice.

 

I had a new windsheild installed in my 02 gt. Paid a guy that does windsheild installs for a living to put a new one in. I watched him take my old one out and can't imagine anyway that you wouldn't crack one taking it out. Even though mine was already cracked he said he would like it to come out whole so he wouldn't have that much to clean up. There was glass everywhere when he was finished getting it out. lol Not saying it can't be done without cracking it, but I wouldn't want to try it. Good luck

 

I went to the junkyard today to attempt the windshield removal. I used this tool: Windshield Removal Kit - Harbor Freight Tools. It's basically the piano wire method with a nice tool for fishing it through the urethane and some handles that probably work better than vise grips. I broke the first windshield that I tried to remove. The next one came out really nicely with the exception of a single very very small chip on one of the edges. Hopefully that won't cause it to break during installation. There's also no way you can do it by yourself without chipping the windshield, you have to have someone else helping. The trick is for the person on the outside to keep the wire and handle end as close to the body of the car as possible to prevent the wire from rubbing on the edge of the glass. I chipped the crap out of the first windshield I tried to remove by letting the wire rub on the glass. Being at the junkyard, I tore the windshield wipers off and all the plastic trim and molding all around the windshield inside and outside for extra clearance. I can't believe how easily these things chip and break on the edges. Just trying to fish the piano wire through the urethane can quite easily break the window. Giving a slight bend to the tool to poke through the urethane helped. It took about 45 minutes of messing with it but it finally came off. There's a certain technique to it that we just had to learn by doing it. If I had to do it again, I think with the same helper we could have it off in 30 minutes or less with no chips.

 

Also as a side note, if the car wasn't already totaled, it probably would have been after removing that windshield. I broke nearly every piece of molding inside and out around the windshield, put many huge dents in the roof by standing and kneeling on it while cutting through the urethane on the top, destroyed all the paint on the roof by rubbing the T-handle and piano wire against it to keep it away from the glass, destroyed the hood by kneeling on it while cutting through the urethane at the bottom, and bent off some of the metal protrusions from the firewall that help hold the cowl in place to allow the tool to get close to the actual plane of the windshield. The car also had no seats and no center console which was a big help. I would advise anybody reading this thread NOT to attempt to reuse a windshield from a car you would like to reuse lol.

 

So you destroyed all the plastics and totaled a car taking the window out to save a few bucks?

 

Just have a local place that does auto glass for a living go pull it out for you. Done. Those guys are all over the place around here. I've had a ton of windshields put in over the years from going up and down the mountain in the winter (skiing) and I've never seen one get broke during removal.

Remember, everyone is good at what they do all day. If you've never removed one, why take the risk? Pay a professional whatever they want to remove it, bring it to you and put it back in. Easy.