[333pg333]

Guys I've done the search first, here and on other sites, but I'm not getting the responses that I need. I'm looking to do the rear lexan replacement of the heavy glass, but my intention is to have this mounted in a spare frame and swap it out on race days. My car is still used on the road ('89 951) so the disadvantages of lexan would not be felt on the road. My problems lie in sourcing either a complete hatch that has the glass smashed and therefore is very cheap to buy, or getting someone in the U.S. to sell me one already made up or even pay for someone to do the job and freight it to me in Australia. Now wait before you all just start jumping at the chance to do that (lol), I would pay someone a reasonable amount to help me out here. They are just too hard to find 'down under' and I really want to get one of these.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.



Patrick

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[bob blackwell]

Patrick, your best chance is one of the Salvage Yards : www.oklahomaforeign.com or www.20thstreetauto.com or www.partsheaven.com Perhaps you could have the hatch shipped to where the Lexan is sold and they would install it for you and ship it to you. Good luck, Bob Blackwell.

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[333pg333]

Thanks Bob although I'm wondering if they'll actually perform the fitting and ship O.S. but I'll check that out. If anyone know's which outlet of the lexan would do this I'd love to know myself.

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[Eric_K]

I don't know how often you would be swapping the hatch as it is a PITA and at least a 2 person job. The glass hatch is pretty heavy and awkward. Surely, there must be some crashed 944s in AUS you could get a used hatch from. Buy a lexan hatch and take it to auto glass shop to be switched out. I don't think any of the US lexan sources would source a frame, put it together and ship it to AUS - but who knows. It would be real expensive.

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[333pg333]

Yes I'm starting to think this is a pipe dream. We don't have many 944's in Australia period so sourcing one with the glass smashed would be the best option. For a used one with the glass intact is $1500au (about $1250US) so this is not really viable if you add the lexan and the fitting costs. This is a real pity as there is a fair bit of weight in the glass and you'd think that this would be an easy fix???

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[Charles Geer]

Eric:



Did your rear glass come fitted or did it have to be cut. What size is yours in the rear. I did the 1/4 th inch in front...Saves only 9 lbs because its so thick... But it is as tough as glass with no flex. Expensive labor for it had to be cut to size.

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[wjk_glynn]

Just curious to know if you tried http://www.aporschapart.com/ for a hatch sans glass.



Karl.

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[Eric_K]

Charles - my rear hatch is 3/16 and it was formed and cut to size.



9 pounds out of the windshield is still 9lbs high in the car. It gets harder and harder to find easy weight loss. I'll probably go that way the next time my windshield needs replacement.

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[333pg333]

Well spotted on the Aussie site there Karl and I did try them without success. They are major sponsor of our 944 race series but they stuck with the glass to keep the costs down for the racers. Pity. I tried another wrecker in Aus and they quoted $1500 au for the whole hatch inc glass which I don't need and is too expensive by the time you bought and shipped the lexan from the states and then had it fitted. I think I'm going to have to bide my time and wait for a racer to be parting out a car........

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[Downunder968]

Hi Patrick

you might try to contact Sparky - I think he's on this site (was on 968.net). He smashed his rear hatch and got a lexan style made up somewhere in WA I recall -possibly for around $600-700. He wasn't particularly happy about the fit and ended up sourcing another glass hatch.



Cheers



Andrew



Adelaide

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[wjk_glynn]

[quote name='333pg333' post='30355' date='Jan 29 2007, 09:12 PM']Well spotted on the Aussie site there Karl and I did try them without success. They are major sponsor of our 944 race series...[/quote]



I'd remembered a feature article about that series by Michael Browning in the August 2005 of Excellence. It seems that Dennis O'Keefe (owner of aPorschApart) started the series in 1999. So I thought they might have been able to help. Sorry they couldn't.



Karl.

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[333pg333]

Andrew, I'll see if I can track down Sparky although I don't remember his user name before as another Aussie.

Karl, thanks for the thoughts. Appreciate it.

Patrick

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[msamuels]

Has anyone actually weighed both the original glass and a 3/8 inch thick Lexan replacement so we know how much weight savings there is? If you do the replacement, can you just have the glass removed from the frame (and save it in the attic) and then replace it with Lexan?

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[Eric_K]

My hatch saved about 25lbs.



It was also discussed in this thread:

http://www.968forums.com/index.php?showtopic=262&st=0

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[333pg333]

[quote name='Eric_K' post='31491' date='Feb 24 2007, 06:41 PM']My hatch saved about 25lbs.



It was also discussed in this thread:

http://www.968forums.com/index.php?showtopic=262&st=0[/quote]

Thanks for the link Eric. Funnily enough just today I purchased a used one from Sparky who was in that link! He says he wasn't happy with the glue for the lexan to use it for racing. I will look to rivet or screw it together for better fastening. My car is still road registered so I will be swapping the hatch in and out for track days. Have you had any issues with yours since 2005?

We are also getting some c/f hoods made up that will weigh about 10lbs as compared to the 60lbs+ stock, so combined with the lexan rear hatch should give good weight savings and lower the C. of G. somewhat.



Patrick

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[Eric_K]

No problems yet in 2 years.

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