PorscheDoc

Thought you guys might like to see a hatch reseal job. By the time i thought to take pictures, i already had the darn frame seperated from the glass. I started seperating it by using a sharp utility knife, which actually worked pretty decent. I got the top part and the bottom part of the hatch seperated very easily (actually the top had typically seperated for me already). The sides were a bit tougher, and my blades were dull and i was too stubborn to go to home depot (2 blocks away) and get new ones, so i wasted a bit of time there. Finally i gave in, went to home depot. Along with more razor blades, i went to their hardware section (bolts, etc), and in the picture hanging section, i picked up a roll of stainless steel braided wire. I then went home and using the wire, i stood the glass on end, and used the wire as a saw and with my weight pushing down, it cut through the rest of the old silicone goo in minutes.

Next came cleaning up the frame. Again, a sharp razor blade in a utility knife or one of those flat scrapers with a razor blade takes off the thick stuff pretty easily. Key is a sharp blade...you will use lots of them. I also used a wire wheel on my drill. I started with a wire cup, which again got the big stuff out of the way, and then switched to the wire wheel, which gets in the grooves easily. Here is some progress:



As you can see in this picture, this is my wire brush i am using along with a utility knife and flat razor blade. It works good for the big stuff, but to get in the grooves, a wire wheel is needed.


This is the real pain in the butt spot, under this overhanging frame piece. Luckily the hatch was completely seperated along the top, so most of the goo came out in big strips, but there are a few sections under there where it sticks pretty good. I ended up taking the dremel and a small grinding attachment, and in no time had it cleaned out.




The old black primer is under all the silicone and needs to be removed. I found this came off pretty easily, with a flat razor blade. Again for the thick stuff, i just took the fine wire wheel to it.




I have spent probably a good 4-5 hours on seperating and stripping all the material. I could have cut that time down considerably if i would have started with a good supply of sharp blades and a wire wheel.

Currently i have the frame and glass completely cleaned, i just need to go out and take some pictures so you can see what it needs to look like before resealing.

One of our KCWS members has a connection to a glass guy, and he will be coming by to prep, prime, and glue the frame back to the glass for a very reasonable price. The catch was that we needed to seperate and clean the hatches ourselves, since he was too smart to volunteer for that

sh944 has already resealed one of his hatches, using pretty much the same method and our glass guy, and it came out awesome. I will post more pics as it progresses. Plan right now is to glue it back together on saturday.

Oh and i highly recommend wearing rubber gloves when doing this, otherwise your hands will be very very black.

PorscheDoc

Oh and i would also recommend getting a large used piece of carpet, and working on the ground. I thought about saw horses, but figured the hatch would end up on the ground, only in many pieces. The carpet worked great, plus you can just go and drag it outside and shake all the junk off.

Ok, here are the pre-gluing pictures:











The ideal instruments of destruction, minues the braided stainless steel wire.


And getting the final inspection.

Boricua944

me and my dad did that by following the instructions on pelican parts or whatever the website is. twice and the damn thing still didn't hold together

PorscheDoc

Yea, from what i hear, the pelican write up is not the greatest. I am having a glass professional do the glueing etc. You can't buy the primer, correct glue for what he is going to do it for.

Bri Bro

Karl, Great post! You are very wise to have a pro prime and glue the glass in the frame. If the glue isn't protected from the sun(black primmer stuff), the glass not properly cleaned and preped, and the correct glue applied, the thing will not seal up. My glass guy told me the primers and glues they currently use are much better then the stuff used in the 80's.

Porsche-O-Phile

Nice job; I have two I'm working on in my spare time; the hardest thing is being patient in removing the old metal edge. I'll get it. . . eventually. Re-assembly will be simple compared to the removal!

User 41221

No flame towards Pelican, but their write up is a joke. You *HAVE* to do it this (removing the glass completely from the frame) way, or it won't hold up.

You don't need to have a pro glue the hatch to the frame, its easy enough to do yourself. We just got lucky and found a guy that will do it for us for less than what it costs to buy the primers and glue, so its a no brainer for us. Don't be afraid to glue it yourself, just make sure that you get the right primer for the aluminum frame and the right primer for the glass, as they are different chemicals.

Its not that hard, but removing the glass from the frame is not the most fun you will ever have, either...

Regards,

Mongo

how did u remove the trim around the glass? like the spoiler and the black trim on top? On my car, the glass is overlapping some of the black trim on the right side. I really need to fix it, but don't know how

PorscheDoc

The spoiler and trim is removed via some bolts/screws on the underside (from the inside of the car)...you have to remove the rear hatch pins. The side trim strips require a special tool to remove the nuts. I took a wide tip flat blade screwdriver, and cut a notch, vitually making a 'U' out of the blade, this will enable you to get the special nuts off. You will see what i am talking about when you look at the nuts. The black trim metal piece on top stays on the hatch, the glass when seperated will lift out from under there. More than likely your glass is already seperated from the top, so if you get the sides and bottom seperated, a gentle tug, will pull the glass away from the top. I'll take some more pics of how the spoiler/trim goes on and comes off tonight when i get home.

dlr944

This is a very timely thread. Just yesterday I heard a squeaking noises as I closed the hatch. Turns out the top portion of the glass is seperating from the frame and making the noise. In the teams experience, will most glass companies have any idea or want to glue and primer the hatch back together? Seems like most companies would want to stay the hell away from this job? Any detailed instructions for re-sealing this your self?

Thanks,
David

PorscheDoc

David: i think the big thing the professional glass companies try to stay away from doing these, is that i don't think they want to take the chance of breaking the glass when seperating the frame, especially on a porsche = big $$. I honestly think it would not be very hard to find a glass place that would prime and seal the frame for you if you do the seperating, and cleaning work. That is how it worked out for us anyways. It should be no big deal for them to prime it and put on the sealant and put the hatch back together (Frame needs to be attached back on the car when you seal it). If you have a glass place do the whole thing, i think you are going to be talking some pretty big bucks, depending on what they would charge per hour.

As far as instructions go, me and sh944 are going to seperate a 968 hatch, which is virtually the same thing, sometime this week. I will take pictures of the process as we are doing it, as it will be easier to take pictures with 2 people doing the work. The above hatch i seperated myself, so it was a little tough to get pics. I plan on doing a write up on the subject. Probably will be done next week sometime. This saturday we are tenitively planning the reseal, and i will take pictures of how the pro's seal it up.

RMills944

I only found 1 company that will touch mine here. They want $250 with no gaurantee that they won't break the glass. If it breaks, I'm just out a hatch. I'm sure it'd be cheaper if I seperated the glass myself and took it in - then they have a lot less to risk.

dlr944

Can you post some pics of the re-assembly process? Also sh944 talks about using the correct 3M primer products? What products are these? I am aware of the 3M window weld but what over 3M products are necessary to complete this job?

Thanks,
David

Rich Sandor

Holy crap! That's the biggest cat I've ever seen! yikes!

Thanks for the great thread Karl!

User 41221

I'll dig up the proper part numbers later tonight.

Regards,