stuart69427

I am at was at work today, when an real estate agent came in asking who camaro's outside, of corse in shock i say yes, hopeing for a compliament, but come to find my hatch was shattered to peices. Half inside and hlf outside.

No evidence whatsoever of vandelism, all stereo equipment still there, cell phone was laying in my cupholder. No rocks or anything

It appears to have exploded from the inside out. As a lot of it was outside of the car. If it would have happened to been struck with something, all of it should have been inside, right?

It was hot today, and my car was sealed tight, as windows all the way up. My interior is all black now, except for back seats, fronts have covers on them. I didn't put my widshield visor on today either.

The glass was very hot to touch, you can't hold it in your hand to long, maybe the rear defrost metal help it heat up? My defrost is been busted sincei got the car, so i ovixously wasn't on.

83Z28

I think it is possible. A while ago on the z06 forum I was reading about some guys that had the same thing happen. No evidence of vandalism at all. They also mentioned that they had their windows up all the way too. Sorry to hear about it.

cg91ta

The heat can blow your window(s) out. It is common knowledge here in Phoenix to leave the windows cracked open.

Fast3rdGen

got me a spare hatch just in case something like that happen. came with a parts donor car i grabbed for steal of a price.

85SportCoupeto89RS

I have never seen that happen, and hope not to either. I always have my windows up and I have my Windshield shade on as well. I wont crack the windows either.

omnipotentgoku

iTrader: (1)

That happens in El Paso quite a bit. I remember a once in summer school back in the days, on a hot day, a friends berlinetta exploded. We were a few cars away when it happened. Looked weird as hell.

stuart69427

i got another hatch from a pull it parts boneyard for $100 (man i know i could done better, but they had already let me stay past there closing to get it off)

All the mess is now cleaned up, and this really sucks!

Its weird, and i would have liked to seen it actually happed, cuase it had enough force to bend (and now its broken) one of my support cylinders that i will replace in the morning (hopefully pepboys has one in stock)

I found the car with my deck lid hangin like an inch and half off of the rear, but still latched on

The decklid on the new hatch is all scratched up, but i think i am keepin it on cuase its "perfectly aligned, and i been wanting to switch to the three peice spoiler (have the 88 shorty wing before) but the new center peice is all chipped up so i'll get another one of those (i have had the side peices sitting in my closet for the last eight months) so thats a future project.

iright, im tired, see ya!

1982chevycamaroz28

now im glad i got big rust holes in my floor boards to let that heat out and any air.

Jim 86 Bird

It gets plenty hot in that back hatch area... KZad had a can of that tire repair gunk explode all over his interior panels and hatch

TomP

Wow, Stuart, that sucks! Like 1982chevy, I'm glad I have the rust holes in the quarter panel, and bad weatherstripping on the doors! Glad to hear you got another hatch that quickly! Did it come with a free spoiler?

Fast3rdgen, I'm so mad at myself... 4 years ago, I had a parts car, and while I thought of taking the door windows, for some stupid reason, I never took the hatch window. I also didn't take the taillights- I'm sure I could've sold them on ebay for $10. Or, was eBay even around 4 years ago?

stuart69427

yeh tom, i got the decklid with the standard three peice spoiler center peice on there, needs some body work though, but thats do able.

phoenix350

my dad has a 67 camaro and that very thing happend to him when he drove it everyday to work...it even happend at work...

this was years ago though, when he was poor and only had the one car....much like i am today!

but yea, it was heat...heat sux

HrdRockA4305

Yikes never heard of that before! I've seen a van once though that it was so freakin cold one winter and the gaskets were so good, when the driver shut the door, the air pressure blew a window out. I guess it was brittle from extreme cold.

Would a tinted rear window help keep this from happening?
BTW man, I hate to say it but you'll proabbly be cleaning up glass for the next 5 years. I got broke into over a year ago, and still sometimes find tiny little pieces of glass in the weridest places. And all I had was the drivers side window smashed with a chunk of cement, the hatch is a LOT more glass than that!

REVLIMIT

Yea tinting your windows would help lower the chacnes of this happening to you. Cause it would lower the tempeture inside hte car. I heard about htis happening and what not. It gives you another reason to buy those windsheild shade things.

wolffman007

iTrader: (1)

hey be glad it was your door glass, over a year ago I came out in the morning to go to work & my back hatch was shattered, they stole my amp & sub, and I still cant get all the glass out, im just going to buy new carpet for the back, nothing is picking it all up.

BTW man, I hate to say it but you'll proabbly be cleaning up glass for the next 5 years. I got broke into over a year ago, and still sometimes find tiny little pieces of glass in the weridest places. And all I had was the drivers side window smashed with a chunk of cement, the hatch is a LOT more glass than that! [/B][/QUOTE]

igotslicksNchix

wow that sucks biiiiiigggg time. ever considered the louvers that go on the back hatch?? i want those damn things soooooooooo bad. they look cool, and now since stuff like this happens, i have a legit reason to buy them. hehe maybe it's a lil too 80's, but i think they look neat!

stuart69427

i had a set (see link in sig to see pics) but they were used and i had to use epoxy on the top, i never periodically re-checked to make sure the top was good and one day it flew off, abd busted all the plasic on the sides, impossible to re-use.

It was a very rare design, and i am still looking (but currently lack funds for anything)for another set.

FLYNLOW92rs

iTrader: (53)

Tinting your windows will HELP OUT ALOT.....

I just got my windows with Limo tint (hard to see into during the day), I noticed my car is actually cooler when i get into it on a hot day.....I would reccommend this for anybody that can do it in a legal state, it's alot cooler.....

Limo Tint also gets rid of those damn headlights in your side mirror from trucks at night......

igotslicksNchix

stuart, JC whitney makes a set of repro louvres, not sure about them but look it up, might be worth the 200ish price tag

86Z

iTrader: (4)

i had that happen to me except i was driving when it happened, it wasnt real hot out and it just started to rain i went around a corner and fish tailed a bit, when up the street and BOOM!! i was like wtf? no one was around or anything

WaynesRS

Yeah , thats pretty commen down here to Stuart . My dad works down town and there is cars down there all the time with windows exploding from the heat . I think my Dad cracks his windows most of the time in the heat . My Uncle works at a plant , he was leaving out the other day and the car in front of him turned his windshield washer with the wipers on to clean his windows and the water hit his windshield , well even though my Uncle had his windows cracked , the temperature change from the water hitting his windshield from the car sitting in the heat all day , made a small crack in his windshiled shoot across the whole windshield to the other side . He said he could hear it moving across !

wolffman007

iTrader: (1)

Yeah JC whitney has them here for $260
here's the link
http://www.jcwhitney.com/productnoit...equestid=12694
Hmmm how many kids do I have to pawn to get one ?

TomP

I found an old set of Cragar louvers in a junkyard once; some jerk ripped the top half off and broke 'em, and just left them on the window. Friggin' shame. If people only knew how to take things (like dashboards and console covers) out of our cars, there'd be a lot more spare parts available from junkyards.

stuart69427

I had a set "similar" to the crager design, but the cragers are completly flat on the side peices now, as you can see, mine were raised, man I miss my louvers

igotslicksNchix

dayummmmmmmmmm stuard those louvres are HOT!. i want a set, i want them i want them. where can i get some? i MUST have

stuart69427

okfoz

I have a good Idea on what happened:
When they make tempered glass they chill the surface to put the glass under stress. This is done so when you break the glass it goes into reasonably harmless little pieces instead of long sharp shards that would cut you in half.

So you have ALOT of tension on the window. What happenes, is sometimes theres a small nick or imperfection in the glass, it might not even be visable to the naked eye. As the glass expands and contracts it irritates the blem area. Eventually it explodes because of the stress that is put on it, and it cant take it any more.

Storytime: Back in college I had a stereo cabinet that I used to use the glass top as a tray. One day I took the glass top out of my room to wash it. From the heat difference from my dorm room to the hallway, the glass exploded in my hand. Glass was everywhere for 10 feet. I figure it just gave up.

John

TZFBird

I got a set of louvers with the car when I got mine. I've had the louvers for 2 years now but can't figure out how to get the darn thing on. It's not the kind that bolts in with the whole window assmbly, this is the 3 piece kind like pictured above.

If anyone could let me know how that thing goes on, I would appriciate it. I think velcro would be good. The heavy duty kind that you stick to the 2 surfaces. We used that in our kitchen for a radio. The radio has been up for abotu 2 years and has not fallen down.

stuart69427

they are all 3 peices only way to make them fit the curve

If yours is like my picture above, if you sell the louvers to me, i'll tell you how to put them on

seriously, what are you haveing problems with. There are two peices that require takeing the top outer two bolts out of the hatch off to mount the plates. The top of each side peices screw on to there. Then ther is a long metal band that bolts the bottom of the two side peices together, "pulling" them together and onto the the hatch. The side peices have metal clips that "wrap around" the glass.

THen the center section (which is actually two peices bolted together, bolts onto the bottom of the side peices via a metal screw on the outside of the bottom louver. THe top two hinges that bolt onto the glass should be "attached" to the center section, mine wasn't, thats why i epoxyed it, which i never re-checked it, and the flew off busting both side peices and sratchings the center metal section to "H#ll".

stuart69427

Heres another pic...

:hail: :hail: Youre the dude with the cool headliner :hail: :hail:

TZFBird

Well, I got my old dirty louvers out after I saw a pic of your car with them on. I just have it setting on the hatch right now. I guess I am missing all the little pieces and clips. I only have the center section (decent condition...could use painting) and 2 side pieces (all bent, cracked, and distorted from the sun)

Anyway, I'm not sure what to do about the side pieces. If I really wanted this badly, I guess I could build a mold and make me some fiberglass pieces to attach to the sides.

But, I was wondering about the top. You answered the question I was going to ask you.

Anyway, I think I have an aftermarket set because There is no evidence of the hatch being unbolted. There are scratches all around the hatch where the....

You know what.... I am just going to take a ton of pics and you can tell me what I should do. I will be typing all day....
A pic is worth a thousand words. In this case anyway.
I'll be back with the pics in a day or less.

Oh, and thanks for the comp. on the headliner. I am going to help a friend put flames into his headliner on his Cavalier Z24. That's about the only other option besides a bowtie.

Sinoed

I feel for you. Anyone that says it can't happen doesn't know what they're talking about it happened to me too, but I happened to be standing about 2 feet away when it did. Just a word to the wise, you have to remove the interior panels in the back to get all of the glass out. After mine busted I had to take out most of the back panels to get it cleaned out properly. Check underneath the seats too, I found that the glass got everywhere.

TZFBird

Haha! I got a heatgun on the plastic and am re-shaping it back to it's origional shape. Should have that all done tomorrow and possibly start on making some brackets for the top of the center piece of the louver.I've also got some links to pics of the louver. If you could give me some help figureing this thing out.

pic1
pic2
pic3
pic4
pic5
pic6
pic7
Brand Name?
pic9

These 3 pices are all I have. I can make some brackets to bolt onto the window at the top where the hinges are. I might be able to find some clips, or fashion some clips for the side pieces. If anyone has a picture of what these clips look like, I would appriciate it.

stuart69427

I tore the WHOLE interior out, includeing the new carpet...

igotslicksNchix

i have an aero spoiler, i plan on taking it off. it seems like the clips for it just might be right for louvres as well(if you don't reinstall the spoiler) anyone???

stuart69427

OK, i think i might be able to help.

Looks like you have a whole different hook up...


See this... This looks like it doesn't need the "hinges" like i had, looks like that bolts directly to the glass with the screws already in there. Open the hatch up, and get a 1/2 inch opened wrench look at the top of the glass between the weatherstripping and the glass (you now the four black "stubs on the outside glass are bolts, the nuts can be accessed from the inside. You can remove both of the "outer" two bolts without worry about anything, the supports will hold all the wieght and the inside bolts will hold the glass to the car. Looks like only the outer bolts hols yours on too. Unbolt those and pull the bolt out, now stick it through the louvers the glass, and the hing and bolt back up.



WTF ???? I dunno how your gonna hook the bottom up, looks like that center peice should bolt onto the side peice, but from the other pics, I didn't see a spot to do that, That hole is just too far out from the looks of things, maybee you can tell me more?


Im curious as to what cuased that "square" indentation....


Looks like the bottom Pass side hookup, my ques would be that your missing something here. Cuase i still can't see a way to hook the center section onto the side peices.

ATOMonkey

Not really the outside is chilled so that it hardens first and as the inside cools it pulls the outside towards the center and puts the outside in compression. I don't know how the little pieces work.

When the hatch is down it has some stresses on it due to being pulled down. What happens is that the air inside the car begins to heat up and it heats the bottom side of the glass. The glass itself never gets hot from the sun because the light energy just passes through. The bottom side of the hatch is now expanding faster than the top side. This puts the outside into even more compression. Combine that with the physical stress of being pulled down and the stresses finally get to big and BOOOOM. Bye Bye glass. The windows work the same way. Tinted windows absorb all of the heat from the sun and tend to expand more evenly. They can break too though if they get rolled up real tight.

TZFBird

Well Stu.
I am missing all pieces even related to holding this thing on the car. I don't think I got anything when I bought the car. At least I don't remember getting anything. I am still trying to locate the manufacturer about getting the hardware to get this bad-boy on the car.

Upon taking a closer look at the pics I took, they are real bad at trying to figure things out. Anyway, the top cannot bolt to the hatch. Those holes are about 3/4" above the glass and the holes don't even line up with the bolts that hold the hatch on.

As for the bottom holes in the louver, I am going to use some suction cups on that part. So the bottom will just be held on by that. For the top holes, I am going to try to fashion some sort of clip that will clip onto the hatch around the edge and have that bolt onto the louvers.

AS for the side pieces, I am just going to use some Super Duty velcro-like strips. They can be found at Radio Shack. But instead of being ons side cloth ant the other side hooks, this stuff is basicly a piece of tiny mushroom shaped plastic hooks, which losk together about 100 times better than velcro. The adhesive side will come off better than the 2 halves will. So I won't have to worry much about the things falling off.

If all else fails, I might have to use the strips on the whole deal. Too bad I would have to drive around with a ton of these strips glued to the window if I decide to take the louvers off.

I am currently still trying to straighten the plastic side pieces, but I think the velcro like stuff will be my last ditch effort.

I do have 1 last question though. These side pieces left tons of little scratches in the glass. Is there any way to pad the underside of them so that they cannot vibrate and increase these scratches? I am about to just put a bunch of the foam insulation on it. The same stuff that keeps the center piece from touching the glass.

Peace out

Ward

iTrader: (1)

Yes, it is possible for heat to pop out a window. Think about it. Air expands when heated, thats how hot-air balloons work. When your car is parked in the sun with the windows up, heat starts building up inside the car like a greenhouse. The air inside your car can easily reach 120 or more degrees in 100 degree heat like we have here around Dallas. All the air in your car will try and expand but have nowhere to go, therefor increasing the pressure inside your car. Now tempered glass (all auto glass is tempered) does NOT like to bend at all, it is extremely brittle. And the rear hatch has a big flat spot which is not reinforced at all, so it could start to bend, which causes the glass to shatter into little tiny squares.

You can be sure of one thing, though, since your car did this, you must have damn good weather stripping! In the future, I would reccommend leaving your window cracked when you park in the sun. It doesnt have to be cracked much at all, just like 1/16", just enough to let the pressure out.

stuart69427

Any kind of padding would work, i quess...

I dunno if i would put those on if I was you, thats a lot of jerryrigging to do , mind you thats the fun part, however, it would make removal of those things a PITA andyou gotta remove them to clean the window every time you wash the car, or the window gets real dirty!

ATOMonkey

Actually hot air balloons have the same pressure inside the balloon as out. It's a bouyancy thing. The air in the balloon becomes less dense than the air outside. Density and pressure aren't the same thing.

There is absolutely no way in hell the sun can heat up the air in the car enough to make glass explode. If that was true then the pressure would equalize when you opened the door and you would feel lots of air rushing out.

Trust me here. Thermal stresses broke that window.

stuart69427

please explain that further

ATOMonkey

OK. When you blow a bubble under water it floats to the top right? It did that because air is lighter than water. What pressure do you think that bubble is at? It's the same pressure as the water. Think about it this way too. When you hold a cup upside down what pressure is inside the cup? Atmospheric. Now hold a lighter under the cup. What do you think the pressure is in there now? Atmospheric again. How many molecules of air are in the hot cup compared to the cold cup. Quite a bit fewer. The air in the cup is less dense than the air around it, but not at a higher pressure. That is why the balloon goes up. The pressure does not increase, because the cold air is pushed out of the balloon since there's a big hole in the bottom.

In your car the air gets to be 120*F when it's 100 degrees outside. The equation for an ideal gas which is what air is considered to be is

Pressure * Volume = number of molecules * Gas Constant * Temperature.

Some of these stay the same. Volume, number of molecules, and Gas Constant. That means that pressure is directly related to temperature.

So it's 1.2 times hotter in the car than outside. So the pressure is 1.2 times greater. Atmospheric pressure is 14.7 psi. 1.2 times 14.7 is 17.64. That means the difference in pressure is about 3 psi. You want to tell me that 3 psi is going to blow out the hatch? I don't think so. Even if it was 150*F in the car that is only 7.35 psi. You'd have to get like 150 psi to even start thinking about it.

However, a 20 degree temp difference on the glass is going to try and bend the glass. If it already has some stress on it that's just going to make it worse. Try this at home to see what I'm saying. Heat some water to 150*F. Put a glass cup in it and wait for the temp to stabilize (10-20 mins or so). Take that glass out and put it in your metal sink and stand back. You'll be cleaning glass out of that sink and the rest of the kitchen for about an hour. The cold side of the glass doesn't even get to room temp before it breaks, but it's probably close. For more extreme results apply pressure to it, or roll it in some ice.

Kaps

Your right about everything but one thing Mr. Wizard (j/k, old nickalodian show, lol) You cant boil water to 150*F.

I dont know, just wanted to feel smart, lol SORRY

igotslicksNchix

technically kaps, your right, the boiling point of water is more than 150, but i forgot what the boiling point of water is in F, but i do know that it's 100*C

Sinoed

I would have done the same except for the fact that I had just finished installing brand spanking new carpet about two days prior. I had already removed the interior and replaced it with new when the damn thing broke on me! I was just lucky enough that I hadn't yet put the rear seats back in so they were ok. I was unfortunate enough to have to remove some of the tools and excess peices out of the back because they were sitting in the back and managed to get filled with glass shards. Of course after I had spread out all of the tools across my driveway, glass everywhere and all over me it started to pour rain. I mean really pour, I was expecting the Ark to show up! My poor car was out in the pouring rain, I pulled some plastic tarps over the back because I needed to get a new hatch but it didn't seem to matter.. the next day I vaccumed out over 5 gallons of water out of the back trunk. Which of course lifted the brand new carpet which had to be reinstalled again.. That was the absolute worst day in my restoration career and the end of a perfectly rotten day from start to finish. I seriously contemplated pushing it over a cliff or setting fire to it so I could write it off and claim insurance.. :P

okfoz

With your thinking it might behoove you to consider that a 1psi increase on our hatch would probably explode it out of the car...

When you consider that psi is "Pounds per Square Inch"
figure that our hatch is about 4'x4' that equates to 2304 SQUARE INCHES...

IF you take 1 pound per Square Inch thats 2304 Pounds of pressure pressing outward on our hatch area. 3psi would be 6912 lbs of pressure... Blow it out, you bet your butt, I think it might even total the car parked behind you (not really)...

John

stuart69427

now thats a bad day, i had m new carpet in for about a week, so i had finished putting my whole interior back together, so i had to tear it apart again. I take it you"adheased your carpet down to the floor, luckly i had not (i haven't sound proofed the car yet) or else that would have been a pain.

Thankx for the info on the pressure/ density...

Sinoed

Yup, a really bad day for sure.

Hey who was it that wanted louvres?? I don't think you can get a set nicer than this!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...tem=1846996497

dbarker02

I was standing behind the car WHEN it happened to.. got glass all over me... i flipped down the plate & bent down to put the key in it & BOOM! instant explosion... sucked a$$ too... luckily that was in the junk yard.... however mine shattered into the car during the winter too... it had gotten to cold & cracked from top to bottom all the way threw.. then my cat jumped on it & it shattered into my car... anyway, i guess im not good w/ the rear hatch.. ive had one explode on me & one shatter too... man it sucks bad...