So I'm constantly jealous of the jeeps/broncos/blazers/etc of the world for their ability to open their rear glass. I had an extra door laying around, so I did something about it. I cut the door in half, painted it, moved the inside handle to the top because I dickered up the outside handle, and threw on some buttons, straps, and a 30ga plastic window. It looks OK enough and seems to work well. Here's the pictures.





So far to works fine, we'll see for sure when it rains. I expect it to leak a little, hopefully not much. That said, I may eventually switch to plexiglass that will fold up and down and easily come completely off. If I do that I'll have to love the spare inside or to the roof.

Exhaust fumes with it open are kinda rough, especially with the duals and high flow cats, but I've got some upcoming exhaust work (headers and a de-cat. I'll do a write up on how to fool the rear O2s also, because I think I've figured it out.), so I'll just have it dump in front of the rear wheel on each side when I do that.

I'll also throw up some more up close pictures in a bit so you can get a better look.

 

dang, ain't seen that one before! the bottom of the plastic looks perfect. the sides are pretty good, but that top part could maybe use a re-do. I imagine it took some time to do. get that top part squared away and I bet you'll have a leak-proof, not too noisy, removable back window. nice work.

 

Thanks! I actually did a little more work to the top this morning (I ran out of roofing screws last night, found another pack I had this morning and finished it up) and I think it's better now. I'm uploading the pictures from my phone now.

A few things I'm going to change. One is that I got the alignment of the left hand side buttons a little bit off, so I've ordered more buttons and I'm going to fix that up. The second is that I'm going to add one more button to the bottom, above where the original handle was. Third, I'm going to have to put something over the handle holes on the door. I'll probably use some black window seal adhesive I've got and just put a plate over it or something. I also need to find a place to put another decal like the one I had on my old door. I can't have my baby going around without everyone knowing her name!

 

I was lucky that the buttons I ordered were the exact same size as the screws that hold the quarter panels on, so I didn't have to add any holes to the sides. I also used some velcro straps I found on ebay so I could tie it up and then used roofing screws from WalMart around the top to hold the plastic in place.

 

That's a really cool idea, but have you considered just doing it as a zippered connection to eliminate leaks? Just unzip the entire thing and stow it in a side bin when not in use.

Window material:

Crystal Clear Vinyl Window Material 54" x 110" 30 Gauge

Heavy-duty bidirectional zipper:

YKK® Zipper #10 Vislon Finished Black Double Pull

I'm sure that service shop that deals with pop-up campers or boats could stitch it together for you affordably.

 

I considered that, but then I wasn't really sure how to comment the zipper to the body itself other than, possibly, double sided tape which I didn't like the thought of because I want to retain the ability to easily put the factory door back in the winter without having a mess to deal with.

I am going to try something along the sides to further prevent leaks such as the door jam foam you can get for house doors.

 

Understood, you're trying to avoid a permanent modification.

In that case, with that spare door, you could have left the entire window frame and just removed the glass, replacing it with a zippered window with the zipper riveted to the window frame.

 

For those interested, here are links to what I bought.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=231560955637&globalID=EB AY-US

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=271764864113&globalID=EB AY-US

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=221569913836&globalID=EB AY-US

 

You are correct, and that is what I should have done. I was attempting to save the glass so that I could remove it and sell it or keep it for a spare. That said, I accidentally shattered it in the process anyway. Oh well, live and learn.

I do still have the upper from, so if I ever decided I could have it welded back on, bondo, and repaint. If I decide to go to plexiglass that may be exactly what I do.

 

An update since it just came an absolute downpour for about an hour, no water at all made it past the plastic. I'm amazed at how well it worked. Theres no dampness and not even a single drop inside anywhere.