Here’s a DIY for those of you who want gullwing windows on your 80 but either can’t afford the $1k-$2.5k price tag for a set or have struggled with the scarcity of availability of those options (Out of Stock, long shipping delays from AU or SA, or, *ahem*, vendors refusing to answer and ignoring your inquiries for months on end as to when their product may be back in stock)
Materials:
Aluminum sheet- 1/8” (4’ x 3’) 5052 or 6061. I would argue that 6061 would be preferable as it is slightly stiffer. Steer clear from 3003, which may be more readily available and slightly cheaper, but will bend and deform more easily. Go to your local metal/steel supply place. If they don’t have it, they’ll know where you can get it. Note: This is enough for BOTH sides.
Hinges – (2) Leer PN #71541 A ‘commonly’ used hinge is this Leer truck cap hinge. I’ve only found it on truckoutfittersplus.com. Your local truck cap vendor who sells Leer camper shells will probably be able to order it as a replacement part. Caution: this part has (2) threaded holes to secure to the window. Commonly available ones that you may see with a google search only have (1) threaded hole and a locater pin. Make sure you order the right one.
Alternate: Be creative. These are hardly the only hinges out there that will work. Aluminum or Steel hinges will work just as well. There is nothing special about these hinges that make them the only option.
Screws – (2) ¼”-20 x 3/4” long Allen button head bolt. This will replace the #10-24 captured bolt that comes with the hinges. This is used to attach the hinge to the window frame on the cruiser.
Latches – (2) “Amazon Special” Compression Latch. These latches are flush, locking, and barely discernible from the more expensive Southco latches that they are direct copies of. If you order 2 sets (4 latches) at the same time you might get lucky enough for them to be from the same lot and keyed alike, like I did. Link: Compression Latches
Alternate: Southco C5-31-35 for those who want the $$$ option.
Cruiser window rubber trim – 10’ Trimlok 3/32” edge x 3/8” inside. McMasterCarr PN# 24175K13. Cut to fit. This rubber trim fit nice and snug around the exposed sheet metal standing seam on the cruiser. This product wasn’t as ‘deep’ as I’d like, at 3/8” so I will order a different version somewhere around 5/8” deep. I'll update this post when I do.
Gullwing window bulb trim – 10’ Trimlok 1/8” edge with ¾” bulb on one side. McMasterCarr PN# 1120A573. Cut to fit.
Optional – The ‘accepted’ method of attaching the hinge to the truck body involves tapping a 1/4” hole in the body and screwing the allen head bolt into it. The material here is only a single thickness of body sheet metal. What, 18g? That is MAYBE a single thread engagement. Entirely unacceptable to me, but I guess acceptable to some. This is actually worse than using sheet metal screws, as they at least use a wider thread to spread the load out a LITTLE bit more. “Well no one has complained about them pulling through so far.” That’s a bull**** excuse for design. Now since I already had my headliner down (maybe an extra 1/2hr of work) I decided to drill some ¾” holes to access the ¼” bolts and add a washer and a nylock nut to each.
Cost:
Aluminum Sheet - $120 ($60 for each side)
Hinges - $80
Latches - $42
Screws - pennies
Window trim - $27
Gullwing trim - $11
Shipping ~$20
Total per side - $240.pennies
Steps -
I'm not going to get too in depth here as there already exists some information on either Youtube or vendor sites. I won't link them here, but if you'd like to, you're more than welcome to link them in the comments below to help others.
1. Remove the rear sliding window assembly. Go buy the trim removal kit from harbor freight for like $6. Work on the inner lip of the rubber from inside the car. Work your way around, pushing the rubber out. The window will pop out easily once you get about 1/4 of the way.
2. Clean all the dirt and crap that's accumulated, and admire the shiny new un-sun-faded color that your cruiser used to be.
3. Trace the outside window opening onto some cardboard. This will take several tries of getting the right size, tracing/trimming/trying again. Patience, young grasshopper. Step #6 is coming.
4. Draw a line inside the outline of the template about 3/8" from the edge. This will give room for the edging and gap/tolerance. (Basically reduce the size of your template by 3/8" all around. At this time I transferred my template to some 1/8" particle board I had laying around. I then installed the edging with side tube. I test fit again until I was satisfied with the size. Note: the top and bottom are perfectly straight, although I did not check if they were parallel. The sides are curved.
5. Skip to step #6.
6. Have a beer.
7. Install edging onto the cruiser window opening.
8. Modify the hinges. The hinges I called out on the materials list only open about 60deg. We need this to be like 120deg. There is a stop molded into the geometry of the part. just sand off this excess until it is rounded and the hinge opens all the way.
From this:
To this:
9. Mock up the hinge location. Where they lie side to side is arbitrary, but I put mine about 7 inches in from the sides. To locate the hinge in comparison to the edge, just butt up the hinge when it is 90deg closed and pull it down until it stops. Now trace the hinge on the template. Measure the location of the holes and drill/install hinges.
Cont'd
Materials:
Aluminum sheet- 1/8” (4’ x 3’) 5052 or 6061. I would argue that 6061 would be preferable as it is slightly stiffer. Steer clear from 3003, which may be more readily available and slightly cheaper, but will bend and deform more easily. Go to your local metal/steel supply place. If they don’t have it, they’ll know where you can get it. Note: This is enough for BOTH sides.
Hinges – (2) Leer PN #71541 A ‘commonly’ used hinge is this Leer truck cap hinge. I’ve only found it on truckoutfittersplus.com. Your local truck cap vendor who sells Leer camper shells will probably be able to order it as a replacement part. Caution: this part has (2) threaded holes to secure to the window. Commonly available ones that you may see with a google search only have (1) threaded hole and a locater pin. Make sure you order the right one.
Alternate: Be creative. These are hardly the only hinges out there that will work. Aluminum or Steel hinges will work just as well. There is nothing special about these hinges that make them the only option.
Screws – (2) ¼”-20 x 3/4” long Allen button head bolt. This will replace the #10-24 captured bolt that comes with the hinges. This is used to attach the hinge to the window frame on the cruiser.
Latches – (2) “Amazon Special” Compression Latch. These latches are flush, locking, and barely discernible from the more expensive Southco latches that they are direct copies of. If you order 2 sets (4 latches) at the same time you might get lucky enough for them to be from the same lot and keyed alike, like I did. Link: Compression Latches
Alternate: Southco C5-31-35 for those who want the $$$ option.
Cruiser window rubber trim – 10’ Trimlok 3/32” edge x 3/8” inside. McMasterCarr PN# 24175K13. Cut to fit. This rubber trim fit nice and snug around the exposed sheet metal standing seam on the cruiser. This product wasn’t as ‘deep’ as I’d like, at 3/8” so I will order a different version somewhere around 5/8” deep. I'll update this post when I do.
Gullwing window bulb trim – 10’ Trimlok 1/8” edge with ¾” bulb on one side. McMasterCarr PN# 1120A573. Cut to fit.
Optional – The ‘accepted’ method of attaching the hinge to the truck body involves tapping a 1/4” hole in the body and screwing the allen head bolt into it. The material here is only a single thickness of body sheet metal. What, 18g? That is MAYBE a single thread engagement. Entirely unacceptable to me, but I guess acceptable to some. This is actually worse than using sheet metal screws, as they at least use a wider thread to spread the load out a LITTLE bit more. “Well no one has complained about them pulling through so far.” That’s a bull**** excuse for design. Now since I already had my headliner down (maybe an extra 1/2hr of work) I decided to drill some ¾” holes to access the ¼” bolts and add a washer and a nylock nut to each.
Cost:
Aluminum Sheet - $120 ($60 for each side)
Hinges - $80
Latches - $42
Screws - pennies
Window trim - $27
Gullwing trim - $11
Shipping ~$20
Total per side - $240.pennies
Steps -
I'm not going to get too in depth here as there already exists some information on either Youtube or vendor sites. I won't link them here, but if you'd like to, you're more than welcome to link them in the comments below to help others.
1. Remove the rear sliding window assembly. Go buy the trim removal kit from harbor freight for like $6. Work on the inner lip of the rubber from inside the car. Work your way around, pushing the rubber out. The window will pop out easily once you get about 1/4 of the way.
2. Clean all the dirt and crap that's accumulated, and admire the shiny new un-sun-faded color that your cruiser used to be.
3. Trace the outside window opening onto some cardboard. This will take several tries of getting the right size, tracing/trimming/trying again. Patience, young grasshopper. Step #6 is coming.
4. Draw a line inside the outline of the template about 3/8" from the edge. This will give room for the edging and gap/tolerance. (Basically reduce the size of your template by 3/8" all around. At this time I transferred my template to some 1/8" particle board I had laying around. I then installed the edging with side tube. I test fit again until I was satisfied with the size. Note: the top and bottom are perfectly straight, although I did not check if they were parallel. The sides are curved.
5. Skip to step #6.
6. Have a beer.
7. Install edging onto the cruiser window opening.
8. Modify the hinges. The hinges I called out on the materials list only open about 60deg. We need this to be like 120deg. There is a stop molded into the geometry of the part. just sand off this excess until it is rounded and the hinge opens all the way.
From this:
To this:
9. Mock up the hinge location. Where they lie side to side is arbitrary, but I put mine about 7 inches in from the sides. To locate the hinge in comparison to the edge, just butt up the hinge when it is 90deg closed and pull it down until it stops. Now trace the hinge on the template. Measure the location of the holes and drill/install hinges.
Cont'd
Last edited:
