BY BARRY KLUCZYKImages by THE AUTHOR

here’s nothing like original sheetmetal on a vintage car, but original glass is a different story. Scratches, pitting, hazing, and more can detract from an otherwise-strong appearance.

That was the dilemma Mark Stielow faced with his latest Camaro project, so he had Sled Alley replace all its glass, including the door windows. Dropping in the new windshield and rear window were straightforward enough, but the intricacies of the door windows are what prompted us to following along and take notes.

If you’ve never attempted it, replacing the door glass on a vintage Chevy can seem easy enough at first but can quickly turn into a maddening exercise. Fine adjustments must be made to the fore/after positioning, along with the front-to-rear tilt, in order to position the glass correctly and frame it properly in the door opening.

It is particularly challenging on A-bodies, F-bodies, and other models with frameless door windows. Getting it wrong can lead to interference with the rear quarter-window or gaps at the surrounding window rubber that can create the sort of annoying wind noise that sends a spouse to a dating app after about 15 minutes on the highway.

“Installing the glass is the easy part—it’s nailing the adjustments that really take time and attention to detail,” Matt Gurjack of Sled Alley says. “Seemingly small adjustments can make a big difference and you’ve got to make sure everything is spot-on and fits tightly against the seals if you don’t want those wind leaks.”

All the glass for this project came in a package from Heartbeat City. Stielow specified the Soft Ray–style green-tinted glass of the RPO A01 option for 1969, which included subtle yet noticeable green tinting on the door windows, quarter-windows, and rear window as well as the windshield. There was also an A02 option that included tint only on the windshield, while entirely non-tinted glass was standard. Just less than half of all 1969 Camaros were ordered with the A01 all-tinted glass.

The glass and hardware are the same for 1968 and 1969 Camaros, while the 1967 models have their own glass of course because of the doors’ vent windows. Fortunately, the door hardware for all is readily available. While the glass is also relatively easy to find, Matt Gurjack says the quality of the glass from Heartbeat City, which comes from manufacturer PMK Diamond Glass, is his preference.

“It’s very good and we’ve never had any problems fitting it,” he says.

Overall, this is a project that virtually any enthusiast could tackle and expect excellent results, as long as the time is taken to sweat the adjustment details. Sled Alley has worked on more early Camaros than TikTok has videos of people opening Amazon packages, so they’re able to fly through the installation and adjustments quickly, but a first-timer should be able to do each door’s glass installation and adjustments in less than two hours.

That makes it a good, DIY project for a weekend afternoon—and compared to settling for cleaned-up but scratched or hazed original windows, the results couldn’t be clearer.

2. The quarter-windows have already been installed at this stage, but more importantly, so have the door rubbers. Because the glass seals against them when the doors are closed, having them in place prior to installing the door glass is the only way to ensure they fit and seal properly.

4. Holes at the bottom of the glass are for the roller guideplates and the studs that hold the door’s regulator roller channel in place.

6. After the roller guideplates are installed, they’re greased to provide low-friction movement.

8. Before the glass is slipped into the door, some tape is laid on the bare edge of the inner door panels to prevent scratching.

10. In goes the window. It takes some finessing to get the rollers of the guideplate into the gap between in the inner and outer doorskins, but the easiest way is to tip the front of the glass down into the gap and get the front roller into the guide channel.

12. Next, the glass is bolted to the regulator.

14. At the rear of the door, the stop that limits the travel of the glass is installed and left loose for adjustment.

15. Before getting too far into the adjustments, it’s worth a quick primer of the door’s various adjustment locations and functions. The “A” positions adjust the fore/aft position of the glass. The “B” positions adjust the front/rear tilt of the glass. The “C” positions move the glass in/out in relation to the glass against the door seals.

17. This bar, along with the corresponding adjustment point at the front of the glass enables the window to move forward to position it squarely in the door opening.

19. But! The glass doesn’t quite come up and seal against the rubber at the front. The gap here would not only promote water intrusion but it would also create a heck of a wind noise.

20. Adjustments with the tilt positions and the stop limiters helped get the front of the glass into the proper position. It’s a lot of small, give-and-take adjustments at this stage to get the glass just right.

22. After about an hour of finessing, the glass has been adjusted and positioned properly and all the fasteners are tightened for the final time.

23. Fresh glass and fresh seals should make for a quieter driving experience. The project isn’t difficult, but absolutely requires time, patience, and a good eye for detail.

25. Sled Alley’s Matt Gurjack finds the replacement aftermarket mirror glass for the second-gen mirrors don’t typically fit the housings. They’re typically too large, so he rubs the edges on sandpaper until the fit is just right.