Rabat Matt
Member
This isn't too relevant if you live in the land of readily available Landy parts, but out here a brand-new aftermarket windscreen (Plan A) for a 20-year old Disco is pretty well impossible to find: everybody said they had one, but it always turned out to be a Disco 2 windscreen - about an inch too big in every direction.
Plan B: find a junkyard windscreen. Against the odds, this one worked for me - there was one left in a junked TA model. I cut it out using (a) a patient friend (b) a putty knife and a bicycle brake wire (abrasive and strong) and (c) equal measures of sweat and patience. Lesson learned: cut it out w/ the seals attached to it. There's no reason to lever them out separately, and it really messes them up. Other lesson learned: avoid tea brewed in a breaker's yard. It will make you feel strange for hours.
Plan C: cut down a Disco 2 or 1990s Range Rover windscreen (don't know exact year but it was about .5" two wide and had the right curve), both of which are just a wee bit big. I didn't have to follow through on this, but I'm pretty sure I could have. I got a practice windscreen and sliced off several strips successfully using a diamond blade on my angle grinder. I cut with one hand and siphoned water onto the blade with the other. Once the first layer is cut through, slice out the plastic with a knife - this will show you where there's still glass to remove by turning the glass opaque. It takes 15-20 light cuts down each side of the kerf but eventually the laminate comes out in a strip. Then rinse and repeat, keeping plenty of water flowing over the blade. Lesson learned: go slow and light and keep the blade at a 90 degree angle to the glass. Whatever you do, don't think about how you're standing in a spreading lake of water operating a power tool with a dodgy ground wire - that'll distract you from keeping the blade straight and you'll crack the glass.
Plan B: find a junkyard windscreen. Against the odds, this one worked for me - there was one left in a junked TA model. I cut it out using (a) a patient friend (b) a putty knife and a bicycle brake wire (abrasive and strong) and (c) equal measures of sweat and patience. Lesson learned: cut it out w/ the seals attached to it. There's no reason to lever them out separately, and it really messes them up. Other lesson learned: avoid tea brewed in a breaker's yard. It will make you feel strange for hours.
Plan C: cut down a Disco 2 or 1990s Range Rover windscreen (don't know exact year but it was about .5" two wide and had the right curve), both of which are just a wee bit big. I didn't have to follow through on this, but I'm pretty sure I could have. I got a practice windscreen and sliced off several strips successfully using a diamond blade on my angle grinder. I cut with one hand and siphoned water onto the blade with the other. Once the first layer is cut through, slice out the plastic with a knife - this will show you where there's still glass to remove by turning the glass opaque. It takes 15-20 light cuts down each side of the kerf but eventually the laminate comes out in a strip. Then rinse and repeat, keeping plenty of water flowing over the blade. Lesson learned: go slow and light and keep the blade at a 90 degree angle to the glass. Whatever you do, don't think about how you're standing in a spreading lake of water operating a power tool with a dodgy ground wire - that'll distract you from keeping the blade straight and you'll crack the glass.
