While at the local salvage yard, some time ago, I found a nice quarter glass for the Oldsmobile's passenger side. It even came complete with stickers and some grease pencil graffiti. Knowing how rarely I ever find a car of this particular vintage (95) there, I grabbed it and paid only about ten dollars for the glass. Thinking I'd just saved a good bit of money, I wandered over to the glass repair shop next door and was promptly told that, unless I'd also gotten the entire gasket and frame assembly, it would be impossible to replace with just the glass. If there's one thing I hate, it's being told something is impossible when it's merely difficult.
While it's not strictly necessary to remove the inner door panel, it does male it easier to wiggle the new glass in when it's time. The first order of business is to remove the two torx screws inside the door handle. This should be simple enough.
Then there's this little square of plastic just behind the door handle that will need prying out. This plastic finishing piece has seen better days. You can leave it in place, this one fell out.
The door panel is pried off starting at the bottom. Once you reach the top it will need to be pulled upwards and away from the door. Careful with the wiring and be prepared to get new clips just in case.
I can't recall why I removed this plastic rivet and trim piece towards the front of the door. It may, or may not, be important to do so. Probably not.
This plastic trim can be pried off fairly easily with little risk of damage, unless the plastic has become brittle. There's three screws under it that need to come out.
Now is the time to carefully separate the rubber gasket/trim from the door frame. A putty knife is handy and a razor blade better if you're careful to avoid cutting the soft rubber. The screws under this and the plastic trim should also be removed.
The center bar lifts up fairly easily as long as you remember that it's also a guide channel for the main window. The back corner of the rubber will require a bit more work to avoid tearing. In the end, I just yanked it out with my hand as close to the bottom as possible while prying under it with a screwdriver.
When I removed the glass at the scrap yard, I took the center bar of the other vehicle with it. Removing it is just a matter of tearing off the rubber on top, spraying the bar with WD-40 into the channel where the glass sits and pulling the glass out carefully. Leave the metal clips in place.
The glass bits and old adhesive in the original upright can be persuaded with a screwdriver and hammer. The glass in the rubber top gasket can be pulled out with needle nose pliers grabbing the old adhesive, which likes to come out in strips. Make sure you get any glass out of the door, also.
Here it is snapped into place. None of the screws are in and the plastic corner piece is still out, but I'll pull it back out and finish up tomorrow when I obtain some windshield adhesive. For now: at least the local cats can't use it as a fleabag motel anymore.
Reassemble in reverse order of disassembly, only use new glue.
Standard disclaimer applies.
