Projects Shade tree Model A speedster kind of thing

I used to make a lot of snowmobile windshields out of poly carbonates Lexan, Uvex, etc. for our mountain climbing hot rods. Soft stuff compared to plexiglass. Snowmobile could roll over it even when it was pretty cold out (below zero) usually without damage. It would also fold out of the way and not damage the operator when the machine stopped but he didn't, haha. Poly's are soft , so they scratch more easily and would need some sort of stiffener at the top to keep from bowing back with wind pressure.
My best choice would be glass and when you take it to the dirt track, remove the windshield or at least fold it down.

 

Thank you for the information. I was thinking that the rear window of an older full size truck would work, but some research revealed that non-windshield automotive glass is usually tempered, and only the windshields can be cut. I'm thinking of something like a jeep CJ or Wrangler windshield now, or I might just bite the bullet and buy a new piece of glass.

Either way, I need to be able to hold the windshield to the frame. I grooved a couple of pieces of Tulip Poplar:



Marked and trimmed:



Glued and screwed:



I cleaned and roughed up the metal parts and spray-bombed the whole business with a little sandable primer:













Sorry it's so picture heavy, but I use this thread to document this business for myself, as well as anybody who's interested. I like the way it presents the pictures in chronological order, as opposed to a miscellaneous jumble in the ether somewhere. Best wishes to all.

 

Oh please... We love it!

Nobody in the history of the Hamb has ever said, "I wish this thread had fewer pics"...

 

The enjoyment you're getting from your speedster is to be envied by us all. Keep fixing and improving and enjoying your speedster and be sure to keep including us.

Lynn

 

I've enjoyed watching as you've done what you could with what you've had and letting the build sort of evolve by itself. Keep the pics and documentary coming, everything just continues to get better!

Ed

 

If you really want to use glass, I restored an old military truck and needed some glass for the windshield. went to a regular Auto Glass shop and they cut the piece to size from automotive safety glass and it wasn't that expensive, even if you want tinted glass. Just take your plywood pattern and they should be able to do it. If you decide to go with plastic just always clean it with water to get any grit off and use a good plastic polish after and it should stay scratch free. Biggest caution is don't ever wipe it with paper towels as they will scratch it.

 

Thank you, guys. @64 DODGE 440, I'll look into that on Monday. We have a local shop that's been in business since the 60's, and I try my best to support local folks, especially these days. I do think glass would be best, for the law of course, but mainly because of what you said about grit and scratches. I hope to get a lot of grit on this in the future.

 

Take along some pictures of the car. Your glass guy might get excited about it and apply the "smokin' deal" discount. Better yet, drive it down there.

 

Well, this represents quite a few evenings and early mornings of piddling. The Georgia law requires a windshield made of safety glass (which I'm still working on), and wipers that are operated by the driver. I'm in serious danger of getting too cute here, (as a matter of principle, I don't like things that are over accessorized) but in the interest of legality, here goes.

The MG TD has really slick little wipers. They mount to the top frame of the windshield, along with their kind of clunky motor. I'm not interested in the motor, and I won't have a top frame on my windshield, so I decided to put them at the bottom:



I drilled and tapped these little bronze doohickeys to glue in those holes and accept the threaded bushings the wiper shafts run in.



It was a mess of trial and error to get these things positioned so that they would do their job and still let the windshield fold. After I glued the bronze sockets in, I realized that the passenger side wiper was too high, and the windshield hit it before it got folded all the way down. Had to hole saw it out, rasp the hole lower, and glue it back in. Still hit, so I reduced the top part of those bushings (that the wrench grabs) as far as I could. Compare to the first picture. It was still just the tiniest bit too high, so I did a little cosmetic surgery on the wiper arm itself with the edge sander.



You can see I had to bend, shorten, and splice the connecting rod to allow everything to work. It was originally straight, but the little receivers on the wiper arms wouldn't allow me to drop them down onto the frame, so I had to put those opposing bends in. Here they are at rest ready to fold, and up ready to wipe:





Again, I'm sorry for the blurry pictures. I'll eventually replace this phone, but it's not a priority right now.

Next, I had to figure out a connection to the actuator handle I was planning. The problem was that I needed it to be able to disconnect so I could park the wipers on the frame. I came up with this mess. The little collar has two cross-pins that ride in those slots. The long slot lets me pull it back far enough to disengage the wiper arm, but keep it captive in the collar. The spring applies enough pressure to keep it all together. It's a little wobbly, on purpose, so I didn't have to worry about lining it all up too perfectly, it acts as a tiny U-joint. It'll make more sense in the video. The windshield is to the left, my little aluminum cowl is to the right.






I turned a bronze socket for the right hand side of that mess to rest in, carefully wallowed out the hole in the aluminum with a chainsaw file, and glued the socket into the cowl with thickened epoxy. I was going to make a little soldered on collar for it and screw it to the aluminum, to be era-correct, but I was getting a little tired of fooling with it and took the easy, modern approach. Maybe one day I'll fix it right. Slapped together a handle and called it a day. Here's a video of all of it:



It gets a little wonky towards the end because I have to hold the little collar back with one hand while I park the wipers with the other. Sorry again for the*****py video quality. Best of luck to all.

 

Very nice! Gonna need a little rubber bumper on the cowl for the glass to sit on when folded down?

Dave

 

@dwollam, it actually won't hit the cowl, folded. I re-watched the video, and I let it go too far when I folded it. I haven't mentioned it, but the MG apparatus has a little countersink at each end of the brackets, just tighten the wingnuts once it's folded and it pops up about 1/4" off of the cowl and is held there. The wingnuts are flat, so I think there were originally little conical washers between the nuts and the brackets. Mine doesn't have them, but I'll make some.

 

Oh, that's a nice feature to hold the windshield in the folded position. Earlier I was wondering if there was some type of locking mechanism.
But I'll bet that with all the bumps, vibration, and the wind at speed, that 1/4 inch will not be enough to prevent some tapping. I could be wrong, tho...
Top notch stuff going on here - I love it.

 

Marine supply places have clamp on manually operated wipers. But your system seems to meet your situation.

 

Really neat. Everything you do is just plain cool.............

 

This isn't very dramatic, but I fixed those wing-nuts so that they would hold the windshield right. Pretty simple stuff, but I didn't have a lot of time this morning, so this job was a good fit. I think the pictures tell the story.









You can see that gap of around 1/4". It looks like it's sitting on my hood rod clamp, but that's just the angle. I'm not sure if it's going to hit the body or not. The windshield arms are held pretty solidly by this arrangement, but I'll probably put some kind of temporary padding under it until I figure that out.

 

Well, I got a used Suzuki Samurai windshield and tried my hand at glass cutting. The good news is that I have a windshield, the bad news is that I screwed up my first time cutting the bottom curve and had to move the pattern up the windshield a couple of inches and try again. I was successful that time, but I couldn't avoid the little modern black writing in the corner. It kind of has the wrong vibe. Add to that, it's even upside down. Hahaha. I'll keep my eyes open for another flat windshield and redo it, one of these days, maybe. Anyway, I bedded the glass with some gooey black stuff, letting it dry. Hopefully I can get a little drive in tomorrow morning. Our lockdown in GA has expired, so discretionary travel is OK again.







I'm hoping it will be strong enough without any framing on the top and bottom. If it breaks, at least I'll be able to do something about that writing. Hahaha.

 

That little black writing in the corner is what tells inspector it is safety glass. Unsure if u mean u lost it or just upside down - that should not be a problem. Car inspection always depends on personality hates & likes, gotta be nice to em

 

Yeah, but we don't have inspections down here. Plus, you can see from the top edge it's safety glass. I was trying to avoid having the writing at all, just thought it didn't fit aesthetically. It's no big deal, just ended up in the top right hand corner, upside down. That was the only solution, with the glass I had left.

 

Put a little sticker over the printing, on both sides of the glass so it can't be seen. We had a Perfect Circle piston ring decals on the drivers side rear window on our '40 Tudor sedan for years. Someone had shot a hole in it!

Dave

 

Cool! I'll lay you odds that annoying writing will disappear in a few months, at least as far as you're concerned.

 

Get some glazier's tape wrap it over the top edge to seagl it and cover the label and some on the bottom to damp vibrations or body twist.

 

Here's a crazy solution: Misdirection!

First, get yourself a Hamb tag topper. They're about 3" wide.



Cut the tab off and solder on a little clip that will hold it to the upper edge of the windshield. Postion it over or close to the offending lettering. Everyone will be so dazzled by the topper, the lettering will be ignored. Just like the magicians do it.

 

Good ideas. I didn’t get to go for a drive this morning, but I at least got to pull around to my little picture spot so I could step back and get some perspective. I think it looks a little Chitty Chitty Bang Bang in the up positionbut I can get used to it. Folded down I really like it. A lot less obtrusive with glass than with plywood. Video:

 

Looks great!

 

I didn't really like the windshield at first but damn it sort of grows on ya. Very nice(as always)

 

Rusty,
Thank you. It’s kind of a necessary evil, but I’m getting used to it. Like I said, folded down it’s fine. Not perfect up, but its growing on me, as well.

 

Mine grew on me. At first it seemed "old time buggy." But that was just the shock of the change. Now I like it. I like yours, and the fold-down feature is a total bonus.

 

Lol, you'll probably become a big fan the first time you get caught in a little thunder shower.

 

Dang, that's nice. You've got a good eye, and the implementation of all the details is amazing.

 

Looks Great just like the rest of your car!