Just placed this 1932 windshield frame across the fiberglass ‘32 body I have. Is hi gap normal if not how souls a close that gap. Body is not on a frame yet, and still in gel coat. There is no steel support within the frame yet either.
Who made your windshield frame and who made your body? You appear to have too much curve in the bottom rail of your frame and not enough curve in the cowl. Also is your body a 3 or 5 window?
No, it should follow the same contours/ lines this photo is probably not much help, - it is a reproduction alloy one and it does follow the lines almost perfectly. It has the roadster rubber seal on it which makes it look a little different than normal.
Is this body the one in your avatar? If it is, it isn't a 32, it's close to a 33/34, but not correct for those years either. To answer your question, no the gap shouldn't be there.
all of your other posts relate to a ‘32 roadster that you are building. Is what you have there possibly a ‘32 closed car windshield frame ? The roadster frame is quite different, although I don’t know if the curvature is any different. Maybe verify a few more details and more photos from further back to get more accurate help. Regardless, the body still looks flat………..
Thanks for your help. The body is a roaster, don’t know who made it. I bought the windshield at Hershey last October. It has a 2” chop and I plan on making it a 3” chop.
You can probably close some of that gap by leaning the windshield back a bit but without inner support structure I wonder if the center of the cowl dropped some because it was pulled from the mold before it was properly cured? Or maybe the mold wasn't built correctly in that area.
On a correct '32 roadster frame there is a rubber gasket that slides into a groove at the bottom of the frame to seal the gap, but your gap seems excessive.
The cowl looks really out of shape to me. I think it will have to be cut and reshaped. I would be happy to make patterns for you. I would make one at the front and one where the windshield fits. I have a Henry roadster. If you have a hood, you could check it’s fit to the cowl. I would like to see more pics of the body.
Thanks. I have a local rodder who is also building a ‘32 roadster so I’ll check my windshield on his car for a gap.
It's hard to tell what you're taking photos of. Is that the top of the cowl, with no firewall in place? Like Andy said, that looks like the shape of the top of the cowl is all wrong. An unsupported, unbraced body WILL change shape (deform) is left setting around, has stuff stacked on it, moved, not on a frame, etc. We also can't tell, or I can't, if you have a closed or open car frame, or if it's even a '32 frame. You need stantions, posts, EVERYTHING, to mock it up to see if whatever you've got fits whatever body you have.
Fiberglass has what I think is called a reformation temperature. When it is molded, it has a temperature that it will be plyable again. It is like 40 degrees higher than the set up temperature. If it was molded in the winter and has not set in the sun, It possibly can be re shaped. A friend had a warped 34 roadster body. He forced it into the shape it needed to be and set it in the sun. It straightened out perfectly. You usually only get one shot at this.The temperature for the next attempt need to be higher by an additional 40 degrees.
Your windshield frame is being held too upright and the top of your cowl looks to be too flat. Beyond that, you need to zoom out and show us what you actually have.
@flynbrian48 , I couldn’t tell what frame he had either, until I enlarged the second photo. Above Tim’s thumb you can see the gentle radius in the frame that clears the stantion. Closed car frames are straight there, no radius. Hopefully that cowl can by worked back into correct shape as @Andy has suggested but that ‘glassed in firewall may make that more difficult.
Thanks. That was the cowl. I’m sure it was a premature attempt to see if it fit. I was actually sitting in the car to see what a 3” chop would look like and noticed the gap. I’ll keep this is mind as I set the body on a chassis and reinforce the body with some steel.
My roadster, the car that's my avatar, is a 'glass body that was shuffled around West Michigan with half dozen owners for 20 years, un-reinforced, no doors, haphazardly stored, before I got it. It had a SERIOUS warped area in the top of the left quarter behind the cockpit that made the trunk lid (a 'glass one from Speedway) seem like it was warped. The body is what was warped. I tried just setting it out in the sun, heat lamps, etc. to reshape the body, but ended up making a brace of plywood, jamming it between the floor and the trunk opening, and shoved (forced) that part of the body up 3/4". That brace became part of the structure of the car, with a matching one on the right side. I think the OP is going to find the firewall lip and cowl on this car is similarly warped or misshapen. The first thing to do is get a firewall, either an original or a 'glass reproduction that is a KNOWN proper contour, get that in the body, then get ALL the w/s parts and mock up the w/s before anything else happens. Do this ON the frame, before the doors are hung and fitted. Bracing up a 'glass body has to be precise or nothing will fit.
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