Hot Rods roadster... part 3 (windshield)

alright, well i did put the roadster up for sale, but nobody had money or anything i was willing to trade for. soooo, Billetproof is coming up and i plan to drive the roadster, but not without some more "upgrades". the original windscreen on the car i never did like. it looked way too home-made for my taste, was too short (im 6' tall) and i want glass cause the plexi is dingy already.

being a sedan cowl that is chopped down i am going to go ahead and design my own posts. i want them to be part of the cowl so they will get the color of the body. i also want a traditional style windshield that can swivel and contours the top of the cowl.

today i mocked up 1 post to work out angles, hights and lagistics. there is a Z when looking down on the cowl that i need to address either with the post or with the door. i tried 2 options, i think the post alone works better.

here is the post & the door top has been raised to fill the gap:



here is the post w/o the door top peice, this time i extended the post to the top of the existing door:





i made the post about 8-1/2" tall from the inside (windshield side), also tilted it 2 degrees out at the top (looking straight at the car), sloped the post to be tangent with the cowl's curve (front to back). plan to round the top of the post with a tube where the swivel stud will go through. i taped everything in blue to be easier to see. guess ill be going to the metal shop to buy some materials. i will be making my own windshield frame too, about 10-1/2" tall at the post.

Yaril

 

Just my .02, but I like the first version better. In the second version, the post seems too heavy or thick at the bottom..

OT, but damn I envy your climate...flowers in the background! Snow up to my***** and cold as hell here.............good luck !!

 

I think it should be laid back a little more, what are you going to make the posts out of?

 

Even the 23-25 Model Ts have a windshield slant of more than 2 degrees.
It is a great concept and looks good but the rearwrad slanr should be more like 4-5 degrees for a more sporty appearance and wind deflection.

 

haha yeah, we call this Winter . i have made up my mind on the second version just cause i dont want to introduce more curves the that area of the car. thanks!

agreed, laying it back some more. thought id make it out of paper mache'? na, just kidding. im making the inner and rear L of the post out of angle iron, the side and front will be thick enough steel that will be strong, but that i can bend / contour to the shape i want.

its not too late. i already started the process (found i had enough metal to make the posts), so ill grind the L to slope rear wards a few more degrees.

thanks!

 

alright, made adjustments so that the back of the post is tilted 5 degrees, the front is much more and that is the slope the actual windshield will follow. i made both sides to be exact. the first piece is an angle iron that i made the base angled to the desired slopes. front to back is 5 degrees (at back leg) and bottom to top is 2 degrees (at inside leg, wider at top). i also made the leading front piece slightly tighter than the rear leg. once the L is welded in at the correct angles, the front leg will be welded in. the outer skin will be sheet metal so follow the contour of the post at the base while flattening out as it goes up (this will be very subtle). finally the top will be a round tube (old sway bar section), that will be welded in and ground smooth.

here you can barely see the 5 degree slope and the rounded top to fit the tube:



from this view you can see how the outside surface will have a slight curve to it:



tomorrow i also want to start on the windshield frame, obviously after the legs are welded on. i found a great tech in the archive, but after calling my glass guy i am uncertain on the channel size?

my glass guy said using saftey glass: 1/8" + 1/4" glass + 1/8" = 1/2"
the tech article stated that the channel need be: 0.350" = 11/32" (almost)

anybody have any insight on this?

 

Your glass guy is right, 1/4" laminated glass with rubberized cork would make it 1/2" you need the cork around the glass, if you use silocone and it gets a crack its a****** to cut out to replace but with the cork you can get it out pretty easy....

 

great! thanks for the confirmation. i just ordered the windshield swivel and wing nut. so ill advance on making the 1/2" grove for the glass in the tube windshield frame bars and hopefully bending the bottom tube. once the swivel gets here i will know exactly how wide the frame will need to be top and bottom. cant wait!

 

alright, so i cheated. i got an original what looks to be 30 or 31 roadster windshield frame. its not perfect, but id rather repair this one than start from scratch. its stock size so i will chop it down after i fix the rough areas. spent a couple hours just cleaning it up with a sanding pad on my grinder.

this is how i got it, with a brownish paint on it (thanks Dana for the windshield):



this is where im at now:



hopefully ill have some time to fix the rust tomorrow to determine the height i will want.

 

been a while, had no camera to snap pics with. windshield frame i chopped 3" and had saftey glass made for it. i finished the posts and painted everything for now. just need to replace the 2 bolts that hold it in place with*****on head allen bolts and a rubber stop at the base of the windshield. all in all i think it has improved the overall look and drivability of the car.