Forgive me if someone else has tried something like this and I didn't see it. Looking for feedback on this idea.
I had an experienced glass technician come out to see my car. I have a track frame.
His suggestion was for me to come up with a frame for a windshield using 1/8" sheet metal. He suggested this material to keep the frame one piece and because the standard rubber seal for windshields is made for an 1/8" edge. He also recommended that I leave the sides of the frame about 2" wide.
I'm working on a pattern for the frame using cardboard. I will shape the outside to fit into the car. Then I will cut out the inside for a custom-cut piece of laminated glass. The frame will mount to the roll cage via the clamps in the pictures. The offset away from the cage provided by the clamps gives needed clearance between the top of the steering wheel and inside of the windshield. It also looks like it would make the windshield frame land nicely at the edge of the hood, where I could use some rubber edge trim to try to get a finished look. I may try to make the frame only an inch wide on the bottom to preserve visibility, using the pre-existing holes in the hood to attach some brackets to the frame for added rigidity.
After the pattern is made, I will trace it to a large piece of paper that I can feed into a plotter. I will then turn the full-scale tracing into a drawing file that I can clean up. The cleaned-up file will be printed on the plotter to test fit the refined pattern to the car. Once I'm happy with that, I can take the drawing and my sheet metal to a shop with a CNC plasma cutter to have the shape cut nicely.
I am not planning on the windshield going all the way to the top of the cage, only enough to feel protected and pass MI inspection. I could add a support from the center of the top of the roll cage to the top of my frame for more rigidity if needed.
Thoughts?
-Michael
I had an experienced glass technician come out to see my car. I have a track frame.
His suggestion was for me to come up with a frame for a windshield using 1/8" sheet metal. He suggested this material to keep the frame one piece and because the standard rubber seal for windshields is made for an 1/8" edge. He also recommended that I leave the sides of the frame about 2" wide.
I'm working on a pattern for the frame using cardboard. I will shape the outside to fit into the car. Then I will cut out the inside for a custom-cut piece of laminated glass. The frame will mount to the roll cage via the clamps in the pictures. The offset away from the cage provided by the clamps gives needed clearance between the top of the steering wheel and inside of the windshield. It also looks like it would make the windshield frame land nicely at the edge of the hood, where I could use some rubber edge trim to try to get a finished look. I may try to make the frame only an inch wide on the bottom to preserve visibility, using the pre-existing holes in the hood to attach some brackets to the frame for added rigidity.
After the pattern is made, I will trace it to a large piece of paper that I can feed into a plotter. I will then turn the full-scale tracing into a drawing file that I can clean up. The cleaned-up file will be printed on the plotter to test fit the refined pattern to the car. Once I'm happy with that, I can take the drawing and my sheet metal to a shop with a CNC plasma cutter to have the shape cut nicely.
I am not planning on the windshield going all the way to the top of the cage, only enough to feel protected and pass MI inspection. I could add a support from the center of the top of the roll cage to the top of my frame for more rigidity if needed.
Thoughts?
-Michael
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