Anybody here ever made them for a car? Or know how to?


Al "too many projects, too little time" Hastings

 

I have. What did you need to know?

 

How do you shape the windshield (or other curved panes)? Or did you leave it flat? How did it attach to the body (clips, straps, adhesive)? Not really sure what I had in mind, just the rambling thoughts of an unemployed nerd.

 

Well what kind of car is it going on?

Lexan is quite flexible. Just like a sheet of paper, it can be flexed along a curved surface.. If you are interested in having it removeable fairly easily, you can have it clipped in (Like NASCAR cars do it). Because Lexan scratches quite easily, this is an ok idea.. Some people have had success with adhesives, but usually that only works with lexan that's pre-shaped, not store bought flat sheets. And I personally wouldn't go that route when my safety depends on it. Adhesives just don't give the rigidity required for a safety windscreen.. But most people just rivet the Lexan on. Sandwich some weather stripping between the body and the lexan, and it's weatherproof as well. That's what I've done.. Though it's a good idea to put a brace in the middle of the windshield, otherwise the Lexan will flex and bend in the wind when driving. I've also done that.

But if you need the lexan to bend around a really tight corner, it can be heated up and molded to fit. This is a delicate process, because heat it up too much, and it'll bubble, but bend it too fast, and it'll crease.

 

It's pretty flexible. You can bend it to fit most contours by hand, trim as necessary with a Dremel, then clamp it down. As for attachment, pop-rivets and/or NASCAR-style V-brackets/supports are the way to go.

Jon

 

can you rivet it to the chassis with just a plane old riveter???? or do you need some sort of special one?

how expensive is lexan from a place like TAP Plastics?

what grade is the best?

 

If your going to try and make curved pieces the best way to do it is drape form it over the old piece. You need a large oven to do a windshield properly; side windows may fit in your home oven.

 

any good internet sites on how to do it?

 

a plain old riveter will work, but it'll take some time..

I went out and bought myself an air riveter, though I knew I'd be using pop rivets for most of the fabricated interior as well.

Lexan is pretty expensive. I picked mine up at the local Home Depot.

As for grade, a healthy thickness would be preferred on the windshield for safety, but for the side windows and rear, it's not as much of a concern.

I didn't do any baking of my lexan, and it works great. On my project car, all the windows had been busted out, so I didn't have the luxery of a window to use as a template. I cut out some thick crate paper, and made a rough template. Then I arranged the templates on the sheets of Lexan I had, and cut them out with a reciprocating saw (gotta be carfull if you do this, because the edges can get pretty nasty if you don't hold the lexan firm). Used the dremel for some fine fitting. Painted the black lining around the outside edge (but on the inside) or the windows, for a cleaner look. Drilled the Lexan, applied weather stripping to the mounting spots on the body to keep water out, and started riveting on.

I DID however, use a heat gun to mold a Lexan cover for the headlights (Full FG widebody front end on a CRX, with headlight holes cut out: http://www.fatboyraceworks.com/crx/i...g/DSCF0052.jpg )

I also replaced my sunroof with a Lexan insert. This required a little more work, because I had nothing to mount the Lexan to. So prior to painting, I took some sheetmetal, cut it into the shape of the sunroof hole, welded it into place, and then nibbled all but a 1 inch lip around the inside of the sunroof hole, and applied silicone caulk in the corners for more weather proofing. But the sunroof, I wanted removable, so I used these threaded rivets so I can use a screwdriver to remove the sunroof if I want.. I think it's a good setup. I wish I had a better picture... http://www.fatboyraceworks.com/crx/i...e/DSCF0149.jpg

The door windows took a bit of effort as well. I'm sure I probably over-engineered it, but I used my door skins, and some flexible, hard, abs plastic in the "upper" portion of the door to drill and rivet into. I'll probably take out the drivers door rivets and replace them with screws, like on the sunroof...either that, or I'll plastic weld in a lexan window of some sort. http://www.fatboyraceworks.com/crx/i...r/DSCF0096.jpg http://www.fatboyraceworks.com/crx/i...r/DSCF0094.jpg (the air riveter is at the bottom of this picture)

I wish I had some pictures of the finished product.



[Modified by martini, 12:31 PM 1/8/2002]

 

well, I don't have any acces to an air compressor and my walet don't allow me to go buy one, so I think I might just have to make due with a plane old manual riviter.

 

Make sure to use the rivets with the big heads (about 1/2") vs the standard size. You might also want to have some backing washers around.