Thread: Please post some roadster windshield pics

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Just for giggles, grins, and GP here's another raked windshield alternative;http://www.roadsters.com/rodwell/

Originally Posted by joeybsyc

I see how you can change the angle of the top posts by grinding the lower stanchions, but what I'm asking is how people are saying you can angle the lower stanchions themselves, or place them in various places/positions on the cowl itself, because from what I saw today, a stock 32 lower stanchion is only going to properly go on one way, in one specified place... so that the top "ear" of the stanchion base fits onto the cowl ridge properly.

If you get after market stanchtions, like the picture of my red car, they are made of brass. You can carve or add on what ever angle you want. For that matter you can do it with steel ones also. It's called HOT RODDING!! Cut the thing up, anything can be fixed.

I don't doubt you can carve and cut and modify anything to do anything with it, and make it fit anywhere... but when I asked about the original positioning the stock stanchions and i read it as they could be leaned/angled several different ways and placed in several positions right out of the box... but it it looks to me like unless you intentially modify them, they will only fit in one place correctly as designed. Thats a good thing though, because they should work on my car. I just ordered a 2" chop windshield and all the hardware this morning... Thanks for everyone's input, I'll hopefully be posting pics of the new improved look in a couple weeks.

You're probably aware of it, but have you noticed that the outer ends of the cowl eyebrow are flat?
Granted, angled in, but where the upper part of the stanchion mounts they're flat.
That's what makes the tilt-back work imo.

Along those same lines, moving the curved part a little bit works because the rubber gasket takes up some of the 'fit.'

The stanchions on my 32 were tipped back a minor amount.
The bottom hole for the little bolts was enlarged a touch so the upper bolt could swivel.

I just went out to the garage to double check and the curved part of the stanchion where it fits to the cowl is an excellent fit.

In fact, when the top is off the windshield comes back a few degrees.
The posts get leaned forward a touch when the top is up so the W/S posts will align with the holes in the front header casting.

Looking from here, it looks like the next step is to get some 32 style stanchions and posts, pull your windshield and see what you do have.

Fwiw, the stainless 32 posts on my 31 roadster shown in the pics above is from Speedway.
2" chopped as received and they're pretty nice ones.

They come with a hole for the mirror drilled and tapped in the drivers side, but adding one to the passenger side post would be easy.

Same deal with drilling and tapping for windwings.
If you do go with windwings - and they are a nice accessory - use Lexan (a trade name for Polycarbonate, which you can find at Home Depot - instead of glass.
You can cut them to the size you want and they won't be sliding down out of the clamps like the glass ones do in cold weather.
The windwings shown in my 32's pic up top are Lexan and about 2/3 the horizontal length of stock glass ones.
I made up a set of Lexan stock length ones, but they got in the way on entering and blocked too much of the cockpits airflow so they got removed in the summer.
The ones pictured above are a good compromise and stay on the car year round.
You'll note how clear they are.
At the time the pic was taken, the windwings were about ten years old.
They only get cleaned when I wash the car and the only scratch is where some clown gave the Lexan the scratch test to see if it was glass.

It's amazing what some people will do.
Most folks are very respectful of these little cars, others have no problem in thumping on them to determine if they're steel or glass.

Let me add that I have two sets of lower stanchions. One cheaper chromed version and solid cast brass ones (mo money). They are slightly different, especially at the body fitment. The solid brass ones will not fit the rubber of the others ........

Kitz

Thanks for the tip... i understand what you're saying, and it makes sense... This is one of those things thats hard to "figure out" completely until i have the old one off and i'm staring the whole thing in the eye...I'd imagine there's a little "wiggle room" with anything. I did notice that when I brought the pattern home that I made from another car, the line i had drawn for the top of the door edge was slightly different than mine is, so there's no arguing that there can be some variation in parts, stuff as small as windshield stanchions or as large as fiberglass bodies. In any case, it looks like one way or another i can make this work and *shouldn't* need any paint work when its all said and done. I'm in the "whatever it takes" mode at this point and have finally admitted to myself that I will never be ahppy with anything other than a stock 2" chop windshield, so one way or another my car IS gonna get one. I have noticed that there are stanchions that are more money than others, are you saying the chrome plated ones from Vintique are no good? Those are the ones I was planning on getting and have read elsewhere that floks have used them without problems... I guess if i try to fit it up with them and it doesn't fit right I can also order the 250.00 ones... Not gonna do that unless I have to though. The car i made templates from to check fitment (yellow car above) was a Wescott body that was 16 years old, so i don't know what stanchions are on it, but they were installed 16 years ago when the car was built... could even be original Ford parts for all I know. You said the rubber for the expensive ones doesnt fit the others... do you know which ones are "bigger"? Or are they just "different" rather than bigger/smaller? The reason I ask is because i'm going to be cutting it pretty close on hiding the lower holes where my old posts come off, and a little bigger rubber gasket/stanchion base may go a logn way in hiding the old holes. Once again, I thank you guys for all your replies and hopefully this thread will be of help to others down the road who wish to add or change their roadster windshields.

By the way, do all windshields have the rubber seal on the sides of the frame as well as the bottom? The car I looked at did, but I seem to hear people refer to the "bottom seal" and never hear of the side rubber seal and was just wondering if all windshields have provisions along the side of the frame to put side seals on as well as the lower one?

Originally Posted by Bob Parmenter

Just for giggles, grins, and GP here's another raked windshield alternative;http://www.roadsters.com/rodwell/

I've seen those, and to me, its too raked for my tastes... but you know what opinions are like...

I will be interested to see how this works out. I have never had much luck fitting any parts on a finished car. I might be wrong and this might go without a hitch, if so I might have to do the same thing only with the windshield that Bob posted!

Keep us updated on how it goes...

Dave Brisco

It'll get done, whether it takes the easy way or the hard way, i'm determined to make it happen... You mentioned to me that you had your windshield off when you painted your car, did you cut it off, or just pull it off the cowl? My gameplan is to fish a wire under the glass from the front side, and slowly cut the glass free from the cowl... then I'm gonna cut the glass out of the posts, and lastly, remove the posts from the body, if this all happens with no paint damage, the next step will be to position the new frame, stanchions and posts in a way that will hopefully cover the old holes, and give the windshield a suitable rake. Somewhere in the middle of this there may be a trip to the paint shop, but I'm gonna do everything in my power to avoid that. I just took off the wimpy little 7" lights last night, and marked the frame to mount my new stainless SoCal headlight bar and original style "big" deuce headlights. I can already tell its gonna give the car a way cool look, and as soon as the windshield frame gets here (been ordered for 3 weeks) I'm gonna tackle the "big" job. I'm hoping to have the headlight project done by week's end, and I'll post pics along the way for anyone interested in seeing the changes as the happen.

[QUOTE=
By the way, do all windshields have the rubber seal on the sides of the frame as well as the bottom? The car I looked at did, but I seem to hear people refer to the "bottom seal" and never hear of the side rubber seal and was just wondering if all windshields have provisions along the side of the frame to put side seals on as well as the lower one?[/QUOTE]

More than likely they do.
So far, all the re-pro 32 windshields I've seen have the weather strip slot in the sides as well as the bottom.

Simple fact is, a lot of guys don't run the side seals.
Which is strange considering the folks who supply the weather stripping give you enough for bottom and sides.

Sounds weird, but if you don't have the side seals more rain enters the cockpit than it does on the cars with the side seal.
Has to do with the way air flows off the windshield.

At the very least you need the bottom seal, water pours in over the dash if it's not there.
Watching the weather isn't enough, somewhere along the line if you're running a roadster you'll get caught in the rain.

One small word of advice, when you install bottom and side seals, cut the lower corners at a 45 degree angle and glue them together.
If you cut them at 90 degrees you'll have a small open area where water collects and blows in right at you and the steering wheel in hard rain.

Windwings are a big help as well.

If I remember correctly I unbolted/loosened the stansions first, having someone hold the windshield in place until we could tilt it back tward the back of the car, It has been a while so my memory is a little fuzzy, but it seems like it cam right off without too much effort. Mine had a rubber seal between the bottom of the glass and the cowl. the glass slipped right out of the seal then I had to peel the seal away from the cowl. Used an X-acto knife to get all of the sealer off of the paint.

Like you I just bought a set of the larger headlights for my Roadster. Got mine from Robot here on CHR (thanks Mike )... I am looking forward to getting those painted and mounted over the winter...

Dave Brisco

When you say it had a rubber seal on the bottom, do you mean a piece of u shaped weatherstrip that was glued to the cowl? Mine seems to just be sunk into a big bead of black silicone or urethane, and the glass is put into the posts with clear silicone.

Originally Posted by joeybsyc

When you say it had a rubber seal on the bottom, do you mean a piece of u shaped weatherstrip that was glued to the cowl? Mine seems to just be sunk into a big bead of black silicone or urethane, and the glass is put into the posts with clear silicone.

The re-pro 32 windshield frames are an "H" like extrusion.
The bottom slot is a little shallower and narrower than is the top slot where the glass goes.

The weatherstrip seems to be 32-36 Ford roadster/phaeton specific and it may fit other cars as well.

The weatherstrip proper is "T" shaped with the top part not too wide and the vertical piece somewhat tall - comparitively speaking.

The weatherstrip gets pushed into the frame (T-top first) and the narrow part of the T expands - to it's regular size - into the slot which is wider on the inside and retains the weatherstrip with no adhesives.
Which is nice, cuz replacement down the road is easy.

My 32 has been on the road for 13 years and except for the screw-up at the lower corner I mentioned, it's still doing fine.

Since I'm making my own frame for my 31 on 32 rails roadster project, I need to get something figured out there.
The glass side is easy, but the weatherstrip side can be done several ways.

One of those things I think about now and then and still haven't decided....

Originally Posted by joeybsyc

When you say it had a rubber seal on the bottom, do you mean a piece of u shaped weatherstrip that was glued to the cowl? Mine seems to just be sunk into a big bead of black silicone or urethane, and the glass is put into the posts with clear silicone.

I was actually asking about Dangeroustoy's windshield, as it's the same style as the one I am about to attempt to remove. Thanks for the additional info about the seal, i actually already got that part, came the other day and is from Vintique... looks to be enough for the sides and bottom. Got the Vintique lower stanchions too, hope they fit right, otherwise i'll take 'em back and get the Brookville ones for 4 times as much money. (last resort) Still waiting on the frame and upper posts... seems like they must not make these until they get an order for one, its been over 3 weeks now.

Yes, it was a U-shaped piece of rubber that covered the bottom edge of the windshield then was glued to the cowl...

Dave Brisco