Thread: 32 Ford Roadster Windshield Finger Pulls

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C9X,

That is a wealth of help. Yes my clamps are essentially the same as what you show although perhaps slightly smaller. I should have thought of Lexan since the same shop that cut the class for me does Lexan as well and it is of course much lighter. Thanks too for the picture of the Lexan rear quarter windows. Are they secured by the top bolt? That solves a major concept for me for cold weather driving and will allow me to purchase the less expensive LeBaron Bonney top you have recommended as well as retain visibility to the rear. I plan to drill two holes in the top of each door (fiberglass) and add a rubber grommet in the holes. Then I can fabricate Lexan windows with posts for the holes. The only tricky part will be to put a strip of velcro along the top and sew a strip in a flap hanging down from the top edge of the top. All considered, it would seem unlikely that a watertight setup can be achieved easily, but a wind break might allow the annual trip to the Skyline Drive on the Blue Ridge in the cooler Fall weather and earlier outings in the Spring along with the heater under the dash. The stuff that I do myself suffers from my lack of skill but I think I can get it together. I note in your pictures that your brackets hang down from the "ball socket so that if the nut comes off the WW will fall. I think I can mount the clamps so that the weight of the WW sits on the "ball socket" so if the nut comes off the WW will stay there, but that does depend on visibility to the top of the WW and whether the clamp obscures vision. Maybe you do have it set up so the WW has it's weight on the "ball", I can't quite see from the picture but anyway that is easy to do. You have one very neat machine there and I really appreciate seeing your pictures!
On the other matter about stopping the windshield from coming too far in, I agree that I do not recall such a lip on the '31 Fordor I had either so maybe the comment from the guy at Brookville is just his imagination? On my fiberglass dash the upper lip is narrow and it is in the '32 style shape rather than the true Model A shape so I have not figured out yet how to add the stops but for now it mught have to be a piece of 1" angle iron (my favorite material) with rounded corners and a metal screw into the fiberglass painted body color as a last resort. If I could figure out where to get some chrome or stainless angle iron that would be much better. I will look around for some stainless in the nearby Hanover Air Park. There must be some sort of aircraft stainless stuff that could be formed into a stop on each side of the dash. It is coming back to me now that on the '31 Fordor there was a swing-out bracket with a tightening knob attached to the windshield post on the inside? However the roadster stanchions are too thin for that sort of arrangement.

Thanks!
Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Just a quick note on the Brookville stanchions, I just received a pair of their stainless, 2" chopped, stanchions, they're in Brookville blister pack, so I know they are Brookville's. They don't have what I would call a "lip" that would stop the glass. There is an insert piece welded on the inner side, that has a groove stamped in it that might "catch" the side rubbers, but that would be the extent of it. Hardly what I would consider a "lip" worthy of stopping an installed windshield. Certainly not like the actual lip on the inner edge of the stanchions on my '36.

Bob, We are talking about the same parts from the Brookville blister pack. I have "glued" the 5/8" wide rubber in the "crack" with "GOOP" contact glue and it seems firm but who knows how many "swishes" of the windshield the rubber can take before dislodging.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Don, your stanchion/post is hollow is it not?

Make up a threaded weld bung with a step and JB Weld it in place from the inside.

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The WW pivot nuts don't fall off because they're nylocks and also because when they get loose - from swinging the WW's in or out - they'll drive you nuts and you'll torque em back to where they should be.

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The Lexan rear quarter windows are secured to the oak bow and stainless top iron piece the oak bow is on.
Slightly longer stainless sheet metal screws into the wood and an 8-32 allen with nylock through the oval hole at the bottom.

Since the quarter windows are supported only in the middle you need a fairly sturdy thickness of Lexan.
I tried 1/8", but they fluttered/buzzed at highway speeds much like the control surface in an airplane will when max speed is exceeded.
3/16" stopped that.

The quarter windows do well in keeping the wind that comes off the windwings from curving in and hitting short passengers right in the ear.

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One thought I have about side windows is a sheet of 3/16" lexan on a hinge that mounts to the top's horizontal bar above the door.
An over-center spring setup to allow the window to stay up or down would help.
Granted, it would leak air to an extent, but the main thing is rain would stay out of the cockpit for the most part.

16 degree's F is my personal best in the roadster, but below freezing at highway speeds can get a touch chilly.

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A couple of pic's during the quarter window mock-up phase.
They will impinge on the ingress-egress bit, but not bad.





Note the notch for the main top bolt, not used for the quarter window install.