My squint windscreen frame...

[scooby]

Can anyone offer their thoughts on why the bottom of my windscreen frame slopes downwards in t'middle, please?

You can see it fall a good 20-odd mm or more in the middle, so that the windscreen rubber is barely getting a grip along the centre point. There is a kind of matching slope in the raised section of the scuttle under the screen frame, but this doesn't seem to be matched by a drop in the main scuttle panel itself - the body section in front of the screen that the bonnet meets seems to be reasonably ok.

There is a steel box section running along underneath which is bolted up through this main scuttle panel with three bolts - you can see the nearest one in the foreground. I have slackened off the centre bolt and tried to 'jack up' the scuttle in the middle by bracing it up from the gearbox 'cover' - next to zero upwards movement happened in the scuttle, which I guess is no great surprise as the combined fibreglass will be pretty hard to persuade back into a straight line in one go!

Any thoughts as to what's gone amiss here?

Thanks.

Attachments:

[scooby]

From the front, the main scuttle seems to be 'ok' - slightly higher in the middle. It's the raised bit of this scuttle which appears to taper down in the middle. Is this normal?!!

Attachments:

[Gary]

A lot are like that. I managed to get mine straight after my crash when I fitted a new screen surround but it took a lot to get the fibreglass to give enough so that it looks ok.

[scooby]

Thanks Gary.

So, when the moulding was made, it was meant to be level?! Jeepers!

Going from my second photo, the only way to get the 'raised lip' part of the scuttle panel (ie: the vertical bit that the windscreen frame sits on) level is to raise the whole back of that scuttle panel so's it has a much greater upwards curve in its middle? That would in theory straighten and level the raised lip part?

But, the front of that scuttle panel - where it joins the bonnet - would keep the same profile it currently has?

Blimey.

If it's not too much trouble, could you post a front-on photo like my second one, please, Gary - showing the end of the bonnet and that scuttle panel with the screen sitting on it.

Thanks

[Peter]

You can use heat and clamps to 'reform' the glass fibre into shape.

[scooby]

Thanks.

As part of the dash build I'll be fitting vertical bracing betwixt the metal box-section that runs under the scuttle and the gearbox 'cover', so can use that to keep whatever shape I can get out of the scuttle.

What I can't figure out out is how that bit 'sank'. That raised lip is part of the main scuttle, so I'd have expected to see this main scuttle dipping down at that point too? But it looks reasonably ok; the centre is - just - the highest point of that scuttle. I can only visualise that to raise the back of the scuttle enough to make that back 'lip' horizontal would mean that the rest of the scuttle would have quite a pronounced rounded raised bit too - totally unlike the shape of the bonnet, for example?

[scooby]

Been experimenting today with a small trolley jack sitting on a small chipboard sheet on the transmission tunnel! Jeepers, that fibreglass scuttle is quite happy in its new shape... Creeeeeak.

Looks like I'll be able to get it up an adequate amount before bracing it permanently against the trannie tunnel with a construction that'll become part of the new dashboard central console.

But - blimey - it didn't want to shift.

[Gary]

I haven't got a picture up for you what with my work van blowing it's turbo and Stoneleigh I haven't had a chance.

Mine didn't want to move into line at first but it went quite easily when I removed the windscreen and re-seated the rubber surround as that seemed to be holding it down. Once it was in position and the rubber/screen back in it didn't take a lot to hold it there. And it looks so much better.

[biggles1]

I currently have the windscreen glass removed from my RV
My frame looks to be reasonably straight (but certainly not perfectly straight). It also seems to have lengths of angle iron bonded into the end uprights of the frame which are fitted through the main tub and bonded in with fibreglass matting.
This is going to make it quite difficult to remove. I need to angle it a little in order to get the hardtop to fit at the front.
Anyway, here's a couple of pictures.





John

[scooby]

Thanks very much, Gary and Biggles. (Exploding turbo? )

These angle-irons, Biggles, are usually sitting free and project down into the cabin close to the sides of the body where they are held securely by threaded rods coming from the front bulkhead to their ends.  This prevents back and forth movement of the screen, and holds it all steady. Adjusting the threaded rods then adjusts the windscreen angle - but it seems yours has been permanently fixed, glassed-in? Rats - it could have been so easy.


I'm not too surprised that the middle area of my front scuttle is sagging - there is nothing holding it up. In fact the weight of the steering column is effectively helping to pull it down too since it's joined to the 1" box-section tube that runs along under the scuttle.

I have a wider box section I'm planning to replace the 1" one with, and I'll run it a little wider too. If I pack the top of this section to match the desired curve of the scuttle, I should hopefully be able to jack it all into place and bolt it through, and then hold it all there by fitting struts betwixt the transmission tunnel and the box-section to keep it in place.

I guess - as Peter suggests - a nice hot day would be best for this job!

Thanks again.

[terryrob]

I managed to get mine fairly straight, I added some extra metalwork to the chassis and up across under the scuttle rear edge. on to this I welded three threaded squares of steal about 25mm x 5mm. I put mate bolts up through these to jack up a 1 metre x 50mm steal strip up against the scuttle bottom. There are photos in my thread "axle brakes & rebuild.
If you know about this problem before you cut out the windscreen hole, you can cut the lower edge slightly concave to compensate.

[scooby]

Thanks Terry.

Just enjoyed a good read through your whole thread Makes my task look infinitesimally small in comparison!

It shouldn't be too much of an issue for me to sort, tho' I've decided the screen and frame should come off first. Larger box-section going across, braced and supported by uprights going to the trannie tunnel - that should be enough.

Just need to think about the shape of these bracings first as they'll also be the frame for the centre console.

Cheers.

[biggles1]

Well, I know this photo is pretty poor but it shows the angle iron support in my windscreen frame.
If only the builder had fitted it properly (threaded rod to the bulkhead).
As you can see, it's been glass matted to the side of the body tub (the shiny yellowish stuff), so it looks like I've got a lot of scraping and chipping to do.
The frame itself is in pretty poor condition. I'd like to find a good second hand one but I guess they are pretty rare.



John

[scooby]

I don't know if this guy has one (missing from the photos) or what state it's in, but I'm sure he'd be happy to let you have it from next to now't and you could arrange a courier for it if he still has it - he's planning to scrap the body & chassis...


cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=221432796215&ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:GB:1123 Tel: [phone]

I'm astonished no-one seems to want the 'chassis' as it's already been registered.