plasticator? Isn't that illegal even in Pahrump? You crack me up Mayf, bet it
looks pretty darn good :-)
Ed
DrMayf wrote:
> Lots of thanks to those who have suggested ways to hold the doors closed. I
> will consider all.
>
> Now, the rest of the story....
> As ya'll know, I sometimes get to big in the head and it was thusly about
> the windshield. I say to my self, hell I am an engineer, it can't be all
> that bad or hard. So I first took the windshield frame from the car and put
> in on the work bench. Pretty flimsy, it is. It was pretty rusty so I buffed
> it with the wire brush and gave it a coat of primer. The I set about making
> myself a poster board template. Cut, try, cut some more, oops, cut to much,
> add some more back with duct tape. Keep trimming until it fits wonderfully
> well. Well, Ok, it really wasn't wonderfully well, but ok. So I bebop on
> down to the local ACE hardware place and got mysely a piece of Plexiglass,
> cast acrylic, that is. It was cheap! But it looked like the right stuff. So
> I marked around my template and cut the drivers side. Oop! I cipped a
> little. Ah, not bad, I'll Just be a little more carefull. Put in in the
> frame and jeezze it was hard to fit. Struggle, struggle, snap! Broke that
> puppy right in the middle. Drat! $%^%^$##@ and other words. Then I remember
> you all and got your advice...LEXAN is the olny product that is even
> acceptable. So I asked for suppliers and lots of ya'll responded. But, I
> went ahed and ordered a piece from Aircraft Spruce Specialties...Holy MOley,
> only 59 bucks for a 4 x 4 piece! But UPS would not ship it. Would have to
> come FedEx from So Cal. and that was gonna be another 30 + bucks. So I
> cancelled the order. Went to the Las Vegas Home Depot and there it
> was....LEXAN....70 bucks for a 36 x 72 piece and no freight...Well yesterday
> I decided I had screwed around long enough on this so I got my template out
> again and marked the Lexan. Cut that puppy with my jig saw with a small kerf
> blade.WOW! What a difference between Lexan and Plexiglass: no rips, no
> tears, no nothing except good cuts. So Afte trimming the drivers side abit I
> starter "messaging" the Lexan into the frame. I had already drilled about 2
> million scre holes for 6-32 SS Phillips Pan Head bolts. I used SS Nylock
> "thin" nuts and 2 tiny flat SS washers (Mil Spec on those puppies). Anyhool
> I am grunting and graoning trying to get this sucker to fit the frame. I
> anchored it down with several C clamps and it didn't look all that bad. So I
> drilled the Lexan and put the fasteners in. Well, most of them. I developed
> a large warp and bow. Ah, crap a dooly. Take it all apart and start file
> fitting it into place. Now I have a couple of sets of holes along the top
> flange. Stuill has warp and bow. More fitting, more fitting. then it dawns
> on me that my paper template is thin in comparison to the actual part...so I
> cit it down some more. Looking better...Whoa! the frame is now stretched!
> Fortunatley I had measured the center and marked the pre installation
> dimension down, somewhere....ah, finally found it. MAde myself a strut to
> hold the frame at the correct center dimension and used a bailing wire
> turnbucle to hold it to that dimension. Now, started at the center and
> worked to the side, cut file, hell with it, cut more with the jig
> saw....finally it fit pretty well. Got all the bolts in and it is reasonably
> decent, but it will win no awards. Next side....learned my lessons by now.
> Oh and in all of this bith hands developed cramps in the thumbs and index
> fingers...all at the wrong times. Damn, those hurt. Anyhoo, marked the
> passenger side piece and this time cut to the inside of the scribe line.
> Much better with only a little "adjustments". Got all the bolts in and
> doggone if it doesn't all look pretty good. I made a couple of backup
> pieces for the joint in the middle from aludimum and put fasteners in then
> at about the same spacing around the edges. Almost looks professional.
> Nah...not! I am an engineer, and a weldor, but not a plasticator. I am gonna
> take a pix of the protective sheeting because it says LEXAN on it in about a
> dozen different languages...
>
> Now, for the door latches......
>
> mayf the sometime dumb, always ignorant, desert rat
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