It was a nice morning until.......

Monster · #1 (**permalink**) 09-29-2001, 12:21 PM

It was a nice morning, I had just had breakfast with my fellow presidents at Athens burgers, and was on my way home when......."CRACK"!!! I looked over to see that I now had a 1" rock chip on the passenger side of my windshield.

Questions:
1) Has anyone had their Cobra windshield repaired locally? Who/where?
2) Did you purchase the glass and have someone replace it? who/where?

I did a search on the site and it looks like most folks get replacements from Cobra restorers, Finish Line or Kirkham. I am thinking that it will probably be best if I either get the glass and have a shop put it in the frame or have a shop get the glass and mount it. In either case I will mount the framed windshield back on the car. From what it sounds like it may cost for putting the glass in the frame, that sounds like the safest choice.

I also saw a post talking about using "lexan" any comments on this? I thought that windshields needed to be certified "safety glass"

Thanks,

Mike 'monster'

Tom T. · #2 (**permalink**) 09-29-2001, 02:50 PM

MotorSports International in the San Diego area sold me my last new windshield, about three years ago.

I'm going to try Lexan next time. I saw a car with Lexan and didn't even notice that it was a plastic, at the time. They're cheaper up front and more durable. However, they aren't DOT/DMV legal, so, if you decide to sell someday you'll probably have to replace it with a conforming one. Also, the use of windshield wipers on Lexan windshields is discourgaged due to the abrasion.

Good luck,

Tom T.

Tony Ripepi · #3 (**permalink**) 09-29-2001, 03:31 PM

Hey Mike ,

Sorry to hear about the windshield, I had the same kind of thing happen and I bought the glass from Bill Emerson. Bill had a replacement sitting in his shop shipped it over night and I had a Auto Glass shop in Walnut Creek put it into my frame, net time to fix two days.....be real careful of the little screws that go into the brace inside of the windshild in the middle...if you screw them in too tight they break the glass.

Call Bill, if he doesn't have one he will know where to get it and the right price. Get it fixed ...Snakes to the Lake next weekend !!

Pat and I are going.

Tony R.

Monster · #4 (**permalink**) 09-29-2001, 08:58 PM

tom/tony thanks,

I was bummed when it happened, I saw two gravel trucks ahead of me in lane 3, and I moved over but I think a car might have picked up the rock and kicked it over cause there wasn't anyone in front of me.

I called David Kirkham (nice guy) he has a great price on glass but he said he thought he may be out. He also told me that he is running lexan on his personel car. The more I think about it I may just go that route. David will give me a call in the next day or so on availability, but he did also say that the shipping is about the same cost as the glass.....$108 for glass and $100 shipping makes lexan even more attractive.

Thanks again,
Miike 'monster'

David Borden · #5 (**permalink**) 09-29-2001, 09:08 PM

Mike, Mary Borden here posting under David's name. We have a Lexan windshield in our FFR and love it. Have had it for about 3 years now. David got the Lexan at Taps Plastic. He made a template from our glass windshield and Taps cut the Lexan for us. Four other FFR owners have now replaced their windshields with the same material. One owner even made a template for us all to use and saved it.

The other guys are right about the Lexan, you shouldn't use wipers on it and it is important to make sure you get the scratch resistant coating on it. It is durable as heck though and you really can't tell it isn't glass. We love it!

See you next weekend for the trip!

Mary

Ken Oikawa · #6 (**permalink**) 09-30-2001, 07:43 AM

Mike,
Cobra Restorers Ltd. has an Acrylic replacement windshield listed in their 1998 catalogue (sp I'm Canadian) for $175. Give Chuck a call.

Monster · #7 (**permalink**) 10-01-2001, 05:04 PM

Well,
here's my latest update on yet another subject that I didn't want to become an expert on.......

I have decided that plastic is the way to go based mainly on replacement/shipping cost for glass. There are actually two products to consider:

Polycarbonate (Lexan)- This product is typically a bit (30%) more expensive than acrylic. It is definately more resistent to breakage "270% stronger than glass" according to the TAP sales person. However, it susceptible to scratching. That's why "AR" abrasion resistance is recommended. The problem with AR is that it to will scratch and if you try to polish it , the polishing will remove the AR coating which will be noticeable.

Acrylic - This is cheaper than Polycarbonate and the main reason for that is that it is not as strong. Again according to TAP, acrylic is only about 70% stronger than glass (could break through if hit by a rock), but it is more scratch resistant than Polycarbonate and is also available with "AR".

So with all of this information I am planning on the following:

3/16" Polycarbonate non-AR. I will then get TAP's cleaning and light polishing products and should I get a scratch I will be able to remove it.

UPDATE:

The first guy I talked to at TAP gave me some inaccurate info. The Polycarbonate really doesn't polish up if scratched as I was originally told also upon measuring I found that I need 1/4". So with all of this new info I went ahead and bought a 52" x 17" sheet of AR-Lexan. I made a template from my original glass and now I have spent the last 2 hrs. trying to get the new window into the frame. The problem is getting the inner bracket screw hole to line up. I have found that not using the gasket helps but its still a bit to big. The good news is that I have 4 days to get this back together (Snakes to the Lakes next weekend).

Final UPDATE: See Shop Talk "Windshied replacement Information" for the conclusion of this story...
Thanks,

Mike 'monster'

Brad Pfeifer · #8 (**permalink**) 10-10-2001, 01:18 PM

Monster,

Vaca Valley Glass here in Vacaville does alot of custom work, and does most of the roadsters and street rods in the area. My neighbor builds roadsters and takes his cars there for custon glass work.

I also spoke with another neighbor, also a street rodder, and owner of Duvall windshields, who also recommended Vaca Valley Glass.

Nice drive from Livermore.

Brad

Ed Wesner · #9 (**permalink**) 10-13-2001, 01:01 AM

A word on lexan. I have some fabricated lexan pieces on my boat i've had them for about 6 years there are 2 things that i have found out about lexan that should be worth remembering. cover your windshield while working on your motor almost anything that might splash or a squirt of fuel from the carb if not noticed will spot the lexan bad! also if you try to remove a scratch dont use a buffer the heat created might destort your view. if you have any notion for any reason to heat it and bend it a bit like plexiglass DONT! the temp it bends at is extrimely close too the temp it takes on the look of boiling water! (thousands of tiny bubbles) . good luck

Ed

Monster · #10 (**permalink**) 10-13-2001, 01:07 PM

Ed/Brad
Thanks for the suggestions. As you can see on my " continuation" post in shop talk, I fab'd a new windshield using Lexan-AR. The AR is abraision resistent and it has also been tested to withstand a number of very harsh chemicals ( the list can be found by searching the web on "cyrolon" the brand name of the polycarbonate. Even with this resistence I will still be careful about cleaning and exposing it to foreign substances. The folks are performing a test for me on the AR for compatibility with Rain-X, which occured to me to possibly be a good way to dispurse water (wipers will scratch) and possibly aid the AR coating in protection. I'll post the results when I get them.

Thanks,
Mike 'monster'

aumoore · #11 (**permalink**) 07-05-2003, 01:16 PM

I am interested in replacing my windshield with Lexan but I do have wipers that are just used in an emergancy. My glass started cracking from the top left corner and is traveling down at a 45degree angle toward the center of the car. It is on the outside layer of glass but the inside is not cracked? I may need to ship the mounting arms but I have had two broken glasses. one while the windshield was shipped to me and the other right after racing the car. It was not cracked untill after I loaded the car or at least I did not notice this crack untill later.

What could cause this?

also has anyone found a plastic windshield that could be used with windshield wipers (rarely used but they do come in handy when you get caught in the rain)

Monster · #12 (**permalink**) 07-06-2003, 12:53 AM

aumoore,

It's difficult to tell why your windshield cracked without see it first hand, Usual causes are stress, impact, overtightend (bottoming out) screws on the support brackets touching the glass edge will also cause cracks. As for a "plastic that will resist scratching, Lexan can be used however the big caution is that if you need to use your wipers the windshield (and wipers) should be clean to minimize risk of scratching. The lexan scratch resistane coating is actually pretty good and I would think that occasional use of wipers should not be an issue as long as there is not a significant build up of dirt on the windshield.

good luck,
Mike "monster'

aumoore · #13 (**permalink**) 07-06-2003, 07:44 AM

This cannot be from screws as it starts in the uper corner where there are no screws and it has been fine for over two years. There is no evidence of impact anywhere near the crack so I am guessing that it was from pressure of running at 120 or maybe vibration. The car did not shake bad at all and the track was pretty smooth.

Ron61 · #14 (**permalink**) 07-06-2003, 08:03 AM

Aumoore,

Is it posssible that maybe you have the windshield mount just a fraction lower or higher on that side than the other and that the stress of the body twisting in the corners is causing the crack. Just a thought.

Ron

sfry · #15 (**permalink**) 07-06-2003, 10:00 AM

Monster,
If you use Lexan you may want to use the plastic film that the Winston Cup guys use as a tear-off. This would make your Lexan last a lot longer. You can get it at BSR.

Shannon Fry

aumoore · #16 (**permalink**) 07-06-2003, 02:49 PM

Ron
Anything is possible with these cars. I suspect stress from the higher speeds than I have ever had the car at or mayby it was like you said the flex in the frame but I doubt that.

Jim Maxwell · #17 (**permalink**) 07-06-2003, 05:28 PM

I have broken two glass windshields due to chassis flex. I now have a Lexan windshield, which the DOT says is fine in NC. They even provide a special adhesive patch for the inspection stickers so you don't have to scrape it off with a razor blade. you just have to remember to tell the inspector up front that you have a plastic windshield. I bought a sheet of the AR Lexan at a local distributor that supplies lots of the NASCAR teams in these parts and cut out the windshield on the band saw in the basement. It has worked very well for ~7-8 years. Rain-X is my wipers.

Monster · #18 (**permalink**) 07-06-2003, 10:17 PM

Please check the date of my original post. Aug/2001

I have now had my LEXAN windshield in for just about 2 years and it looks as good as it did on the day I installed it. I have heard 2 impacts while dirving over this time and could not find the mark. I'm sold on this being the right solution for me. I had been keeping it clean with "no-touch" glass cleaner , but just recently changed to Eagle one 20/20 glass cleaner. which leave's no film or haze. I use a terry towel to wipe dry .

If you have the misfortune to have your windshield break, I would suggest that you consider this option.

take care,
Mike "monster"