Aaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrggh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just before the 4th Annual Pa LBC Rally I made a windblocker for "Kermit',
my '59 bugeye. It used the rollbar as it's upper mounting point and a 1/4"
track suspended by the rollbars rear legs as the bottom. Worked like a
dream, I could cruise at 70mph without losing my hat. Great no more chin
strap and oodles less air hitting you from the back. Great idea except for
the fact I over looked how I was going to use my tonneau! I had worried
about fitting the hood (top) and making sure it would clear my third
brakelight mounted on the rollbar but had totally forgoten about the
tonneau. Some thinking and I now had a new plan. Get some flat thin and
wide aluminum stock and a new piece of 1/4" track, bend it to fit the body
just rear of the back trim piece and use the tonneau pegs to hold it in
place. I used the aluminum solder the guys sell at the shows after forming
the two pieces to fit the rear body shelf soldered them together and all
went well. Next up was to trim the bottom of the piece of plexiglass to fit
the track now mounted on the top of the body vice down inside of the rear
opening. Made a fiberboard pattren, traced it to the plexi and started to
cut. When I was 6" from finishing the cut a hugh crack 6"+ went right up
the plexi almost to the top! &*@*())_&*^ 30 some dollars worth of plexi
down the %%@## drain! After I cooled down I went back to the garage and
low and behold I now had 4 more cracks along the bottom (where I had cut)!
These were small 1-2" plus the big one on the end. I got my Acetone out and
flowed some in the cracks welding them up. The "new" windblocker fits fine
but now has not only the cracks but a few new scratches (probably hapened
when I tossed it!) to boot. After another cooling off period I going to
make some patterns of my "Frogarri" theme and place them on each side of the
windblocker and media blast. Hopefully that etching/fogging will be enough
to hide/camouflage the big crack and will not hinder/be in my rear vision. I
could do a small pattern along the bottom where the small cracks go above
the 1/4" track and salvage this piece of plexi. If that dosen't work the
next piece of plexi will be order and cut from/by a 'professional. Sorry
for the long rant but this day has been a waste so far.
Biff Jones
'59 Bugeye 'Kermit'
'61 Sprite 'Ole Gray' in "The Healey Book"
'71 Midget 'Freebie' under restoration
http://sprites2.homestead.com/
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