Lotus 7/Locost Aero Rebody

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by moTthediesel

Jack,

Some boats do have wrap around glass windshields, although usually not one piece. I don't know if they are laminated though, or just tempered. It might be worth a trip to a boat yard or dealership to check it out.

Tom

I looked at a bunch here in N.Texas.None of them were laminated safety glass and they'd never make it through the annual safety inspection.

[moTthediesel]

Well, I was afraid that might be the case -- back to flat segments?

[JackMcCornack]

Originally Posted by aerohead

A wedge fore-body or windshield like that creates unstable flow accelerations,jeopardizing attachment at the roof and A-pillar transition.
The $3,000 GTP laminated safety-glass windshield would be worth it.

Yes, were money no object, but I'm shooting for a car that can be built for $10,000 and adding $2920 (vs. a flat windshield) probably doesn't provide sufficient bang for the buck. However, the Raptor was $150,000+ and I think they could have sprung for it.

I think the wedge windshield on the Raptor is pretty over-the-top. It is so far forward in the center that it has to be quite high for the driver to see through it, which I'd think (having read my Hucho cover to cover) leaves insufficient space 'twixt glass and roof for a sufficiently gentle blend to keep air attached.

On my drawings and mock-ups, I keep moving the split of the split windshield further back, and the more I sketch, the more I think moving it back to flat (or a single piece flat glass) with lots of A-pillar and roof-to-glass radius may be the best compromise. We'll see.

[Christ]

If you give it 3 wheels, it doesn't matter what the windshield is made from...

Just a thought :P

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by JackMcCornack

Yes, were money no object, but I'm shooting for a car that can be built for $10,000 and adding $2920 (vs. a flat windshield) probably doesn't provide sufficient bang for the buck. However, the Raptor was $150,000+ and I think they could have sprung for it.

I think the wedge windshield on the Raptor is pretty over-the-top. It is so far forward in the center that it has to be quite high for the driver to see through it, which I'd think (having read my Hucho cover to cover) leaves insufficient space 'twixt glass and roof for a sufficiently gentle blend to keep air attached.

On my drawings and mock-ups, I keep moving the split of the split windshield further back, and the more I sketch, the more I think moving it back to flat (or a single piece flat glass) with lots of A-pillar and roof-to-glass radius may be the best compromise. We'll see.

There's a site for owners of James Bede's enclosed
outrigger motorcycle which sold in the early 1980s.They were trying to get 10-members together,each pitching in $1,000 for tooling and production of 10-new windshields.These are laminated glass and optically perfect.
A thousand bucks is a lot of cash,but boy what a view.
No easy solution on this one.Cheap anyway.

[Bow]

Originally Posted by Christ

If you give it 3 wheels, it doesn't matter what the windshield is made from...

Just a thought :P

Then it wouldn't be usable on his existing Locost chassis...

[Christ]

Touché.

[moTthediesel]

Well, don't despair, even with flat glass, you can still have a slippery shape --



http://strangevehicles.greyfalcon.us/picturesu/d6.jpg

With 40 hp it would do 105 mph in 1939. Here's a great magazine article on the car, especially if you can read German --

WAI - eMagazin - OldtimerMarkt

[samandw]

What's wrong with this windshield?



Bet it's laminated, someone else has already paid development cost, and I'm sure they have a stack of replacements somewhere . . .

[sleeeper]

Why not just use a replacement/junkyard windshield from a small production car? People who chop the roof on hot rods have been cutting those down for years.