Hotrod windshield frame not sitting flat on the body

[cvacca]

I'm in the process of mounting the cast windshield frame to the body and as you can see in my pics, there is a 1/2" gap between them in the middle. Is this typical? Has anyone else run into this before? I can't believe the body will flex that much in order to seal up against the bottom of the windshield when I tighten the nuts. Do I need to fill the gap in with fiberglass and contour it or do I need to shave the far edges of the windshield frame down in order for the middle to sit flush?IMG_20241021_184637904.jpgIMG_20241021_185044601.jpgIMG_20241021_184529532.jpgIMG_20241021_184522748.jpg

[65 Cobra Dude]

CVA,

At the risk of sounding obvious - looks like the windshield may either be tilted to far to the back or in the wrong location on the cowl. I’ve done a few of these and haven’t had that problem. I’m sure if others have, they’ll speak up here.

Henry

[sread]

May need to do some of all of the above...I did. You can play with the location on the cowl a little bit along with grinding the bottom of the cast frame for a better fit also. Be aware though, if you are planning to fit the hard top also you should locate that first as it needs to fit pretty precisely to line up the body lines. Then you should be able to locate the roadster windshield to fit the same area and use the same holes.

[JimLev]

Start grinding the edges so the middle will fit closer to the cowl.
Over the years I’ve been on this forum that was a complaint about it not fitting correctly.

[progmgr1]

I'm in the midst of fitting mine right now. As others have said, locate the windshield at the same as you locate the hard or convertible top. Then start gradually grinding / sanding the bottom of the frame to better fit the contour of the body. It's surprising how much difference a little bit of relief can make.

The body will flex a little when you clamp the nuts down and the gasket will compensate a little, but I'm shooting for gaps no larger than 1/8". On my car I only had to take down the back edge of the frame a little on both sides - the front edge was fairly close. (And be sure to grind down the mold seams in the appropriate areas...don't ask how I know to say this.)

Keith HR #894

[cvacca]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I only plan on using the soft top, no hard top. I set the windshield back the 7.5" like it says in the soft top instructions for the center threaded bolt hole (which isn't centered on mine, it's about 1/8" off to one side, no big deal). Then, by looking at many pictures online, I roughly put the outer lower inside corners basically at the top corners of the door reveals, and then measured 31" from the top inside edges of the windshield to the back of the door opening on the body (like the instructions say). At that point, the angle of my windshield is about 45-50 degrees to the body, which if I hold a protractor up to the pictures of the blue tan soft top FF has in it's showroom, is the same angle. That then leaves the gap under my windshield.

So, I think what I'm going to do, like what was said in the previous posts, is start grinding the outer edges of the window frame slowly and see how my gap starts to disappear. Maybe use a little filler to, and I'm also shooting for an 1/8" gap so that the rubber seal does it's job.

[Just 1 More]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I only plan on using the soft top, no hard top. I set the windshield back the 7.5" like it says in the soft top instructions for the center threaded bolt hole (which isn't centered on mine, it's about 1/8" off to one side, no big deal). Then, by looking at many pictures online, I roughly put the outer lower inside corners basically at the top corners of the door reveals, and then measured 31" from the top inside edges of the windshield to the back of the door opening on the body (like the instructions say). At that point, the angle of my windshield is about 45-50 degrees to the body, which if I hold a protractor up to the pictures of the blue tan soft top FF has in it's showroom, is the same angle. That then leaves the gap under my windshield.

So, I think what I'm going to do, like what was said in the previous posts, is start grinding the outer edges of the window frame slowly and see how my gap starts to disappear. Maybe use a little filler to, and I'm also shooting for an 1/8" gap so that the rubber seal does it's job.

Do you already have a soft top for it?

[cvacca]

Yes, I bought a tan top that was being sold on the forum last year. I had heard Rods Tops was either slowing down or having issues, so when I saw it for sale I grabbed it.

Last night I took the glass out of the windshield frame and set the frame on the body, same gap. I tried clamping it down and the only thin g that moved was the frame started to bow, the body barely flexed. At least on my body, right under where the windshield would bolt to the body, the body seemed to be a bit thicker, most likely to help stabilize it.

One question I have for anyone using the windshield, what are the inner and outer heights of your frame at the bottom center location. Mine came 1 3/8" on the outer and 5/8" on the inner from the factory. It also came with the 4 holes already drilled and tapped for the soft top latches on the top inside of the frame, which leads me to believe maybe this one had already been installed on something. FF doesn't know I'm running a soft top, I could just be building a roadster.1000008371.jpgIMG_20241023_211625680.jpgIMG_20241023_193131903.jpgIMG_20241023_193347707.jpg

[cvacca]

OK, so here is my fix. Spoke with Dan at FF and said to try heating up the underside of the cowl and then apply pressure with a board and pump jack to the center area. Keep the pressure on overnight. I did this 2 nights in a row and was able to reduce my gap down to about 3/8", better but still to large to flex the fiberglass up in my opinion. I then felt I had no choice but to start grinding down the ends of my windshield frame to help lower my center section. Did this very slowly with a 36 grit flapper wheel on a angle grinder and it worked. Was able to reduce my gap to only about 1/8" in the middle. So I figure once I go to final body work I can add a small amount of filler to bring the area up, plus I still need to add the gasket, I should be good. My next step is going to be bonding a strip of aluminum to the underside of the cowl for all of the mounting nuts and washers to apply a more evenly distributed force to help with any potential cracking in the fiberglass.

I was feeling good about my success, so I bolted on my soft top for a trial fit. Went on easy and seems to secure really well. I love the look!
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