Thread: Now I have to come up with some sidecurtains---

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When I built my roadster pickup 5 years ago, I didn't really plan on any long haul cruising. I ran it one year without any top, then designed and built the top it currently has. To date, my longest cruises have been in Ontario, a maximum of 250 miles in a days travel. Thats great in sunny, 80 degree weather, but I have driven home from some of my overnight travels the next day in damn cold, rainy miserable weather conditions.

Okay---so I like to think of myself as a tough old bird--I keep my big leather jacket in the back of the rpu for weather exactly like that.

But---I've just signed up for the BIG ONE--The Canadian Hotrod tour down to the east coast and back---in July---about a 2500 mile round trip. And I ain't that tough!!! Since my roadster top is of the non folding variety, and is about 6" wider than my windshield posts, and was never designed to work with side curtains, this is going to call for some inginuity.

I'm not thinking of sewn or zipped, or snapped in cloth sidecurtains---more like rigid lexan sidewindows that can be attached from inside the car after I get in. They won't open with the door---I will have to un-attach them to get out of the car. and they mustn't scratch or even contact my nice painted door tops. And none of the hardware that holds them in place must be visible when they are not in place.---They won't be "air-tight" even---they'll just fill up MOST of that gaping hole in each side of the cab when I'm driving.

Quite a challenge, but I do have something in mind.

I will keep you posted with pictures as this develops.---Brian

This pic shows the rear of the sidewindow opening from inside

This shows the front of the side window opening from inside--

This shot from outside shows how nuch wider the roof is than the actual window posts---

And this shows the top of my door frames that I don't want to mess up, drill, or otherwise defile---

Brain, one thought is to hinge the side curtains from the inside of the stationary top sides and let them "swing down" when you need the wind protection. I would agree that when it's cold, you need to keep the wind chill off of you to stay warm.

On my motorcycle you would be amazed at how much more comfortable you are with just "heated" grips during cold and high speed travel. Another motorcycle trick is to put a couple of sections of the morning newspaper under your jacket protecting your chest. It's easy to find "on the road" and easy to dispose of when your done.

What I'm thinking of is---I have some of the wooden header exposed directly above the windshield post. If I was to make up a small peice of metal bar that would attach to the underside of the header with two screws, and then weld a peice of window channel to that which would extend down the inner face of the windshield post to about 1/2" above the door, then I could put one self tapping screw through the bottom of it into the windshield post. This would give a good channel to slide the leading edge of a peice of lexan into---and a notch filed in the leading edge of the lexan would rest on the head of the self tapping screw to keep it from settling down onto my door top. That way, after the trip was over, it can be removed and leave only 3 small screw holes.

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John Palmer---Your idea is a good one, however everything is finished and painted and I don't want to mess with it too much. The canvas top lies tight against the top tubular framework above the window opening, so I can't "wrap" anything around the metal tube or it shows through the top material. The other issue is that although the top tube is directly above the door at the rear of the opening, it is about 3" out past the edge of the door where it attaches to the header.

On the rear of the opening, there is just enough room to attach a peice of #16 ga. sheet metal to the tubes, that won't actually show from the outside, with 3 self tapping screws (it will be hidden from view by the top material when viewed from the outside). I would weld two short 3/16" threaded studs that stick out toward the inside of the passenger compartment to the side of the 16 ga. That way, I can first set the lexan in the cab, then open the door and get in, then slide the lexan into the channel at the front and over the two studs at the rear, and put a couple of wingnuts onto the studs to hold the lexan in place. I would possibly have some foam rubber glued to the bottom edge of the lexan to fill the gap at the bottom and keep a bit more wind out. This would probably be as awkward as a monkey making love to a football, but it would only be done at the beginning and end of each day (and during pee breaks). Again, when the trip is over, it can all be removed leaving only 3 small threaded holes in the frame tubes.

Brian, it sounds like you have a good plan.

One additional thought. Lexan is a trade name of a type of polycarbonate plastic. As such, it's not "the only" type. What you want to use is a "hardened" surface product. You will find it to be well worth the expense. We run a door slammer race car with polycarbonate "hardened surface" windows and they look like new after several years of removing class sponsor decals and wiping off bracket ET times.

After looking at your CAD designs and finish of your roadster, I know you want it to "look nice".

Brian,
My first thought when I saw your initial thought was "What about emergency entry?" Side curtains, and even slider lexan windows on Jeeps & other soft tops, can easily be removed to get to people trapped inside in an emergency. I wonder about your solid lexan panels that you set into place and lock down after you are inside - what about in an accident where you may need help from someone outside?

Honest---I did think of the "accident" aspect---but--even a 10 year old can bust in a peice of 3/16" Lexan if he wants to.

Brian, I know what you mean about not wanting to do anything to your nicely painted surfaces, but I think to withstand any kind of wind buffeting you will need to find some secure way to fasten them in place.

Two thoughts:

1) Years ago I had a bugeye Sprite with sidecurtains, and they fastened in with knurled knobs that went horizontally into the top/inside portion of the door. The actual sidecurtain was a sliding plexiglass deal in an aluminum frame with rubber all around the perimeter to seal it from the elements. The bottom of this framework had two aluminum brackets that went down inside the door, so that when you were inside the car they were exposed and right next to you. You loosened up the knurled knobs, slid the brackets home (they had slots in them) and tightened them up. This car was my daily driver and I lived in Pa, and drove it in many snowstorms. Point is, it kept the inside warm.

2) You could put some nutserts into the top of your door (I know, it's all painted pretty and all ) but they would be pretty unintrusive because they are sort of a gold color, like grade 8 bolts. You could put one in the front of the door and one at the rear, and put a thin rubber washer like a fender washer down before you affixed some kind of bracketry to them to hold your fabbed up sidecurtains in place.

Of the two, I like the first option better as I think it would be stronger and less noticeable when not installed. You could put some foam tape on the underside of the framework where it would rest on your door top to protect it from chafing. Just some ideas.

However, this trip will be in July, and I think you guys get above freezing for at least THAT month.

Don

Okay---Here we go---front bracket in place

Rear bracket in place---