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Tip up rear windshiled- mount hole elongation

B

BruceW

Well Known Member
Cut, drilled, debured, and fully prepared the rear windshield. Fit just fine.
Now 3 years later Im ready to actually install.
Now the rear windshield doesnt match up to the mount holes on the turtledeck skin. We're talking about 1/16" to 3/32" difference from the perfect fit on about 1/3 of the rear mount holes. I guess sitting in a hot/cold hanger reshaped it slightly over the years.

I tried mounting it with klecos on the fitting holes and putting a heater inside
to give it some 'English' and form it back into shape. No joy.

So now Im thinking of elongating the rear mount holes and reshaping the countersinks. Just using a fine round file and smooth out to finish. This should reduce any stress of mounting with the existing holes. But are there any unanticipated results??? Anyone done this with or without success???
 
Elongating the holes should not pose a problem. Make sure you clean up the holes and countersinks to relieve any stress risers to help prevent future cracking from propagating from sharp edges. I prefer having the screw holes on all the canopy parts somewhat oversize to allow some room for expansion and contraction. This will also lessen the possibility of of stress induced cracking. Obviously you do not want to overdo elongating from an esthetic viewpoint.
 
Thanks for the replies guys.
I was actually thinking of maybe gluing with screws as a backup.
I h some Silproof that has worked well on other installs.
Gluing onto the turtledeck skin with sealant and very large screw holes in the Plexiglas would seemingly eliminate any stress chances.

Any tips for gluing onto the turtledeck skin???
 
Glueing

I'm not familiar with Silproof - I used SikaFlex. and provided a very wide (over 2") of overlap for more adhesive surface area. Starting about 1/4" from the turtledeck, I sanded the plexi thickness down about 1/16" to provide a thickness of the adhesive. I used some (MIL-Spec of course) spring loaded curtain rods to hold the plexi against the metal.
In your case, I'd just sand the surface of the plexi to get better adhesion and put the fasteners in with regular (non locking) nuts and make them just snug until the sealant cures, to prevent squeezing it all out. Liberal use of painter's tape recommended for wherever you don't want the gooey stuff. Then (one by one) install the proper nuts to the proper torque.
 
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