Well horrible as it seems we have realised that we need some kind of lid ! We always knew that something was required but never liked the idea of a full "Hood Set" A Surrey type seemed to be the obvious choice.
We also wanted to have a different method of attaching the lid to the Windscreen, we were not too impressed with the idea of a load of poppers ruining the smooth frame.
We decided to make a basic model of what we wanted then get a proper fabric "Professionally" made to match our setup.
This is our idea for securing the Hood to the frame, We made an Aluminium Frame out of some "U" section and we cut it and bent it round to follow the Windscreen. we then attached one half of the RH Bonnet catch to either Windscreen support and the other half to the Channel, When it was put together the clamps pulled the whole lot down tight Hopefully sealing the lot nicely.
The Fabric would go right around the "U" section so that there would be no little gaps for the water to seep through, and in the hollow we will fit some insulation foam strip to give it extra sealing capability.
Here is how it clamps the whole lot down tight. On the final version we will put a nice Rubber Beading under the curved bit to avoid any leaks.
Here it is fitted tightly over the windscreen frame, please ignore the material and the method of holding the rear bit in place, this was only cobbled together so we had some sort of protection for our Wales Weekend with the NW Hoodies, We did not need it in the end though!
Next bit we need to make is the roll over bar that raises the material up so it does not hit me on the head, and some hoops to attach the rear of the Material too, But that is a job for the future !!!
Here is how it currently looks from the back !
Now these little sidescreens are a real good addition to the car, they take out a lot of the head buffetting that you experience at speed. We made them out of some Plexyglass that our mate Lee gave us (Cheers mate) We made a cardboard template to get the correct shape and size then just carefully cut the Plexyglass with a fine bladed Jigsaw, Finally we rounded the edges off with a file. The hinges are special ones for the job but we have modified ours so that instead of a grub screw holding the hinge to the windscreen we have drilled straight through the lot and bolted it in place. As we have no plans for sidescreens we can have the deflectors as a permanent feature.
Finally we have got ourselves a properly made hood, thank goodness we don't have to use that scruffy old trailer cover any more.
We had it made for us by Some Hoody friends with a sewing machine, we discussed what we wanted at Harrogate and got it a few weeks later at Barkston. We are very happy with it, they left the front without the usual poppers so we could incorperate our "U" piece to secure it at the front.
Again at the back we have not gone for the "Normal" set up. Instead of fitting a Hoop for the strap close to the back of the boot we use the extra beam in our Rollbar to loop the strap round holding the Surrey tightly in position.
There is a thin Steel bar fitted through a seam at the back of the Surrey which holds it in shape, this bar then fits through two little brackets at the lower end of the roll bar.
And this is it fitted, It looks pretty good we think and have had a few opportunities to try it in action and it works well. The next thing is to get our heads together and make a matching segment along the lower elbow area to stop the rain coming in from that area.
