Windshield Question

[SP01715]

FYI: Went to Hillbank yesterday and compared my windscreen to the older and newer version and it does not match either one. Apparantly there was more than just the two windscreen types made for these cars or my windscreen is a one off design. Everyone is confused right now as to why my windscreen is different, but Lance is taking care of it so that is the good news. Just wanted to let everyone know in case they run into the same problem.

[PJS50]

1715..
I just finished installing a new-complete windshield assembly on my SPF #131... You know that you have to "shim" the windshields on the sides to make them fit right? A new windshield "frame and all" will more then likely NOT be "exactly the same size" as your original one, so you shim them into place...
My original windshield on #131 also had "zero" shims, but most of the SPF's DO have shims of some sort, even right from the factory...
They are usually aluminum plates that are wedge shaped to some degree...
1/2" differect in overall width is only 1/4" per side, and not out of the realm of "fit-ability" based upon the 3-4 different SPF windshields that I have seen/helped replace....
The key to shimming them right is to make the shims so that NO force is exerted on the windshield legs, when the mounting bolts are tightened...
Pat

[RedBarchetta]

Originally Posted by SP01715

...but Lance is taking care of it so that is the good news.

Too bad most of the SPF bashers will never see this. That's right...THE OWNER of the company is taking care of the issue. Now that's what I call customer service.

Hope you get it all squared away soon.

-Dean #747

[SP01715]

Yep Lance stepped up for me and even waited at his place late last night for me to drop the car off. Said he would have a windscreen made to fit my car if he had to.

The windshield on my car is actually a different shape than the other windscreens, and is wider at the bottom that the new replacement one that I purchased. Shims would actually make the problem worse because of this. My windscreen actually has a different shape than the rollers and cars we compared it to (New, Old and CSX). I was told that the first 150 cars were each hand made but after that there is two types. Mine seems to have a different shape than the two known types, and looks like it was made that way on purpose. It's a mystery as of now...

[Semper Fi]

Originally Posted by SP01715

Yep Lance stepped up for me and even waited at his place late last night for me to drop the car off. Said he would have a windscreen made to fit my car if he had to.

The windshield on my car is actually a different shape than the other windscreens, and is wider at the bottom that the new replacement one that I purchased. Shims would actually make the problem worse because of this. My windscreen actually has a different shape than the rollers and cars we compared it to (New, Old and CSX). I was told that the first 150 cars were each hand made but after that there is two types. Mine seems to have a different shape than the two known types, and looks like it was made that way on purpose. It's a mystery as of now...

I went to Superformance with Chris (SPO1715) and the winshield does NOT match the "older" or "newer" style winshields!!! We placed the original SPF winshield (the broken one that came on the car) on top of both of the winshields that day. We realized that every winshield has to be "fitted" to the car with adjustments--but the winshield was different. We were all puzzled.

Lance is AWESOME. He realized that there was a problem and said to Chris, "no matter what has to be done, I will take care of it". That is customer service!! I have always liked Lance since the day I met him, but my respect for him went up another "notch".

Gerard

[ROMM]

Well I recently got a new center bracket (the L shaped bracket, not the rod bracket) from Finishline, but it does not fit my car. The other day, I took my car for a spin and noticed that now my windshield is cracked on the passenger side. This is a brand new windshield installed in December, and I have only put about 400 miles on the car since. I don't know what to do now. I don't know which bracket should be on my car, and if that is why the windshield cracked (not having a bracket). I was reading on SCOF where the center rod bracket was possibly causing the windshields to crack. I am wondering if a plexiglass solution is the way to go...

[Semper Fi]

I was "told" that the finishline's winshields don't fit all that well on SPF cars. Just going by what I heard somebody told me.

[PJS50]

Semper,
If done/shimmed "right", I have seen the Finishline glass work very well on an SPF (early car; #245-ish)..
The only thing that had to be changed was the locations of the side "hooks" which the soft top buckles grab on to.. Otherwise, it looked like "factory SPF"...

1715,
Did you get you windshield situation all figured out?
When you wrote: "The windshield on my car is actually a different shape than the other windscreens, and is wider at the bottom that the new replacement one that I purchased. Shims would actually make the problem worse because of this."

It seems to me that this is exactly the type of situation where shims WOULD work... If you mount the new windshield "legs" to the inboard side of the under-dashboard brackets, then you would shim the "gap" between the bracket and the windshield leg... Right?
Were your original windshield legs bolted to the outboard side of the mounting bracket? If so, those brackets themselves are only probably 1/8" thick, so if you took the new windshield legs (which you said are @1/2" narrower than the originals; meaning they are 1/2" closer together) and mounted them to the inboard side of the mounting brackets, you really only have about 1/4" (total gap) to make up between the 2 brackets and 2windshield legs which means your shims are actually only @ 1/8" thick per side (1/2" minus @1/4" total for the thickness of the 2 mounting brackets because you are mounting the new legs to the inboard side of the bracket instead of the outboard side like before) right?

The ONLY (real) differences between the early car windshields and the later car windshields involves:
1). The height of the actual glass itself, as if measured from the top-center of the glass to the bottom-center of the glass (as measured along the surface of the glass itself).
2). The bottom, cowl following "curve" that the bottom windshield frame rail makes. The early cars had a "flatter, larger radius" curve to them. The later cars had a "taller cowl" so that Big Blocks could fit under the hood better, and thus have a "sharper, smaller radius" curve to them...
Besides this, the 2 generations windshields are essentially "identical" in terms of overall width and shape...
There is ALWAYS some shimming to do when mounting them however....

[ROMM]

My windshield was installed at Anthem in Phoenix, AZ, and I talked to a guy named Charlie. I think the windshield is defective, but I think he disagrees. Is there someone at Superformance that I can talk to about this? The car number is SPF1988.

[PJS50]

Romm,
If the center post was tightened too tight, this definitely could cause the windshiled to crack...
A lot of people tightened those posts to keep their rear view mirrors from "wiggling" when they drove and didn't hink about the extra stress' that they were imparting on the glass...
Don't get me wrong, you "could" have defective glass...
Call SPF USA and talk to Barry Bloch about it...
Luckily, with your car #, all you would "need" to get would be JUST the glass itself.. But DEFINITELY check the frame for undue tensions/stresses before installing the new "glass"... Otherwise.... Well, you know...

[Semper Fi]

Originally Posted by PJS50

Semper,
If done/shimmed "right", I have seen the Finishline glass work very well on an SPF (early car; #245-ish)..
The only thing that had to be changed was the locations of the side "hooks" which the soft top buckles grab on to.. Otherwise, it looked like "factory SPF"...

1715,
Did you get you windshield situation all figured out?
When you wrote: "The windshield on my car is actually a different shape than the other windscreens, and is wider at the bottom that the new replacement one that I purchased. Shims would actually make the problem worse because of this."

It seems to me that this is exactly the type of situation where shims WOULD work... If you mount the new windshield "legs" to the inboard side of the under-dashboard brackets, then you would shim the "gap" between the bracket and the windshield leg... Right?
Were your original windshield legs bolted to the outboard side of the mounting bracket? If so, those brackets themselves are only probably 1/8" thick, so if you took the new windshield legs (which you said are @1/2" narrower than the originals; meaning they are 1/2" closer together) and mounted them to the inboard side of the mounting brackets, you really only have about 1/4" (total gap) to make up between the 2 brackets and 2windshield legs which means your shims are actually only @ 1/8" thick per side (1/2" minus @1/4" total for the thickness of the 2 mounting brackets because you are mounting the new legs to the inboard side of the bracket instead of the outboard side like before) right?

The ONLY (real) differences between the early car windshields and the later car windshields involves:
1). The height of the actual glass itself, as if measured from the top-center of the glass to the bottom-center of the glass (as measured along the surface of the glass itself).
2). The bottom, cowl following "curve" that the bottom windshield frame rail makes. The early cars had a "flatter, larger radius" curve to them. The later cars had a "taller cowl" so that Big Blocks could fit under the hood better, and thus have a "sharper, smaller radius" curve to them...
Besides this, the 2 generations windshields are essentially "identical" in terms of overall width and shape...
There is ALWAYS some shimming to do when mounting them however....

Thanks for the info. We did find that info out we went to SPF. I will tell you that the winshield we were talking about was different than the other winsheilds. We do understand that their is some shimming to do, however, the winshield on Chris's car (SPO1715) was a different shape than the older SPF's (< SPO1400) and the older SPF's (> SPO1400)

If you compare the difference between the "older" cars and the "newer" cars, you can see that the winshield are different shape--the roundness in bodyshape of the car (across the dash) is more "arced" in the older cars. The reason I know this is because my car is older (SPO1350) and Chris's car is newer (SPO1715)........so the winsheilds are totally different shaped. Like I said, Chris's "original" winshield didn't match either of these winshields!!!-- we were puzzled!!!

Lance stepped up to the plate and fixed the car for Chris and everything is great. Kudos to Lance @ Hillbank motors!!

[ROMM]

Originally Posted by PJS50

Romm,
If the center post was tightened too tight, this definitely could cause the windshiled to crack...
A lot of people tightened those posts to keep their rear view mirrors from "wiggling" when they drove and didn't hink about the extra stress' that they were imparting on the glass...
Don't get me wrong, you "could" have defective glass...
Call SPF USA and talk to Barry Bloch about it...
Luckily, with your car #, all you would "need" to get would be JUST the glass itself.. But DEFINITELY check the frame for undue tensions/stresses before installing the new "glass"... Otherwise.... Well, you know...

Well thats the thing. My car did not have a center bracket of any kind when I received the car. And the dealer that I bought the car from had the windshield changed in december. He said Anthem told him the car did not need the center bracket with this new revised windshield. I don't know whats going on. All I know is my windshield is broken after only 400 miles of driving, and the damage is not from an impact, and I am the one who is suppost to absorb the cost. This does not sound right to me. I will have to call that number you gave me.

[Semper Fi]

I was told that the new winshields didn't have the middle bracket anymore becuase you don't need it.

[Tony Aprile]

The early cars had glass that was bonded to the frame (glass only replacement was not possible) and had no support rod........ the rod started somewhere around car # 1300 along with the new high cowl body shape...at this point the glass was no longer bonded to the frame as the originals and glass only was replaceable....somewhere around car # 2000 the shape of the glass remained the same but the glass was partially bonded in the middle of the top and bottom of the frame, thus glass replacement was possible and the support rod was no longer needed....so you could put the newest frame on lets say car # 1350 and it would have no support rod....from #1300 to the latest out of south Africa the body has not changed nor has the shape of the glass.

[Semper Fi]

Originally Posted by Tony Aprile

The early cars had glass that was bonded to the frame (glass only replacement was not possible) and had no support rod........ the rod started somewhere around car # 1300 along with the new high cowl body shape...at this point the glass was no longer bonded to the frame as the originals and glass only was replaceable....somewhere around car # 2000 the shape of the glass remained the same but the glass was partially bonded in the middle of the top and bottom of the frame, thus glass replacement was possible and the support rod was no longer needed....so you could put the newest frame on lets say car # 1350 and it would have no support rod....from #1300 to the latest out of south Africa the body has not changed nor has the shape of the glass.

Tony,

I am no expert, but I believe you are not 100% correct. I own car # 1350 (2002), my friend Chris owns car # 1750 (2004) and our cars are different. Mine is the "old" stlye and his is the "newer" stlye. We have parked our cars side by side and you can really notice that my car (older cars) has more of a curve in the dashboard and the body. Chris's car (newer car) is flatter looking in the same area.

[Tony Aprile]

Semper Fi

I only speak of the experiences I've had with Superformance. I have owned my SPF since 2002 (#1358) and have worked in a local shop that does the engine installs and final assembly and delivery of these vehicles for an SPF dealer. There's a fairly large SPF contingent here on Long Island and I have been around these cars for four years now, I have replaced numerous windshields on SPF's ( all later then #1300) so they all had support rods. Some had the rear view mirror on the cowl and later cars had them attached to the support rod....
The newer cars , starting somewhere around #2000 and I can't remember exactly had no support rod and bonded glass, although the newer glass that is now bonded is of the same shape and the rear view mirror was attached to the glass directly.
I am member of SCOF (Superformance Cobra Owners Forum) and windshield problems have surfaced from time to time, SCOF keeps close ties to SPF and if there was another change to the body shape there would be yet another windshield....If im wrong I'll be the first to admit it, really.

There should be no difference between the shape of your #1350 and Chris's#1750 and they both use the same frame and glass and the body has not changed. If someone along the line changed an original SPF windshield frame for lets say the current aftermarket there will be discrepencies. A while back there were SPF glass shortages and some of the guy's changed entire glass and frames to non SPF due to the shortages.

I'd like to here more of the differences of your cars and who told you that the glass is different ???

Tony

[Semper Fi]

Originally Posted by Tony Aprile

Semper Fi

I only speak of the experiences I've had with Superformance. I have owned my SPF since 2002 (#1358) and have worked in a local shop that does the engine installs and final assembly and delivery of these vehicles for an SPF dealer. There's a fairly large SPF contingent here on Long Island and I have been around these cars for four years now, I have replaced numerous windshields on SPF's ( all later then #1300) so they all had support rods. Some had the rear view mirror on the cowl and later cars had them attached to the support rod....
The newer cars , starting somewhere around #2000 and I can't remember exactly had no support rod and bonded glass, although the newer glass that is now bonded is of the same shape and the rear view mirror was attached to the glass directly.
I am member of SCOF (Superformance Cobra Owners Forum) and windshield problems have surfaced from time to time, SCOF keeps close ties to SPF and if there was another change to the body shape there would be yet another windshield....If im wrong I'll be the first to admit it, really.

There should be no difference between the shape of your #1350 and Chris's#1750 and they both use the same frame and glass and the body has not changed. If someone along the line changed an original SPF windshield frame for lets say the current aftermarket there will be discrepencies. A while back there were SPF glass shortages and some of the guy's changed entire glass and frames to non SPF due to the shortages.

I'd like to here more of the differences of your cars and who told you that the glass is different ???

Tony

Tony,
I wasn't talking about the glass in my earlier post. I was talking about the shape of the car. Chris's car is #1715 (not 1750--my mistake) Actually, the glass is different. Like I mentioned earlier, when we had our cars right next to each other, you can cleary see that my car is shaped different than Chris's car. (I am talking about the curvature of the dashboard and the hood)

I will try to get a picture of the 2 cars together and you can cleary see the difference. Since the "shape" of the 2 cars are different, the winshield has to be different as well because of the curve.

[Tony Aprile]

Originally Posted by Semper Fi

Since the "shape" of the 2 cars are different, the winshield has to be different as well because of the curve.

Semper Fi
Glass aside, there should be no difference in the shape of the body between 1350 and 1715 as well as the latest factory releases. I will run this by the guy's on SCOF...


The only body shape difference was the old body from car #1 to #1200 give or take 30 cars, then the body cowl was raised on the new body and thus a new windshield shape, this remained the same until present...

Are you sure one of you are not reading your car number correctly, because the
VIN sometimes places a "1" in front of the number thus confusing them.

Check out this link:

http://performanceunlimited.com/scof/carnumber.html





Tony

[Semper Fi]

Originally Posted by Tony Aprile

Semper Fi
Glass aside, there should be no difference in the shape of the body between 1350 and 1715 as well as the latest factory releases. I will run this by the guy's on SCOF...


The only body shape difference was the old body from car #1 to #1200 give or take 30 cars, then the body cowl was raised on the new body and thus a new windshield shape, this remained the same until present...

Are you sure one of you are not reading your car number correctly, because the
VIN sometimes places a "1" in front of the number thus confusing them.

Check out this link:

http://performanceunlimited.com/scof/carnumber.html
Tony

I am positive that my car is SPO1350 (says on the title) and Chris's car is SPO1715. I am also positive that they are different. Not trying to start a pissing match, but I don't know what else to tell you. I will get a picture of our cars side by side so you can actually see there's a difference in the 2 cars!

This is strange, just like when Chris was trying to get a new winshield on his car (# 1715) the winshield that came off his car didn't match my winshield or the new winshields that SPF had in stock. The frames were actually shaped different. I know--this is puzzling, but I can assure you I am speaking the truth and I don't smoke crack

[Woodz428]

Semper Fi,
I'd have to guess there is something weird about the serial #'s you are using. The earlier cars are the more flat ones and the later ones have the taller arch. This was done to make the 460 based engines fit easier. A few pics of the 2 tags would eliminate the issue with the numbers. It sounds like 1715 may really be 715. Since I haven't read all the posts, were both the cars bought new? If not, had any damage been repaired? What dates were they purchased, if new??