Final windscreen fixing

Previously I had trial fitted the windscreen without bolting it in place and then I had removed it. Hopefully this is the final fixing!

The stanchions were removed from the screen by undoing the four fixing screws on either side. The stanchions were then drilled, using a conical stepped drill, a drill and drill stand at the pre-determined places, to accept 8 mm button head machine screws. I had been warned that the stanchions were chromed brass and brass is liable to grab when drilled, so I had used the conical stepped drill with care. I had to turn the stanchions over and drill from the other side to get an 8 mm hole all the way through - had to do this due to the depth of the step on the bit.

The drilled stanchions were then re-attached to the screen and the screen put in place. Carol (my better half) came to my rescue here and lent a hand, as with over £550 of screen I didn't want to damage it. The screen position was checked and the bottom locating bolts/holes were opened up very slightly. A round file did the trick here. Penny washers were used to make up the small gap in between the fixed screen mounting points and the stanchions to avoid putting stress on the screen.

Near-side stanchion from inside the passenger compartment

The screen should be about 6mm off the scuttle at the outer edges and the top should be 930mm from the rear of the cockpit roll. The measurement from the first sun visor screw hole (I used this point as it was a good fixed reference) to the rear of the door openings should be close to the same on each side - in my case 810 mm. No need for the temporary locating templates that many of the older builds have entailed. All the measurements were correct - whoopee! Well done GD.

Windscreen in place

The screen was then unscrewed from the stanchions, leaving the uprights in place.

Stanchion with silicone sealer

The slots were sealed using silicone and then each of the escutcheons was fed over the stanchions. The escutcheons were bent to the shape of the body and then fixed using two self tapping screws. A small amount of silicone was used to seal the escutcheons.

Windscreen escutcheon

The under dash cross bars were fitted to the same holes as the screen stanchions. a small amount of silicone kept the penny washers in place! Ideally this whole job should have been done when I fitted the stanchions and before I siliconed the things in place - it would have been a bit easier!

The two cross bars fitted

The way the two bars are fitted can be seen in the photo above. They were secured using the button head screws that fixed the windscreen stanchions to the body.

A view showing the two cross bars in place

The two bars with the fixing lugs for the central under dash tray

Holes were drilled down through the transmission tunnel and rivnuts fitted to secure the larger bar to the tunnel. This can't be done finally until the carpet if fitted.

A side view of the fixing, where the rivnut and screw can be seen

Other shiny bits

Whilst I was at it I fixed the door hinge escutcheons. I like this bling stuff - must have been a magpie in a former life!

Shiny bits. Also you will see the courtesy light switch between the hinges

Just needed to open out the holes a little with a flat file to avoid the hinges touching the bit of the escutcheon that fits in to the hinge hole.

New link

I have added a new link to Jonathan's Cobra build - see 'Some other GD427 Cobra build blogs that may interest you' to the right of this post. Jonathan is the guy in the Shetlands who has just taken delivery of his GD.