Side Curtains

Gordon, where did you get the rubber seals use used on your windows? Making some of these is a planned winter project.

Mine came with the kit, but I think Allen uses stuff from JC Whitney. I plan on getting some more soon to do the trunk opening (different stuff) but they show it with profiles on their web site, otherwise find what you need at McMaster Carr.

Gordon, those look great! You are a genius. :-)

Lane, I'll do a dig into my shop's archives this weekend, I may have a partial roll of the rubber left for you. I'll also find the JC Whitney part numbers for others.
This would also make for a simple "Carlisle How To Do" seminar.
~ Alan

Rick:

No genius here....I copied those from Ola Milthorp over in Europe.

gn

Rick:

No genius here....I copied those from Ola Miltorp over in Sweden.

https://www.speedsterowners.com/files/view.asp?sf=Ola+Miltorp&f=w3%2Ejpg

gn

Thanks, Alan!

I was planning on using the mounting hardware off of the Beck side curtains that I have, but I am concerned that they may not have enough strength against forces applied to the side. The only have two screws in line, and are lacking the third screw higher up that Joe shows in his picture toward the beginning of this thread. Any suggestions?

Lane, The issue is to evenly distribute the stress/loading on the lexan. A large stainless steel body washer would do the same. You will need a rubber cushion between the lexan and washer/mount. The 3 bolt system on my car is a replica of the orginal than CMC sold.

Lane,
I only found a small piece that isnt enough to do one side curtain.
The JC Whitney "lip moulding" comes in 25' rolls, you can go in on a roll with a couple of others here.
JC Whitney part number is...... XM812914 $39.99.
Enter the part number at the JC Whitney home page to get an idea what it looks like.
The lip moulding can also be used on the leading edge against the windshield. Feel free to call me when you are doing this I can walk you through any of your questions. ~Alan

Gracias! My only concern is the reuse of the mounting posts I have that came with the car. I may have to come up with something else to distribute the force better. I'm wondering about some aluminum channel for the bottom edge. Screwing the posts into that would make the whole thing a lot more stable, and would take the forces off of the lexan.

Lexan and Marguard are very forgiving (Plexiglass is too brittle)
I have used the Lexan and Marguard for side curtains. I use a cut down square U bolt as the 90 degree posts secured to the Lexan with washers and acorn nuts. Once you have the correct size cardboard template, the rest is easy peasy. ~Alan

Lane,
I just re-did my side curtains the other day. I'll post pics tomorrow.
I used Lucite (1/4") and supported/strengthened it with aluminum strips riveted between the mounting brackets.
I reused the original trim for the top and sides of the windows and used a piece of slit rubber hose for the bottom of the windows.
I still have to fab up some "window stablizers" inspired by Gordon.
They look OK and they'll keep enough of the nasty stuff out in bad weather so I'm good with them. I figure, I only use them in an emergency anyway so who cares how they look and long as they work.

Lane:

Forget the bottom aluminium channel - too complicated for marginal return.

Up the thickness to 1/4" and that'll be plenty stable (I'm currently running 1/8" and it's OK, but 1/4" would be super).

Using the Miltorp mounting posts with Stainless fender washers AND rubber fender washers sandwiched in against the Lexan works very well - no cracks for 6000 miles except for when someone used the window as a handle to get out of the seat.

Here's the pictures of the side curtains I did. I still have some trimming and finish work to do, but you get the idea.
Even with the 1/4" lucite there was a tendency for them to "sag" (curve) a little, maybe because I used Lucite? Lexan may be stiffer? That's why I used the aluminum strips. They keep the window straight and if needed I can easily adjust them if they curve again.
It remains to be seen if they'll hold up. If not I'll go the lexan route. The only reason I went Lucite was that's all they had in 1/4". Everything else seemed so flimsy.

That's close to what I'm thinking, But I was planning on a U-channel where the lexan was down in the U, and the screws to the mounts went through both lexan and aluminum. Just an idea so far. However, the first parts are in. I ordered some of those cool pop-out vents that Jogyver has because it can get a little stuffy sometimes.

Has anyone thought about the VW bus(67 and earlier)that had sliders?

Mickey, I've made a number of these and found you don't need any rubber along the top, only the bulb molding against the windshield and a horizontal flat piece against the door. The best window material I've found is "Margard" it's a Lexan base with a hard scratch resistant coating, most glass shops can order it for you. When I was teaching auto shop, I would let the kids hammer away on a piece of it, it takes a lot to kill the stuff. ~Alan