MadaboutKitcars

Hi Geoff, yes I had actually, but it would not be able to go inward due to the body shape, and if it opened outward, we would be back to the " I must remember to shut the quarter light before I open the door, or it will snap off syndrome"

When the door opens, the front edge of the window "shaves" forward missing the windscreen by around 1 to 2 inches, which is why I shelved that idea.

It is difficult for all the people out there who have not seen the door open and close, to imagine the tight tolerances that I am faced with, which really limits my scope in design!

Paul, thanks for the link, I will check it out later.

Gary Are you making me an offer to be a movie star?

Nice one Landmannnn, made me laugh!

Jones, I'm keep your idea in mind thank you.

Monday morning

Right!

back to the problem, because the tolerances involved in the door glass missing the windscreen edge are so fine.

And we are talking one or two mm making the difference between opening correctly or jamming and causing damage.

Messing about like I am at present with bits of cardboard and ally clamped to the door, is not enough to provide a definite answer.

So the only way to be sure if what I am planning to do will work, will be to have the door set up properly with the window cut to size and bolted to it (as it will be on the finished car)

Then and only then, can I be sure it will either open correctly or not, and I can act accordingly.

To that end, I have ordered the lexan sheet with express delivery, so I can go ahead.

I will post when I can.

And many thanks to all who have given advice etc.

Well I have ordered the lexan, but could always source some cheap muck to play with!
May just do that Landmannnnnn.

(But secretly, I'm pretty sure what I have in mind will work)

But there again, I thought for a year or so what I had in mind would work and it just didn't!!!!

I understand what you are saying, but each window will only cost about twenty quid anyway, and it wont be wasted either.

I will cut the window to its final shape, bolt it to the door and
make it open correctly. That will be done by manipulating the shape of the quarter light, which will only have a very small piece of lexan in it.
So hopefully, nothing will be wasted, and the worst case scenario is £20 lost , but I could always use the "wasted" bit to make the quarter lights, so I don't really see much of a problem.

Tuesday morning

Okay!

Today I started making the quarter lights.
I finished the drivers side, and the lexan arrived half-way through!

I am pleased with the result, and do think it looks better than it would have, if my original idea had worked.

I always get a lot of satisfaction out of starting with a flat sheet, and ending up with a three dimensional lump of something at the end of it.

I bolted the stainless screen top back on and it fits in better than I thought with the quarter light I have done.

I need to make a passengers one now and carry on with the fitting.

some pics:

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Tuesday pm

Well, really a repeat of this morning, I now have the passengers quarter light finished/done, and placed on the car.

If I am brutally honest with myself, it is not as perfect as the drivers one, but to a good enough standard that I won't make another bugger!

That is all the brainwork, cutting, sawing, filing, grinding and polishing done and dusted, and another day I will cut and fit the lexan into the quarter light frames and make the side windows.

The good news is that it IS going to work, and the doors WILL (do) open without fouling, so the problem is done for, deceased, do-doed, morted, dead, lifeless, soulless, finitoed, endexed and very similar to Monty Pythons parrot, so is finally over.

And it cost bugger all and didn't take long either, praise be to the lowered!

Last piccies of the day:

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Wednesday

I was looking through Oxfords thread, and he said: "I got my ideas and techniques from Seanick"

That encapsulates perfectly the essence of this forum.

Basically to "nick" other peoples ideas!

Seriously, when I decided to make my own seats, I looked through the forum to see if anyone else had done their own, and I found some seats in red that a very clever fellah had made himself.

Although I wanted a different style, his seats looked so perfect and simple that it inspired me to make a start on my own.

Of course when I had finished my seats, they looked nothing like his, but it was looking at his seats which provided the driving force behind my efforts.

(I spent ages looking for where I got these pictures, but to no avail)

Pay attention Viatron!

So a big thank you to the unknown seat-maker out there!
Would be nice to see them in your finished car!

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[SIZE="6"]This was my first completed seat[/SIZE]

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Why sad Oxford?

Have I missed something awful?

Not really! If I saw one pale green Triumph component, I would know instantly who owned it, and that wouldn't make me sad!!

You should be proud!

Thanks rattler!

Well now you know that you were the inspiration which drove me to make my own seats!

But that's what this forum is all about.

I saw your car on your thread and do like it very much!
I can't wait for mine to be done.

Thursday

Today I had work that was unrelated to the build, but afterwards I set to and cut the drivers window and both quarter lights out of my lexan sheet.

I did a lot of measuring first, and had enough lexan to make three windows, and both quarter lights so I had room for error, or, if I was good, a spare window!

I also did a lot of research on the best ways to cut lexan, and decided to go the jigsaw tungsten-carbide route.

tungsten- carbide blades are a fairly new thing to me, I wanted some jigsaw metal cutting blades recent;ly, and ordered some tungsten carbide ones, kind of by mistake.

Well they arrived and have no teeth, just a flat blade with the "cutting edge"

tipped with tungsten-carbide. I used them on metal, and they were not much good, but on lexan, WOW terrific, I would never use anything else now.

I was dreading cutting the lexan, but with these blades, it was a doddle.

It does not so much "cut" as "grind" its way through, a bit like a 1mm cutting

disc, but with a reciprocation motion.

Makes the cutting work really easy, and a job to look forward to instead of dreading!

Like most other builders on this forum, my body shell has its anomalies,
because I made my windscreen surround, the left window is half an inch lower at the top than the drivers one.

And when I measured the passengers door, using the drivers side cardboard pattern, it turned out that the left door is one inch shorter for and aft, than the drivers one!

It really is as well that we don't see both sides of the car at once!

I don't even think a concours judge would spot that one.

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Wow, NO, I can't allow you to buy me that when I've finished!
It cost far too much!

I gotta be doing something right WCA!

Talking of watches, the two lesbians that live next door, bought me a Rolex for my birthday.

I think they mis-undertood me, as When they asked me what I wanted, I said " I want to watch"

Friday

Getting things to fit right seems to be so time consuming, and at the stage I am,
the windows have to fit correctly with the windscreen.

Because the body shell is five inches narrower than a "real" XKSS, neither the windscreen or the windows would fit, even if I was given a set, so I had no choice but to make my own, which has proved difficult at times.

Eventually, I will get there, but right now progress seems painfully slow, so much so, that it it starting to piss me off a lot!

But, I will persevere, and it is slowly coming together how I want it to.
Today there is only one pic, so here it is:

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OOh you are awful!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday later on



Well, although I had put in a reasonable amount of work, it didn't look like it, so I was overcome with guilt. I went back out and toiled more.

I cut out the passengers window, re-fettled the passengers quarterlight, and cleaned up both quarter light edges, starting with 220 grit and ending with 600 grit as per instructions.

The guilt buggered off, so I packed it in immediately!

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Oh! I forgot to add that it is possible to polish up the lexan edges even better if you apply methylene chloride to them, which gives an instant shine.

The downside is that methylene chloride is a suspect carcinogen.

When googled, it turns out that it may cause cancer to living cells.

Mmmm! Perhaps not.

"Scottie's car turned out quite well, what a shame he died of cancer just before he drove it"