Windscreen Fitting

The Caterham build manual does not cover fitting of the windscreen, since chassis in the UK are supplied with the windscreen fitted when it is ordered. And there are plenty of examples of some challenges that people have faced fitting the screen, mostly in the form of some “wrinkly” rubber, as can be seen below:

and

So after some research, here is the process I used and the result:

1) Enlist the help of a friend – 1 person each side of the car really helps avoid scratched paintwork or worse

2) Make sure that the bottom rubber is fully fitted into the channel at the bottom of the screen and that the concave side will be placed down onto the scuttle

3) Attach the screen stanchions loosely to each side of the screen and prepare the domed cap head bolts, washers etc. for connection to the scuttle. Feed the rubber seal ends through the triangular holes in each stanchion

4) Position the screen, feed the heated screen wires through their respective holes and starting with the rubber seal at the back of the windscreen wiper drive points, lower the screen and move back towards the rear of the car, flattening the rubber in the process. Locate the front scuttle bolts on each side, then continue to rotate the screen back and down to compress the seal and locate the rear scuttle bolts. Some have reported that the windscreen seal ends up contacting the rear of the wiper drive outlets (and this seems the case with an S3), but on my CSR and I assume other SV cars, the gap is about 1/2″

5) Fit the washers and nuts loosely on all the scuttle bolts. Then, applying gentle tension on the ends of the rubber seal fed through the stanchion, start to tighten the stanchions to the screen frame, then the scuttle bolts. Don’t put too much tension on the rubber as this will pull it out of the channel at the ends, requiring you to re-start (ask me how I know). It was also helpful to massage the seal along the scuttle pushing towards the stanchions on each side

6) Fully tighten all the bolts/screws

7) Apply some heat (from the trusty heat gun) to the outside ends of the rubber, carefully…then apply some blue painters tape to hold it down over night

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8) The following day, carefully peel back the blue tape (don’t pull up, but along), stand back and admire your handiwork 🙂

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9) Carefully trim the excess rubber seal from the inside of the triangular cutout in the stanchion.

3 responses to “Windscreen Fitting

  1. You did such a good job, I’ll have you look at mine :-). Actually, I’m thinking about getting an aeroscreen for next summer & experiment with different options for reducing turbulence over 60mph. I’d like to drive without the sidescreens, but so far its not good over 50mph. I tried a perspex screen, in front of and the same size as the roll-bar but it did not seem to make much difference. I’ve heard quoted that the 7 windscreen is the same size as the air brake on the Bugatti Veyron.

    • Dave, I’d be happy to, it worked better than I had hoped. I think the screen is bigger than the Bugatti air brake and certainly aerodynamics is not the strong suit of a Seven. And the new AeroSeven does not have a windscreen!..

      There are plenty of entries on Blatchat about “going aero”, but it is not clear if this also comes with the necessity of wearing a crash helmet. It certainly needs goggles, and the Brooklands aeroscreens seem to be the top choice. The other option discussed is the use of modified perspex wind deflectors, which I may try, but they do seem to need some additional “bending”.

  2. Many thanks for those tips, very helpfull as indeed this topic is not so much documented !

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