Here are a few notes to update everyone on my progress making these louvers.
-I purchased my louvers without any hinges when I was about 14 years old (2001?). I eventually attached them to my SX4 by making a complex piece of metal that precisely fit the bottom corner of the window. It clacked going down the road and the metal was tight, but a strong yank on the louvers would have ripped them right off without much struggle. I didn’t leave the louvers on very long because I was worried about damaging them before I would have a chance to copy them. Now almost a decade later I’m finally finishing what I started.
I finally got to see an original set of hinges about a year ago. A nest member named Troy has several intact and preserved on his collection of Eagles. I wasn’t impressed and they actually looked much weaker than the ones I made from scratch.
A week ago a different Nest member named Mike let me borrow a spare set of hinges he had. I’m very grateful. While removing them I got to see just how strong they are. What I didn’t know was that the hinges actually have a lip on them that not only slides under the rubber, it also bends down around the edge of the glass. They are actually quite difficult to remove even with multiple hands and tools. I’m still not impressed with how stiff they are at the bolt point, but the piece that grabs the window is more than adequate. I’ve changed my design to improve and supplement the original hinge design, but to be pretty much the same. I was resolved to do something much different.
-The small bit of width I added to the blades didn't work for SX4s with a factory windshield wiper. I will have to add slightly more or minus some, which I will need to make two more sets of prototypes before deciding which looks best and works best. I simply removed the wiper blade and the post that sticks through the window usually doesn't interfere with the original set and my first prototype, but it did for my second prototype. I'll make sure my final version works for all SX4s.
-The side hinge design I made didn't make sense in application. What it came down to is that the window is much more curved than I initially realized. The first time I mounted my louvers years ago they flexed and clacked against the window as you drove. When properly snug against the window, however, the whole assembly is very stiff because of the curvature across the window. My new design will be just as stiff as my first design with considerably less complication. I now know why my louvers used to flex so much and it won't be a problem anymore.
Because I wanted to solve the clacking problem that is now a mute issue, I previously wanted to attach the blades as an assembly to a hinged stiff structure that opened like a book to clean the window. I'm glad I experimented with that design because I plan on making a heavy steel version for my hardtop convertible offroading SX4 that will be strong enough for me to stand on even without the glass present. Obviously that is too much metal to use for these louvers.
-I spent some time looking at the top hinges now that I have an original one to borrow. It turns out that they were made very flimsy on purpose. The curvature of the window and the top of the roof is too much to make a set of hinges without them being hinge-bound to each other. The axis of the hinges need to be parallel in order to work. They ended up bending thin aluminum and putting on a notched piece of plastic as a hinge. The hinges were flexible enough to work without being exactly square to each other. The problem is that the notched plastic is often split and broken with age. I’ve seen small metal cabinet hinges used successfully to replace the weak notched plastic that was originally there. In my case I purchased about $300 worth of aluminum piano hinges for $120 that will work perfectly to look original without the weakness.
Topic: Side & Rear Window Louvers (Read 112742 times)