Bonded windscreen

[LotusMini1975]

I have a 1993 Plus 2 and the windscreen had a crack which National windscreens came to to fit a new one today.
The two guys works their best but despite heating up the chrome plastic trim to bend around the screen it simply wouldn't fit correctly.
Speaking to a old lotus factory mechanic who worked on them at Hethel, he commented that the fitment bead on the frame should be around 20/25mm in depth, mine is only 10mm and possibly before i owned the car which I've done for 26 years, Someone may have fitted a rubber mounted screen which apparently needed this alteration. There is only a very small overlap of the screen to the frame which is also causing some fitment issues.

Question is has anyone had this trim fitting issue before and how was it overcome and secondly should i just go for the rubber mounted screen and the thin chrome infill strip.

Cheers

Steve

[mjbeanie]

Hello Steve,

Had the same issue with my 71 Plus 2 S 130. Bought all the necessary materials, from SJ Sportscars. However my professional installers could not work with the wide chrome highlighted trim. See this discussion page 3 halfway down page. viewtopic.php?f=51&t=53498&start=30

SJ suggested heating the trim before installation-no joy there either. Basically wasted a few hundred dollars following this path, but that's how it goes. In the end, my installers came up with a narrow bonded in trim material which worked very well using their recommended bonding agent. It worked well and looks as good as many of the other installations I've seen. At the end of the day, I am happy I abandoned the conventional aftermarket parts available.

The early Plus 2 had the rubber mount strip, and thin filler strip I believe. I think that may be a good approach than the bonded strips which don't work well. Hope this helps a bit. Good luck with your efforts -Mike

[alanr]

My take on this..
The S130 bonded screen issue and replacing it has rumbled on for many years and there is no real solution to the struggle of replacing it quite as it was originally by Lotus it seems. I think you may have to compromise on how it was fitted before and how it will be going forward.
I am yet to change mine but will need to at some point. It is not a nice job and very difficult to do successfully. I would question if a modern car glasss fitter would have the knowledge of really what to do with it.
Where did National windscreens get the screen from would be my first question?
If you search back here on the forum over the years there have been size issues with the glass. Also some have had problems with the bow of the screen not being quite the correct shape to fit the curve of the aperture.
I know Sue Miller can supply a Pilkington glass screen which when I do get around to changing mine this is the glass I will be using.
Ricky Evans Motosport also sell a screen which they say they make themselves but I suspect has come from elswhere.
As regards fitting it..
Bending/Shaping the chrome plastic trim to the needed curvature on the S130 is the main problem.
As I understand things this needs to be very patiently and carefully warmed to create the shape needed. Personally I have yet to see one that has been done successful done! Almost every car you see at any show has crinkling around the corners where others have failed to get it really good.
Also as I understand things you can't use the early type rubber in the later S130 aperture because there is not an upstand large enough along the bottom to affix the earlier +2 type rubber and chrome infill to.Basically the screen won't hold in so I don't think that is an option for you.
Some have bonded a rubber in but it doesn't quite fill the aperture hole and leaves a largish gap around the finished screen. I have seen some Spyder Zetec conversions done this way but to my eyes whilst it is ok it isn't quite as it was originally. It depends I guess how particular/fussy you are?

Someone a while ago though, again you will need to do a search, did use a wide rubber seal without using any chrome trim at all that I think they said came from a Ford Transit van. It looks very plain though without any chrome surround at all though but may be an alternative.

Good luck. ... Keep us posted how it goes. I watch with keen interest and hope you can come up with an acceptable solution to the problem.

Alan