Geek's STi Build

[Geek]

Installed my covered center console and am happy with the way it looks. Installed the left side stainless steel threshold so now both sides are done. I decided on using rivnuts to attach my door glass to the doors. I am aware of the issues with rivnuts spinning in their mounting holes after a while but I have successfully used them many times without an issue. I did however take some Hysol and coat the inner edge of the hole for the rivnut before doing the install. When you squeeze the rivnut during installation, you cause the rivnut to expand a ring that goes all the way around the hole. When I did the squeeze, that ring got set into the Hysol so I am now certain I won't have any issues. I set the both door frames into the fuselage and 'adjusted' them so that they are the shape as the fuselage opening. I shimmed the door frames into the openings so that they have a pretty even space all the way around between the door and the opening. Once I had that dialed in, I did the fitting for the glass on both sides. I rough sanded out the cutting wheel marks on the edge of the glass and once that was done, polished the edges so I won't have any cracking issues later on.

[Desertwndrr]

Looks fantastic.

What did you use to polish the edges with?

[Geek]

Looks fantastic.

What did you use to polish the edges with?

Thanks. Polish might not be totally accurate but I started with 100 grit to remove the cutting wheel marks and then just incrementally moved on up (150, 220, 400, 600) to 1000 grit paper. It looks like it's polished and there are no scratches but it's more of a matte finish. Certain if I went higher up or used the buffing wheel I used on aluminum valve covers and such in my old car days, it would be truly a polish. I was mostly interested in getting scratches out that might promote cracks later on when vibration is working its' evil.

G

[Eric Page]

What did you use to cut the plastic bubbles? I'm sneaking up on this task and am terrified of cracking them!

[Geek]

I used a thin cut off wheel on my Dremmel set at about 1500 RPM. I didn't try to cut them in one pass but rather made the first pass which was more of a scoring and then went back and most of the time it was the third pass that finished the cut. I measured where I wanted to cut and then ran a line of masking tape along that line to act as a guide. Today's adventure is drilling the holes and Eric and I like you, am terrified about cracking these babies. That would be an expensive crack. I have the acrylic drill bits and have gone on You Tube and other sites to look at recommended drill speeds. I have seen "use high speeds" to "use low speeds" for that with arguments for both which didn't help me. I think I am going to defer to the middle and use something around 800 to 1000. The one thing I did see as a tip that was pretty much universal was to drill into a block of wood to support the plastic as the hole is finished. Seems as the drill exits, it wants to chip out the backside of the hole. Good luck my friend.

Gary

[Eric Page]

I used a thin cut off wheel on my Dremmel set at about 1500 RPM. I didn't try to cut them in one pass but rather made the first pass which was more of a scoring and then went back and most of the time it was the third pass that finished the cut.

Fantastic; thanks! I'll grab some fresh wheels next time I'm in Home Depot.

I have seen "use high speeds" to "use low speeds"

The only guidance I have is the instruction sheet that came with my new windshield, which says to use high speed and very light pressure. But, that's for the acrylic windshield; I think the door bubbles are polycarbonate (Lexan). Not sure if that guidance applies to them as well.

You might want to give L.P. Aero Plastics a call: 1-800-957-2376

[Jerrytex]

The diamond coated dremel cut off discs also work good to cut the Acrylic. I used them on my bubble doors, LP aero windshield, all the fiberglass, Skylight, and lexan turtle deck.





https://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Cutti...737352762&th=1

[jiott]

The bubble doors are acrylic, just like the windshield, so you want to be careful about cracking the same as the windshield. The only Lexan, polycarbonate, are the turtle deck, triangular windows, and the underseat storage box covers. Those things are indestructible, except they scratch real easy.

[bbs428]

I used a small diamond cutter to make holes in the bubble doors. It cut/melted thru easily without cracking. Enlarge carefully as necessary. All the holes were made with no cracking! I used rivnuts as well. With it being so cold, the risk of cracking these expensive acrylic doors/windscreens goes up imho.
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I plan on using the same method on the windscreen.

To cut off, I did the same as Geek but used a higher rpm:

"I used a thin cut off wheel on my Dremmel set at about 1500 RPM. I didn't try to cut them in one pass but rather made the first pass which was more of a scoring and then went back and most of the time it was the third pass that finished the cut. I measured where I wanted to cut and then ran a line of masking tape along that line to act as a guide."

[Eric Page]

Thanks very much for the additional ideas, guys. Very much appreciated.