I was transporting one of those translucent office chair mats on top of my other sweet ride (a 2000 rav-4 booyah) today when it decided to break from the wind bending it. I learned not to go 88 miles per hour with such a thing attached to your roof. But after picking up the pieces from the roadside like a responsible person I got an idea. One of the pieces was perfectly shaped to be retro-fitted into a windscreen. "Egad!!!!" i exclaimed but not really. I then rushed home to grab a heat gun. And then THIS.
This is kinda how I want it to go around my headlight.
(http://24.media.tumblr.com/de303d6f883e14121dcaf33d4b141831/tumblr_mfqb1cPDEK1rreny3o3_1280.jpg)
The preliminary shaping was done using a heat gun, a kitchen bowl, and very, very unused textbooks.
(http://25.media.tumblr.com/0120a63c9b5aff2548d4c5620fd14750/tumblr_mfqb1cPDEK1rreny3o2_1280.jpg)
I moved on to the oven to do some aggressive melting/bending/shaping. I wanted it to come out looking kind of like the purrty national cycle F-15 screen I'm too cheap to pay for.
(http://24.media.tumblr.com/1c7d9151ef303b98742b0554f333ba5e/tumblr_mfqb1cPDEK1rreny3o9_1280.jpg)
I then finished up the shaping with the heat gun. It came out pretty spiffy. :icon_razz:
(http://25.media.tumblr.com/71665dd0dc0e86740b8a0e0a3c2008c7/tumblr_mfqb1cPDEK1rreny3o4_1280.jpg)
I've sanded the front to buff out the road rash from its conception. Also, the frosted look will go great after i coat the back with a dark spray tint.
(http://25.media.tumblr.com/b480527a314f0c03e30d72dbf2c46809/tumblr_mfqb1cPDEK1rreny3o8_1280.jpg)
So thats where i stop tonight. Tomorrow I plan on spray tinting the back and some finer sanding on the front and edges. I also need to fabricate some quick detach mounts to clip into the old gauge cluster mounts. That way I can use this less than beautiful screen to make my commute to work more comfortable, and around town or on the weekend i can stroll around naked in the breeze!!
(http://24.media.tumblr.com/5f5362a2fed7a159c9a7a6adbce48023/tumblr_mfqb1cPDEK1rreny3o1_1280.jpg)
GREAT shot,...that last one I mean. Where's Steez to comment on photo depth when you need him,....
So this is how it turned out. Still need to trim the bottom corners and tint the back. Its also a bit crooked but I can solve that with a few washers to raise the left mounting bracket. It also helps a TON and is rock steady at 90+ so far. The washers I used on the hardware was neoprene so hopefully that will stop the road vibrations from loosening the nuts and bolts.
(http://25.media.tumblr.com/e9c498b7499ab94517f3953080203ad8/tumblr_mfs46kPdYt1rreny3o3_250.jpg)
(http://24.media.tumblr.com/e604bd21a11953ad6f5aeb86853624fe/tumblr_mfs46kPdYt1rreny3o2_250.jpg)
(http://24.media.tumblr.com/1ba9f90085eb1e21279fd96c71df1410/tumblr_mfs46kPdYt1rreny3o1_500.jpg)
And all together it only took 19ish bucks for the mounting hardware. I already had the tools and the broken office chair mat.
(http://25.media.tumblr.com/8ab0d85338b4ff1377beda47e49e2b7e/tumblr_mfs46kPdYt1rreny3o4_500.jpg)