Winter proofing your Chev 4 against wind and water

With the Aussie winter approaching thought I would republish a couple of earlier postings about how I water and wind proofed the Red Chev to about 95%.

The result is a Vintage car that can be driven all year around, and
1. You do not drown when it rains
2. You do not get blown sideways on the freeway when the wind balloons out the vinyl top
3. Even on the coldest days you can get by in a Tee Shirt, warmed by heat from the firewall.

And the story goes....................

2011 - 14th August - Improved Wind Sealing on the Side Curtains

(Updated 5th September)

My Chev was originally upholstered by a couple of old guys back in the 70's who were apprentices on the Holden assembly line back in 1928. So I believe the hood and side curtains are as per the factory specs of close.

I have always had a problem at around 25 MPH and above with the wind pushing the side curtains in behind the flap coming down from the hood to seal the top of the curtains, and on the opposite side of the car the curtains would be pushed out. Cross winds were about 200% worse.

I have slowly been making the car freeway friendly (being able to cruise at 40 to 45mph) and finally got around to the side curtains and the sealing flap. The rectification was a lot simpler than I expected.

After refitting the side flaps to have a consistent coverage of the top of the side curtain, I then carefully cut a small opening in the bottom end of the flap and inserted a 1.5 metre piece of 25 x 3mm flat steel strip into the bottom edge of the flap, very similar to putting weights in the bottom of a curtain.

Pleased to say it worked a treat, side curtains now stay in place, have not yet tested in cross wind, but even at 50 MPH the car was a lot quieter, with the side curtains not flapping around as much as previous.

All that remains to finish the job is remove the metal strips, paint and refit, then seal up the small slit in the end of the flap.

I have been going to do something about this for the last 5 years or more. Some where between "being slack" or  "you cant rush these things" is the correct answer.

A few photos below.

Update 5th September.

Went on a 80 mile rally yesterday, and the results were excellent. Driving in the windiest conditions you could imagine, yet the car was very quiet and sealed with no wind or rain getting in. For the first time I was not concerned that the side curtains on one side would blow in with the other side billowing out. Why did I not think of this many, many years ago?

Improvement no 8 - Wind and Waterproofing for Highway Driving

Before this modification the wind and rain would come in under to top of the hood and all around the windscreen. It was not a pleasant experience.

 2010 saw the Chev doing a lot more highway driving, so I embarked on a mission to reduce the amount of wind and water coming in through the front of the car.

Step 1 - Where the hood fits over the top of the windscreen, there is a double flap, one side goes to the outside of the windscreen frame, the other to the inside. This never seemed to work, so I fitted self adhesive Velcro to both sides of the top of the windscreen frame, with the other part of the self adhesive Velcro to the inside surfaces of the flap. This was an immediate success, and reduced by about 95% wind and rain coming in over the top of the screen, and can not be seen from the outside.

Step 2 - Now the upright posts. I have the original Holden Body Works specification side curtains that I think were supposed to work by air pressure pushing them against the windscreen uprights and screen. They were not very effective. I had the idea that if I made a vinyl insert to fit in behind the side curtains and come out a bit further across the edge of the screen this may help. I made up a couple of heavy cardboard templates and had Grant White, Motor Trimmer, from Rosanna Victoria 9458 3479, make up a pair from vinyl to match the hood. I then fitted longer press stud fittings on the windscreen uprights to take double thickness material. Pleased to say this worked very well also, and eliminated the majority of  wind and water coming in through the sides of the windscreen.

This photo shows the windscreen upright and screen frame with the side curtain removed.

This is the insert I had made up

Here is the insert fitted

The next is the side curtain about to be pressed into the studs

And fully fitted, this is the end effect. You can see the extra material coming out from under the side curtain. As I was careful not to protrude past the windscreen frame it does not hinder my vision.

The final part of the jigsaw was the poorly fitting rubber strip between the bottom of the windscreen frame and the top of the cowl. I had previously bought 2 x rubber kits for a 1928 Chev from two different dealers that turned out to be wrong. The T section they supplied was 1.5 inches, when it should be 2 inches. I only found this out by sheer chance when I was looking to buy a rubber profile to make my own fix. The was not needed as when I fitted the correct T section after 30 odd years, problem solved. Once again I did not know any better, but do now. You can see from the pictures above and below that the T section has an interference fit against the cowl, and with a slightly raised lip on the cowl behind the rubber, hey presto, problem solved.

These modifications combined with a previous one to the sides of the hood http://my28chev.blogspot.com/2011/08/2011-14th-august-improved-wind-sealing.html
now make the Red Chev a much more pleasant car to drive.