Cracked WIndshield

Since we're taking the Spridget to Ontario on Friday (for a race at Shannonville), I figured I'd wash it.
Shiny cars *go* faster!
Anyway, I wash the windshield with a bucket of warm water and soap....then I spray it off with the hose....
.....and the windshield cracks!

This turned out to be a *free* repair, after I crawled around in my basement and found the '66 Sprite windshield that I've been saving since 1982....thus rewarding my "pack-rat" behavior, and ensuring that I'll throw out even *less* Brit-junk in the future.

I assume that the cracking is due to the temperature differential of the water in the bucket and the hose water....but the bucket-water wasn't boiling and the hose-water wasn't real cold, so I'm kind of surprised. Anyone ever have this happen? (there was no cracks or faults in the windshield up to that point)

wow.. and i was just thinking of selling of my spare wind screen. so much for that idea.

was the car sitting in the sun. hose water cold?
i know mine is after it has run for a bit.

perhaps the wind screen was under some stress from racing or recent work youve done to stiffin the car up.

pretty strange.
glad you had a spare

Mark

this is why Tony has about 50 parts cars

&, in addition ot all those parts cars, the 2nd floor of the Garage-mahal is full of spare parts tagged for which car they belong - &, they're not for sale until after I die & Jerri & Shannon try to figure out what to do with my collection (i.e., my '59 MGA is next for full restoration; in 2nd floor are ll the major things I'll need to complete that - I collect them up a little at a time!)

That's at least 2 years down the road

Further than that, chuck....V8, '70GT, TD, '68C, '63B...somewhere '56 Magnette.....

[ 08-13-2003: Message edited by: tony barnhill ]</p>

We had the windshield crack on our daily driver due to heat differences. It was -40C or so and we had the heater on defrost. The window got a huge crack going almost all the way accross.

Yeah 78Z....same thing happens here in Mini-Sota (Land of Lutefisk, Land of 10,000 taxes, Land of 100,000 cracked windshields).

Winter temps get down to -20F to -30F....turn on the defroster and craaaaaack! We learn to turn on the defroster before the engine's warmed up so you don't get hot air on the superchilled windshield all at once.

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Xracer:
[QB]Yeah 78Z....same thing happens here in Mini-Sota (Land of Lutefisk, Land of 10,000 taxes, Land of 100,000 cracked windshields).QB]<hr></blockquote>

And the Land of 2,000,000 Lutherans!

I had the same thing happen to a Bugeye when I lived in Tucson. Even though it had been parked in the shade, ambient was probably 105 or so, and the differential temp was enough to crack it.
I'm wondering if, over time, stresses aren't induced in the windshield and frame, just due to the inherent flex in the body structure. Maybe if we periodically loosened the windshield mounts, and let them seek their own "level" before re-tightening them, it would help. Just a wild idea.I do know that I haven't gotten rid of a windshield and frame in years!
Good luck at Shannnonville, Nial. But, "Windshields? We don't need no steenking windshields"!
Jeff

[ 08-13-2003: Message edited by: Bugeye58 ]</p>

Actually, the windshield is by choice.
Our club (EMRA) has a loose set of "street" classes called "ST1" through "ST5". The cars are sort of like the SCCA "Improved Touring" class (I used to run an ITC Dodge Colt). The Spridget is running ST5 (the slowest class) because it's fairly unmodifed and I can do OK in that class. If I pulled the windshield (and ran a small screen), I'd go up a class or two (where I'd get eaten alive by Civics). Right now, my big competition in ST5 is an ancient 1600 Cortina, a 1275 Sprite, a surprisingly fast Pinto and a super-ratty FIAT X1-9. We're a lot slower than the full-race RX-7s, MGBs, etc., but we have just as much fun.

Note: One of our family members is a Lutheran minister from Minnisota....he explained that whole Lutefisk deal to me (and I thought the Irish were weird!).

Ok,I've been waiting for someaone else to ask but it seems no one will. What is a Lukefisk? My guess is a JediMcNugget.

Just re read. It's Lutefisk. So I have no guess.

I think it's some kind of fish.....more than that I cannot say. Minnesota is like the movie Fargo....they all talk like that, you betcha, and they follow the Vikings.

.....and actually, Lutefisk was the food of the Vikings (the Hagar the Horrible type, not the current NFL *****cats).

They needed food that wouldn't spoil on their long sea voyages, so they so air dried Cod until it was dry and stiff as a board ("Don't bother with the battleaxe, Sven, hit 'em with a hunk of fish...ya, sure, you bet!")

Anyway, the current recipe of Lutefisk:

Take several hunks of hard, dry Cod.

Soak it in Lye and water for several days to a week. Rinse it off. Boil it 'till it's soft, and serve it up.

Don't worry about the slime. Slime is good for you!

[ 08-19-2003: Message edited by: Xracer ]</p>

Anyway, I wash the windshield with a bucket of warm water and soap....then I spray it off with the hose....

My goodness...it August...even New Jeresy isn't that cold during the day...or hot...sounds more like stress build-up that finally snapped...maybe the pressure of washing the window...a sort of accumulative effect...or it just crack for no reason...but just to crack...a flaw in the window?

But, was it hot that day? &, had the car sat in the sun for a bit so the glass could absorb that heat before you washed it? &, when you hit it with cold water after putting warm water on the hot windshield, did it make a noise as it cracked?