-Rear fiberglass hatch. (looks like someone had the idea but was it ever produced?)
Yeah... I was looking into these a couple days ago as well. Seems like the hoods were produced because they (obviously) had much more interest. You'd have to PM FestivaWES (or just wait til he reads this) to find out what the status is on those. Sure would be a great way to improve the handling... reducing top-heavy weight is a great way to reduce roll and or improve handling.
FMS used to sell a fiberglass rear hatch, but good luck ever getting one.
I thought about just cutting away most of the internal structure and adding a plexi-glass rear window. Probably end up with a floppy piece of junk, though. A nice high quality FG hatch would be a great improvement.
I also thought about plexi-glass rear quarter windows as well. I bet you could shave 50+ Lbs with just those mods.
FMS used to sell a fiberglass rear hatch, but good luck ever getting one.
I thought about just cutting away most of the internal structure and adding a plexi-glass rear window. Probably end up with a floppy piece of junk, though. A nice high quality FG hatch would be a great improvement.
I also thought about plexi-glass rear quarter windows as well. I bet you could shave 50+ Lbs with just those mods.
That guy with the black b6t race car... Jasonsrt4 or Jasonsx4 or something... he had lexan rear windows, and I remember someone saying it would be good for 30-40 pounds on its own. With a light-weight hatch, you'd probably be right. I wonder if plexi-glass would be restricted/illegal the way lexan is on road cars...
Both are around... FMS was producing the hatches... Almost pulled the trigger on one, but held off. The idea of using hood pins to keep it closed seemed weird.
Talked to Wes not to long ago. The guy who made the hoods has gone MIA. Wes is looking for some one to do another project first. He is also busy with his swap.
I wonder if plexi-glass would be restricted/illegal the way lexan is on road cars...
Probably, but if your state doesn't have inspection you could probably get by with it. I thought about drilling holes for the hinges and latch, so they function like the real glass quarter windows.....but they have a slight compound curvature, so a flat piece of plexi-glass would probably fit like crap for a daily driven car. The rear window is big enough that it may conform to the curve. You could pop-rivet it in place and glue the weatherstrip over the rivets so it looks stock.
Why would anyone want plexiglass windows on a car? They're used on small airplanes for the obvious reason of saving weight, but THEY SCRATCH EASILY. You can't even scrape thin ice off them without destroying them. Even using a paper towel in warm weather leads to fine scratching (paper is abrasive) which shows up when looking into the sun. Also, cracks start at the holes used to fasten them on and spread like spider webs.
88L black, dailydriver
88LX silver a/c, dailydriver
4 88/89 disassembled
91L green
91GL aqua pwrsteer
92GL red a/c reardmg
3 93L blue, 2 dailydriver, 1 frontdmg
1952 Cessna170B floatplane
Comment