Brooklands Aeroscreens

[intermanxnorton]

Can anyone advise me as to how much is involved with replacing my windscreen with aeroscreens. I have a heated screen , so need to know how to disconnect this, and roughly, where is the connection ? Also, is there any drilling required for the posts that support each screen. Any help and advice would be welcomed, as to pointing out any pitfalls.

Finnaly, how good or bad are they honestly.

Thanks

Phil.

[Nick Chan]

Hi Phil, the heated screen connections are under the scuttle and in the outer corners.  The wire passes through two small grommets so that helps locate where your should be feeling under there.  They are simple bullet or spade connectors to split apart.

If you have knee trim panels to help tidy the cockpit area, you may need to drill the rivets out to free these trim panels or you might be lucky and have black self tappers holding them in place.  This assumes you don't have the interchangeable brackets holding the scuttle down which have nut welded on to save removing the trim panels.  Unless you know for sure, the only way to find out is to remove the panel...

To remove your windscreen, remove trim panels, undo heated screen connections, remove wiper arms (lift so they are 90 degrees to screen and wiggle them off their spindles).  The screen is held by the windscreen stanchions which are fixed by 4 bolts to the scuttle.  I loosen the 6 small screens that hold the stanchion to the sides of the screen.  I then loosen the 4 main bolts to the scuttle. Loosening the small 6 screws releases the pressure of the stanchions on the scuttle and reduces risk of scratches I find.

Probably best to have someone help you know to steady the screen as you remove all 4 main bolts and then lift the whole lot off the car and store safely out of the way.  Try not to prop it up as it will only fall over and smash....  Removing the screen on my car is around 5-10 mins but I don't have the knee trim panels fitted anymore.

With regards fitting the Brooklands screens.  The usual way is to have the screens fitted to a Brooklands Band which uses the same 4 holes the main screen uses so its a cinch to change over and leaves no permanent fitting marks.  if you aren't using a band and want to drill them directly to the scuttle and mount using the 4 pillars, I think you will have to carefully measure and drill straight through the chassis rail under the edge of the scuttle to get the rigidity to keep the screens steady.  If you mount them only on the alloy scuttle without the chassis support, I think they will flex the scuttle and buckle it. Personally i'd fit a set mounted on the Brooklands Band.

There are two types of BB.  The standard set which is a direct replacement for the windscreen position.  Or the forward sloping set which uses the same 4 mounting holes as the standard versionbut the band slopes forward 2-3" and covers the wiper spindle holes.  Obviously you have to drop your wiper boxes (undo the 19mm chrome nuts, remove the rubber block and gently press the spindles down through the scuttle holes) and remove the washer jet too.  I think the look is much neater this way but its a personal preference.

HTH
Nick

 

 

[Drumster]

Just to add some more info on the Brooklands stanchion....

My screens and mirrors are mounted on the stanchion. The screens are secured using countersunk bolts from underneath and acorn nuts secured with threadlock on top.

I have the SPA mirrors on mine and they are secured by the same method. The only problem with the side mirrors is that the adjustment screw would be inaccessible once bolted onto the stanchion. My solution was to drill a hole though the stanchion and also the scuttle allowing access to the adjustment screw with an Allen key from behind the knee trim panel.

[Dr. Evil]

A bit off topic, but anybody know if brooklands aeroscreens will pass Belgium CT on a BE registered car?  Anybody done this?  I fancy a setup for trackdays which I drive to & from.

[harrebe]

There is no such a problem. There are some driving around with Brooklands including me.

[Dr. Evil]

thanks - much appreciated. Any views on which mirrors for a classic look and how to mount them to the band?

[Dr. Evil]

ok so new brooklands screens and band arrived with no instructions or diagrams.  The band has two small holes drilled along the centreline of the band for unknown purpose. 

From other installations it looks like the aeroscreen legs are usually mounted not on the centreline, but maybe 1/4" from the trailing edge to offset the screens.

could some kind person measure how far apart the holes from the trailing edge of the band, as well as the distance apart from the middle of the band (or inner stand to inner stand) to give me a sense of where best to place them.

I don't have the equipment to countersink holes under the band, so was thinking to drill and tap holes and bolt them in from the top with shortened m5 caphead bolts of some sort.

[Drumster]

Search for 'Countersink drill bit' on t'internet, a couple of quid 

I'm not sure there are any official measurements but the centre of the holes of the aeroscreen mounts are 10mm from trailing edge and 145mm between the 2 inner mounts.

[Dr. Evil]

thank you - helpful!

windshield was a fiddle to get off as the stanchion bolts were not held by captive nuts but by an aluminium spreader washer and a nut.  Knee trims out, now waiting for retaining channel brackets with the captive nuts to be delivered - parts 76424L & 76424R.  Then will fit the, band, screens & choose some mirrors.

[Dr. Evil]

Finally done, but what a PITA!

I mounted the brooklands legs with 12mm M5  countersunk underneath through the band, which was trouble, because the M5 domeheads are really a bit big for leg castings and don't leave much room for nuts as they are designed to have countersunk screws go in from the top.  I had to chamfer the domehead nuts with a grinder to get them to fit.  It looks like others maybe used M4s which would give a bit more room.

For the side mirrors, I went for Lucas style door mirrors, but I didn't find any that had removable studs, so I cut the M8 studs off the mirror arms, drilled M6 holes as deep as I dared, and cut threads into them.  They are held with a countersunk 10.8 M6 bolt each to the band

I was looking for the full retro look, so tried MGA style center mirror - too wide between the screens and not that well made.  I tried MG-TD mirror - nice, but the base is too wide for the caterham band.  I finally found the Halcyon 770 small mirror, very nicely made and it looks to be the mirror Caterham uses for the 160 'supersprint'. 

A few tips, if I did it again, I would start by installing the two inner legs, one hole at a time, bolting the leg down and using the other hole as a drill guide, then mount the band on the car as it does flex a bit to the shape of the car, then use the screen to place the outer leg at the correct distance.  Also would recommend to put some masking tape on the scuttle as the band will come on and off 20 times before it's done.

Anyway, looking forward to spring for the opportunity to try the new setup.