The building of the Mustang Chicken Coupe finally begins. After gathering the first batch of scrap metal for the build I decided to start with the windshield. In this case it's literally going to be a wind-shield. Instead of putting any kind of glass, the windshield frame is going to be covered with a sheet metal skin.
The first thing that I have to do since the sheet metal to be used is smaller pieces, all salvage pieces, is weld in some reinforcement posts in the windshield frame. These posts will conveniently be some electrical conduit that was on the scrap pile. I decided to use three pieces of pipe, spaced evenly to divide the windshield frame into quarters. This way I can manage to cut pieces that will fit in the sections and with the posts in place this part should stay nice and rigid even if a branch falls on it. I had to cut one end of the pipe at an angle so it will mate nicely with the bottom of the windshield frame while resting in the groove of the top of the windshield frame. The exception is on the passenger quarter at the top of the frame. Since this section was straightened out after being severely damaged by the tree that fell on it, the large indentation made it difficult to just put the one pipe in the groove at the top without the whole thing looking lopsided. I ended up cutting that piece of pipe a little longer so it can overlap past the groove of the windshield frame and rest on the actual roof. The intent will be to of course cut the sheet metal for these two quarters a little longer so they can be welded on the roof instead of just on the groove of the windshield. With the posts welded in place, evenly spaced, it was time to start cutting a piece of sheet metal for the first quarter. The piece of scrap metal I used was an old dryer panel for the door. I was able to cut a large enough piece of metal from the section of the panel under the door opening that I can use on the passenger quarter of the windshield frame. Of course the rest of the metal panel went into the outgoing scrap pile since there wasn't really much else big enough to salvage from the piece. I traced around the edges of the panel where the curvature of the windshield frame had to be taken into account. After trimming the excess I started welding the panel in place. Starting with the outer edges I got the metal welded in, including the roof section where the frame was dented in. Lastly I did welds along the inner side, along the length of the pipe to fully secure the sheet metal in place. When I start the next panel I'll just weld a bead that will join the two quarters together on the pipe. I have to ensure the sheet metal is fully welded in place around the windshield since this area needs to be watertight.
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