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Windstop bracket modification to enable the hood to be raised
Paul Wilson (Woodcote Green 0929) from Yorkshire purchased a windstop for his RV8 but found he could not raise the hood with the windstop brackets in place. He set about modifying them to overcome the problem. (Apr 03)

I read the various RV8 Workshop Notes regarding wind deflectors with interest and did a fair amount of research into them. I found that the windstop sold by Tij-Power in Germany is the same as the one sold by Classic Additions in the UK. Whilst the Tij-Power website and emails are in German, I found on calling them they speak good English. Their price was Euro 200 but they only accept bank transfers. As HSBC wanted £21 to make the transfer I decided I would contact Classic Additions and found their price was £180 for next-day delivery. I placed an order and the windstop came well packed the next day.

I was told that the roof could be raised with the deflector in place but in installing the windstop found this was not the case as the cranked windstop brackets supplied with the kit goes across the folding roof mechanism which stops the scissor action of the hood supports from unfolding so the hood can be raised. So with the original windstop brackets, you have to dismantle the deflector and brackets before the roof can be raised. That is an easy job, but what do you do with it when it's off? So after some thought I decided on a modification to the cranked brackets.

Original cranked bracket of the windstop fits into the slot on the door pillar in which the tonneau rail usually fits. You can see the bracket lies over the folded hood mechanism. On attempting the lift the hood, the folding scissor action of the hood support arms is blocked by the small horizontal section of the bracket. (Photo: Mike Simmonds)

The modification to the original cranked bracket requires welding a new "U" shaped piece of metal strip, of the same section as the original bracket, in the horizontal plane and then cutting away the original piece which was blocking the attempts to raise the hood mechanism. This may be struggling to follow this so far but it will all be a great deal clearer when you study the photos with this note. You will see that the new "U" shaped section clears the folding roof mechanism as it is lifted. With the modification the deflector works well and looks fine when in place whether the hood is up or down!

The new "U" shaped section is approximately 185mm long and was bent in two places at 90 degrees to make the "U" shape. The first bend is at