Technical I need to know about clear plastics for transmission hump.

Maybe you can get some ideals from this

 

It costs a little bit more but they do make a non-yellowing clear polycarbonate (Lexan).

 

Polycarbonate is the type of plastic used in the modern headlights that become foggy and yellowed.
Plexiglass (Acrylic) is much easier to heat form than lexan (Polycarbonate) because of the bubbling in PC.
Triumph TR-4s came from the factory with a cardboard trans tunnel/cover, so if I were the original poster I wouldn't worry about the exploding trans too much.

 

If you are using flat sheets and want strength, use the 1/2" acrylic they use in hockey rinks. Stands up to being struck by a frozen puck with a 100 mph slapshot. Clear plastics can be sanded and polished back to clear if required. Think headlight restoration kits as an example. Another thought is to use tear off sheets like Nascar windshields.

 

Ahhahh - tear off sheets.

 

If you want easily replaceable flat sheets,take a look at the cockpit canopy of an ME 109.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

 

I think you have it in the sketch. Make the radius bend out of sheet metal and screw the lexan flats to them.

 

Making two bends should not be difficult. You probably want to make the flanges shown on the lower edges as part of the floor, not the hump.

Just like learning to work metal, you need to play with plastic and see how it behaves.

 

Do an internet search for Iron Orchid, hot rod magazine. There is a picture of it in the feature. It's a 34 Ford coupe 60s style show car. He did it using blue plexiglass.

 

If you want a window, build a removable sheet metal frame and use lexan or even safety glass installed with windshield adhesive or use a rubber gasket like older car windows.

If you want to get real fancy, check into used aircraft parts for a canopy that you could modify to fit.

 

We use to make up plexi-Acrylic, then later on, Lexan hoods.
The Lexan was softer (and tougher) and not as brittle as Acrylic.
Thinking over the properties, I'd consider a curved piece
of tempered glass, mounted in a rubber/gasket-like frame, which absorbs
the stresses. Safety still a concern, as it could "popcorn!"

 

I use UV stabilised polycarbonate, which is pricier than acrylic but way stronger. Bends OK with a heat gun but take care, pays to have spare material to practise with.
Love your work BTW Moriarty. Futurian inspired the paintjob I did on my C cab.

 

Howz about something like this plane canopy? Use all flat segments, and have a simple frame work to hold them

 

Like 59 chevy windshield corners

 

"Wrap" a metal trans cover with a life-size picture of what's under it.

 

Windshields are laminated, not tempered.

 

I can't add anything technical to this thread but I think it is a great idea. Good Luck, I'd like to see how it turns out.

 

Little different.
No hump cover at all but a glass cover on a top loader manual Trans.

 

give these guys a call http://www.proglasswindows.com/ the make race car windsheilds and they hold up to blower explosions , they possibly can bend it for you too and reccomend the proper thickness , as a auto trans if it lets loose packs alot of energy from the stuff spinning around in it .we have had parts ( baskets , plates , planetarys) come thru steel floors and partailly come thru balistic wraps which are designed to contain them . the hardened aluminum sheild on my car is 3/8 thick .

( only th400 failures I have seen was down shifting at the end of a run with manual valve body ( sprag failed ) or the bellhousing broke off ( common problem, look for cracks near the pass side where it joins the pump housing ,

 

I kinda doubt it'll be running tens....

 

10s or not if it were to come apart it ill be nasty . all it takes is one burnout showing off to pop the trans if it has a weak link . I seen transes break apart on the street and not race ones either . its rare but it does happen .

 

Well how fast do you think it will go?

Ill tell you one thing for sure, if something happened and messed up her toes there'd be hell to pay.

 

one way to think how bad it can be is play frisbee with a set of the driven tranny plates with the tabs , you have to be the catcher the first time ..

as for the toes . ask my buddie about that . lost all his toes and half of his foot when his th350 broke the ring gear . and he wasn't racing he was driving to work at 50 mph .

 

I didn't think this was going to to be a putt putt GC cruiser

 

While I like the idea, my 36 years of experience with GE Plastics Lexan tells me this won't work unless this a show car only.
No clear plastic,polycarbonate (Lexan) or acrylic or any other will hold up to what you are asking it to do.
1. Forming that tunnel will be difficult unless you use the thinnest material.
2. They are not chemical, scratch or impact resistant to the extent you are asking.
3. Cleaning it will not be easy or successful over time.

That being said, if you can make a wood form and form a clear plastic over it,then make a bunch of them and change it out when it gets too dirty / scratched.

 

I guess the memory ain't what it used to be but the picture is still good for inspiration.

 

Wouldn't just be easier to run the floor pans under the transmission? Make leather boots for each end to transition the floors back up over the driveshaft and engine.

In terms of risk management, driving on roads with other drivers who are instagramming their food while smoking and yelling at their kids is about 100,000,000,000 times riskier than the possibility of a transmission explosion. I wouldn't spend much time worrying about that.

 

We used to form Lexan 1/4" with a press brake, the bends would maintain about 80 degree bends, to form guards for machinery.

 

We form lexan all the time for machine guards, 1/4 or 3/8 can be bent in a brake cold. Just form two 45 degree bends about one inch apart for a 90. As has been said it must be overbent because it has a memory and wants to resist being bent. I have also shot full metal jacket .45acp slugs into one inch thick lexan. Didn't come out the other side.