The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Lemons Tech → Window defrosters....
So when we prepped the car, we ditched all the HVAC stuff. What do you guys do for window defrosters?
Probably should have left the factory blower 
Nothing works better.
In lieu of that, use a stick with a rag.
Current car has a bilge blower at the base of the windshield, ducted from the factory air inlet. Fog-X is also applied. Old car had a 12v defroster grid (Bimmerworld sells the kit).
I took one of the fans that originally supplied the AC system and mounted it in the back seat area, then fed all it's output through a flexy dryer duct to one vent directly in front of the driver. No heating, but a good bit of air, and had no problem in the snow/light rain at Road Atlanta last year. It was on it's own switch so it didn't have to run all the time.
Of course most companies now integrate the blowers into the condenser/heater box so you might not be able to do this with the parts you took off.
Just remember that just because they jammed all that stuff under the dashboard doesn't mean that you have to.
So when we prepped the car, we ditched all the HVAC stuff. What do you guys do for window defrosters?
We learned that lesson the hard way on our first car. We removed all the HVAC stuff and the first time it rained we REALLY regretted it. On our new car we left all the OE HVAC ducting and wired the blower to 'high' on a separate switch. Last year at Snowfest '17 at Road Atlanta, it paid off.
Find the OE stuff and put it back, or make your own, but unless it never rains when you are racing, you will want a defroster...or a seeing eye dog that can drive, or Ray Charles, etc.
I've seen teams put the electric rear-window defoggers on the windshield.
The Little Lebowski dudes also rigged up a small wiper arm for the inside of the windshield.
I've seen teams put the electric rear-window defoggers on the windshield.
The Little Lebowski dudes also rigged up a small wiper arm for the inside of the windshield.
About 6:00 into this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21c0B8B_z1w&t=1s
We did this https://www.frostfighter.com/clear-view … -about.htm for the 1947 Plymouth.
Dustbuster still both defrost and bi-lev...great for drying your race shoes while racing. Besides, when you have a windshield area of Rhode Island, the defroster is kinda important.
Our first and Current Lemons cars have Lexan...Rain-X is our best friend. Apply ATLEAST 3 coats of the stuff on the outside and the antifog on the inside.
Electric defrost like your back window has. Lots of the actual professional level racing teams do the same thing. They work best when you still have a little air moving across them, but I imagine they'll work without it. We have the factory HVAC setup still in the car, just without AC.
Everyone has a chemical they swear by, but I've never seen one that everyone agrees works. Someone always says it didn't for them. I assume it's related to varying amounts of airflow across the windshield helping some and not others.
EVERYONE I've talked to that has tried the electric kit has loved it. This is the kit we and others have
https://www.frostfighter.com/clear-view … -about.htm
Before anyone asks, after 30 seconds in the car you do not notice the lines in your view.
Demister wires integrated into a front windshield is a Volvo patent licensed to Ford, with the license persisting past the sell-off to Geely, so a Ford under 20 years old is likely to have this as standard or as an option.
My old 2006 Transit Connect had it.
Windshield fogging is why you need high-quality belts with multi-piece adjusters. You loosen the belts after exiting 7A, wipe the windshield with your glove as you go down through the esses, and get all snugged up again in time for the turn 9 braking zone.
One more huge endorsement for the frostfighter system. We had issues at Autobahn in 2017 so we added bilge fans and anti-fog. Still had issues in cold monsoon that was Fall Gingerman 2017. So we bit the bullet and installed the frostfighter over the winter. When Autobahn 2018 rolled around (our 3rd wet race in a row) we were golden.
...so a Ford under 20 years old is likely to have this as standard or as an option.
My old 2006 Transit Connect had it.
Not in the US sadly. The Transit connect and Transit are about the only ones in the last 20 years that DID have it as an option in the US. for front windshields. Fiesta, Focus, CMAX, F250...never seen it available (owned 3 of those four and almost the last one...searched for the option).
Well we sold all the HVaC stuff. Ill have to see if the defrost wires work with lexan.
Another vote for electric wire front windshield. I've used them in multiple cars and they worked great.
EVERYONE I've talked to that has tried the electric kit has loved it. This is the kit we and others have
https://www.frostfighter.com/clear-view … -about.htm
Can this system be reused? The reason I ask is because we've replaced our windshield twice already, and we now need a third.
TheEngineer wrote:EVERYONE I've talked to that has tried the electric kit has loved it. This is the kit we and others have
https://www.frostfighter.com/clear-view … -about.htmCan this system be reused? The reason I ask is because we've replaced our windshield twice already, and we now need a third.
Nope....but what is killing your windshields...deer....random engine parts...failure to use hood pins correcty?
Nope....but what is killing your windshields...deer....random engine parts...failure to use hood pins correctly?
A combination of racing and towing, which result in pitting. Not a big deal until it's late in the afternoon and the sun is setting in your face (Barber & Road Atlanta are BAD for this) and all those pits are like trying to look through a stained glass window.
Our current windshield somehow got cracked, so it needs to be replaced again, but not immediately because it's not in the driver's view.
Nope....but what is killing your windshields...deer....random engine parts...failure to use hood pins correcty?
Turn 9 at NHMS
OnkelUdo wrote:Nope....but what is killing your windshields...deer....random engine parts...failure to use hood pins correctly?
A combination of racing and towing, which result in pitting.
If I was getting pitting from towing glass protection would certainly be on my pre-towing checklist. No idea how common this issue is as we switched to an enclosed trailer before we started doing destination races but I would assume there are off-the-shelf and LeMony solutions.
We had to replace the '47 Plymouth windshield due to safety concerns by Evil Genius (yes they were safety glass but not "modern" safety glass) but the Dustbuster with the worlds largest windshield is well over a dozen races now after almost 20 years and 180K miles of Chicagoland kid hauling...still original and only issue is the seperation of the factory tint at the top driver corner.
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