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Mon Feb 17, 2020 9:02 am

we've covered this

Mon Feb 17, 2020 11:20 am

Has anyone installed a heated windshield? I dont want to read the whole thread again :lol: I did read some and I know some of you were hot to get one, especially some of my PNW brothers :wink:

Anybody do it?

Mon Feb 17, 2020 11:29 am

I've said it before and I'll say it again...

Both of my buses now have cracked windshields, so I need new ones anyway.

Not quite sure that I'd pull a good one to install a heated one, but if I could get heated ones vs. not heated for a reasonable price I'd go ahead and put the heated ones in.

Mon Feb 17, 2020 8:24 pm

I have not read this entire thread either but the question that comes to my mid is:

Is this windshield with the heating element tempered glass or is it laminated glass?

To my knowledge tempered glass windshields are not legal in the USA or in Canada.

Tue Feb 18, 2020 11:54 pm

They are laminated glass and I would still be in for a group buy, single unit

Wed Feb 19, 2020 9:30 pm

Thanks!

Sat Mar 07, 2020 9:11 am

Blackpony wrote: :arrow: My newer vehicles have the heated windshield option. After several Michigan winters, a heated windshield is a must have item. Melting of ice or snow is quickly completed, without having to scrape built up ice or having to wait on hot air. Moisture on the windshield quickly evaporates, making one feel warmer. Heated windshields may also become more common with all electric vehicles.

:idea: As VW T2 (Bay Window) heated windshields are not available or made in the U.S., we may take our Kombi Westfalia on a camping tour back to Europe. A heated windshield could be fitted prior to my return to the States. An extra windshield or two could be stored in the back for the return trip. A potential problem is the electrical power available in an older KOMBI.

:bay_white: The KOMBI, purchased new in 1972, was used for a ten month camping tour around Europe and returned with us on the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2. We traveled across the U.S., from New York City, New York to Coronado, California. From Italy to Sweden and sea level to mountain passes in the Alps and Rocky Mountains, the Windshield defrosting was poor when the T2 was new, even with the Eberspacher VW Gas Heater (BN4) ON-full hot! :D

RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 - KOMBI Transporter 8)

Note: KOMBI has Fresh Air Fans and original :vw: overhead air conditioner.

It’s interesting to note that your 1972 or 1973 model-year VW Kombi has fresh-air fans, overhead air conditioning and an Eberspächer heater! It’s been my impression that air conditioning and an auxiliary petrol-fired heater were virtually mutually exclusive, although both would be desirable for Great Britain & Europe.

I don’t know whether the electrically-heated, 1968~79 VW Type 2 front windscreens are available within mainland Europe, but they are available in Great Britain, which is probably where they are manufactured.

Of course, in order to drive in Great Britain & Ireland, you will have to drive on the correct side of the road (i.e. the LEFT hand side) and fit beam converters to your headlights, so they dip to the left. You might also need to show your vehicle’s registration document, motor-insurance (UNLIMITED liability) certificate and current roadworthiness test & inspection pass certificate; the lack of which could result in your vehicle being impounded and in some cases crushed.

As I might have mentioned in an earlier post, it would be relatively simple to create an electrical circuit that can only switch on the two electrically-heated, front windscreen zones alternately, so that one is only consuming a total current of 19A rather than 2 x 19A.

If you do intend to tour mainland Europe and/or Great Brtain & Ireland, keep in mind that a USA specification vehicle isn't road legal over here; of which the USA DOT-spec headlamps are a prime example; a good opportunity to upgrade to European spec H4 headlamps. Depending upon which countries you drive in, you will also need various items that are obligatory, such as:

Spare light bulbs / sealed beam units for obligatory lamps
One or two hazard warning triangles
High-visibility reflective waistcoat or jacket for each vehicle-occupant
First aid kit
Alcohol breath-testing kit

Sun Mar 08, 2020 4:14 pm

Hello Nigel,

Our 1972 :bay_white: Kombi Westfalia had no problems in England or on the Continent with Michigan, USA plates. Armed Forces USA and AFI license plates were on our primary vehicles. We did put black electrician tape on the H-4 headlamps for England.

The OEM dealer installed air conditioning system was added after we returned stateside. Trips to California were hot across the great plains and deserts. Fresh air vent fans were added, in Michigan, as our Canadian neighbors, across the river, had them available as standard equipment. The fans replaced the automotive accessory fan that set on top of the dash board.

The interesting story on T2 heated windshields is that some UK T2 imports did not have exhaust heat exchangers for heat . A heated windshield was required for "safety." Heated windshields on my Porsches' work great.

Safety items mentioned were required in 2016, except the Alcohol breath-testing kit, when we had our Porsche Boxster Spyder in the European Delivery Program. Zollkennzeichen resulted in speeding tickets! Appreciate the tips.

For our Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary, we would like a slow paced European tour with "Jonathan," our Kombi Westfalia.

:vw: Cheers!

Mon Mar 09, 2020 8:22 am

Blackpony wrote: Hello Nigel,

Our 1972 :bay_white: Kombi Westfalia had no problems in England or on the Continent with Michigan, USA plates. Armed Forces USA and AFI license plates were on our primary vehicles. We did put black electrician tape on the H-4 headlamps for England.

The OEM dealer installed air conditioning system was added after we returned stateside. Trips to California were hot across the great plains and deserts. Fresh air vent fans were added, in Michigan, as our Canadian neighbors, across the river, had them available as standard equipment. The fans replaced the automotive accessory fan that set on top of the dash board.

[b]The interesting story on T2 heated windshields is that some UK T2 imports did not have exhaust heat exchangers for heat . A heated windshield was required for "safety."[/b] Heated windshields on my Porsches' work great.

Safety items mentioned were required in 2016, except the Alcohol breath-testing kit, when we had our Porsche Boxster Spyder in the European Delivery Program. Zollkennzeichen resulted in speeding tickets! Appreciate the tips.

For our Fiftieth Wedding Anniversary, we would like a slow paced European tour with "Jonathan," our Kombi Westfalia.

:vw: Cheers!

We too used black electrical insulating tape on our British specification H4 headlamps when driving in Europe from mid-1976 until 1987, but I think you will find that regulations have become more stringent since then.

The alcohol breath-test kit is only applicable to France so far as I am aware.

German police are stringent about tinted cab windows and tinted spectacles. Less than 90% transmittance is illegal and if this is the case, they will make you have your windscreen changed before you are allowed to proceed! :evil: Running out of petrol on the motorway (and possibly other roads) is illegal in Germany and one is not permitted to carry an emergency supply in a petrol can.

The requirement for one or two hazard warning triangles applies to virtually all countries in Europe.

So far as I am aware, the only "British-specification" T2, VW Type 2s that did not have exhaust heat exchangers, were those newly manufacture T2c vehicles, imported from Brazil since 1997/98, with 1584 cc flat-four air-cooled engines, Bosch Digifant fuel injection (as fitted to late-model, Mexican VW Type 1 Beetles) and catalytic converters.

Wed Mar 09, 2022 12:33 pm

It appears that the custom-made, electrically-heated, laminated front windscreens for classic cars, supplied by Ricky Evans Motorsport, might actually be produced by a small, specialist company called Tyneside Safety Glass.

https://www.heatedwindscreen.com

https://www.heatedwindscreen.com/acatalog/heated-windscreens.html

https://www.heatedwindscreen.com/acatalog/vw-heated-windscreens.html

On British television-channel Quest (i.e. Freeview channels 12 & 70), Tyneside Safety Glass and Ricky Evans Motorsport were featured during an episode of Salvage Hunters: Classic Cars, screened on Wednesday, 26th January 2022, pertaining to a second-hand, 1970s vintage, Alfa Romeo GTV, imported from South Africa, which needed its delaminating windscreen replacing. The programme briefly showed how the new, substitute, electrically-heated, laminated front windscreen was made at Tyneside Safety Glass.

https://www.tynesidesafetyglass.com/products/heated-windscreens/

Tyneside Safety Glass
Kingsway North,
Team Valley Trading Estate,
Gateshead,
Tyne & Wear,
United Kingdom,
NE11 0JX

Tel. +44 (0) 191 487 5064
Fax: +44 (0) 191 487 3224
E-mail: [email protected]

https://www.tynesidesafetyglass.com

https://www.tynesidesafetyglass.com/contact-us/

https://www.tynesidesafetyglass.com/about-us/

https://www.tynesidesafetyglass.com/#products

https://www.tynesidesafetyglass.com/#toughened-glass

https://www.tynesidesafetyglass.com/products/toughened-glass/

https://www.tynesidesafetyglass.com/#laminated-glass

https://www.tynesidesafetyglass.com/products/laminated-glass/

https://www.tynesidesafetyglass.com/#heated-glass

https://www.tynesidesafetyglass.com/products/heated-windscreens/

Wed Mar 09, 2022 4:44 pm

:bay_white: Any links to US based supplier of heated front windshields?

Will Bay Window Bus charging system handle the power required to heat the windshield?

Is a special switch required, i.e. timer, or over heat protection, to automatically shut off heat?

My 2012, Porsche Cayenne has a heated front windshield. Best option to have available. Use the system all Winter.

:vw: Thanks

Wed Mar 09, 2022 4:51 pm

Blackpony wrote: :bay_white: Any links to US based supplier of heated front windshields?

Will Bay Window Bus charging system handle the power required to heat the windshield?

Is a special switch required, i.e. timer, or over heat protection, to automatically shut off heat?

My 2012, Porsche Cayenne has a heated front windshield. Best option to have available. Use the system all Winter.

:vw: Thanks
I don't think it would take a lot, maybe 10-20 amps. Optional 38 amp generator might handle it.
FWIW, Porsche Carrera 4cam cars had heated glass in 1960-62 ish. Must have made at least 10-12 of them? Originally GT's deleted heater boxes and ducts to save weight. but in endurance racing, sometimes one needs to see out the glass in less than perfect weather. Sebring and LeMans and rallies for sure encounter rain.

Sun Mar 20, 2022 5:36 am

Blackpony wrote: :bay_white: Any links to US based supplier of heated front windshields?

Will Bay Window Bus charging system handle the power required to heat the windshield?

Is a special switch required, i.e. timer, or over heat protection, to automatically shut off heat?

My 2012, Porsche Cayenne has a heated front windshield. Best option to have available. Use the system all Winter.

:vw: Thanks

Alan Brase wrote: I don't think it would take a lot, maybe 10-20 amps. Optional 38 amp generator might handle it.

FWIW, Porsche Carrera 4cam cars had heated glass in 1960-62 ish. Must have made at least 10-12 of them? Originally GT's deleted heater boxes and ducts to save weight. but in endurance racing, sometimes one needs to see out the glass in less than perfect weather. Sebring and LeMans and rallies for sure encounter rain.

I vaguely recall suggesting an electrical switching circuit with a double-throw switch & relays, whereby the left & right hand zones (2 x 19A rating) can only be switched on separately.

This is what I shall use, when I finally get around to removing my original factory-fitted zone-toughened (i.e. tempered) front windscreen to refurbish the paintwork surrounding the windscreen, after which I shall substitute an electrically-heated, laminated front windscreen which are readily available in Great Britain.

Sun Mar 20, 2022 6:07 am

Are these laminated or "toughened" as you say. AKA tempered? DOT in US will only allow laminated, as far as I know.

Tue Mar 22, 2022 11:54 am

Alan Brase wrote: Are these laminated or "toughened" as you say. AKA tempered? DOT in US will only allow laminated, as far as I know.

Only LAMINATED electrically-heated front windscreens are available!

Interestingly, I recall an episode of the reality TV documentary series "FANTOM WORKS" with Daniel R. Short, in Virginia, USA, in which he expressed incredulity when he discovered by shattering the windscreen of a right-hand drive, British built Morgan sports car, that it was a tempered (i.e. zone-toughened) windscreen. He was trying to notch the upper edge of the windscreen with a grinder, when it suddenly exploded. I sent him an e-mail explaining that many British cars were still commonly factory-fitted with toughened front windscreens until at least the early-1980s.

Sat Jun 11, 2022 7:44 pm

Bus-OK is now selling them, but they do not offer shipping :(

https://bus-ok.nl/Heated-Front-Windscreen

Sun Jun 12, 2022 4:58 am

Laminated screens appeared only after seat belts reduced the number of people hitting the screen with their heads.

So back in the 60 and 70s in the UK even if you had a seat belt it was not a legal requirement to wear it. That only changed in 1983 .

I just tried to buy a windscreen from Ricky Evans over here in the UK when I was travelling to a few miles down the road .. and JK had just bought their entire stock. A couple of weeks later they called me back and said they had one ready but I could not collect it myself, so it would be going to Heritage Parts instead..

Sun Jun 12, 2022 6:40 am

Seems like a nice thing to have. I would be ensuring the shit out of…the number of times I’ve been hit by rocks. I found that it nice I fixed my stock heat and installed a windshield washer pump, de-icing worked very well. The worst was the spray of salt water off the road onto the windshield. Installing these made a 300 mile mid winter drive to Maine possible.

Mon Jun 13, 2022 10:40 am

otiswesty wrote: Bus-OK is now selling them, but they do not offer shipping :(

https://bus-ok.nl/Heated-Front-Windscreen

Bus-OK is in The Netherlands (aka Holland), so it would be a bit far for you folks in North America to pop over and collect one.

From my perspective, Bus-OK's prices generally seem rather expensive to me and their discounted price of 357,30 € [Old price: 397,00 €] including 21% VAT., but excluding shipping, is about one and a half times what I would expect to pay in Great Britain.

Mon Jun 13, 2022 11:52 am

Bus-OK is in the city of Echt, which is located in Limburg Providence in The Netherlands, no Holland.