I have two 1914 windshields. One the steel frame is solid but only had about half of the brass channel in poor condition. It is difficult to remove from the curved sections. I have another with good channel but not as good steel frame. I’d like to put the good channel in the better frame if I knew a tip to remove it. i could fix the frame with the channel in place but rust would remain underneath it. That is if the glass slides into the channel already installed in the frame and not the channel goes around the glass first then into the frame. I’ve never done one. New channel is expensive plus a pain to form around the corners from what I’ve seen.
Corey,
I’ve been doing a lot of windshield work lately. Taking the brass channel out has never been a problem. It just pulls out. If there is non - safety glass in the frame just break it out, you won’t be using it anyways.
With glass in the channel you might consider cutting the bad frame in half with a cutoff wheel to release the glass and channel.
i guess I try to be too delicate with stuff. I clamped some small vice grips inside the channel the got a screwdriver and used it as a lever to pull it out after I loosened it a bit with my hand. I thought maybe there was a trick to it around the corners. Thanks Royce
The problem I face in putting new glass into a windshield frame is forming that expensive brass channel around the curves without wrecking it. I wonder what is the trick to forming the curve without the channel sides crinkling and sticking out so they won’t fit into the frame.
Would heat and/or a former, such as what I use for bending conduit,
be a solution ?
I didn’t want to attempt bending it so I found another windshield with ok channel. I’m ready for the glass now. Do I put the channel back into the frame and then put in the glass or put the channel on the glass and shove them both into the frame together? There was also some type of fabric between the channel and glass that was too rotten to figure out what it was. I guess I’ll take the frame and have a glass cut to fit and allow about 1/16" for the channel? It’s 1/4" recessed where the channel fits so if they cut a glass 3/16" bigger than the inside of the frame would that fit correctly or is that too tight once you try to fit it together?
I’m guessing the channel goes in first because it’s a pain to get back in. I’ll see about making a template and get a piece cut. I still need some steel clamps instead of brass for the dash.
There should only be the brass channel, no fabric. I put the channel on the glass first, then install the whole works into the frame. Like you I buy enough windshield assemblies to get all the channel that I need, then sell what I don’t need. Generally I spend nothing on parts that way other than maybe the expense of packaging for shipment after a sale on eBay.