MTFCA Forum

I need to change to safety glass in my 100 year old touring T.
I have taken the frame and glass out of the car and found a fellow to cut the safety glass and replace it.
What advice can forum users give me to get out the old glass and put in the new safety glass?
Should heat be applied or some solvent to loosen the glass? It seems to be solidly held in the frame.
I don’t want to bend the frame while getting out the glass either. Any ideas?
Secondly, what should be used to pack the frame when putting the new glass in?
Thanks.

I JUST did my 1915 107 year old plate glass to modern safety glass and to be honest, it was surprisingly easy. I sprayed wd-40 on the channel for about 24 hours, unscrewed and removed the end caps by tapping with a small hammer. I then clamped two pieces of wood on either side of the glass and wiggled it right out. I took the panes to my local glass company and they charged me $134.00 for the new glass. I was very happy. bobt

The question would be what do you plan to do with the old glass after it’s removed.
If you don’t have a use for it lay the windshield down of flat ground. Cover it with a blanket,
tarp or whatever and break it out. I used a small all peen hammer to crack it. Pretty simple.

Carefully remove the glass remains in the channel and polish the nickel plated brass channel. You will be surprised how good it looks after it’s polished and replaced with new glass and a repainted frame.

I used two blocks of wood, two pieces of rubber floor mat and C clamps. Hold the frame down with your feet and pull out the glass.

WD 40 on both sides of the glass channel (still holding plate glass). Remove the end caps and set aside being careful to not lose the 2 little screws. Using a gloved hand grab the glass in the center of the windshield. Lift it comfortably, now using a rubber mallet tap the 2 frame ends equally where the end caps used to be. Install safety glass by evenly tapping the glass into the channels. I did this on my ‘14 with brass-not nickel-channels. I carefully removed and highly polished them. Then clear coat powder coated them. Still appears shiny after 12 years.

I was able to remove both the upper and lower glass and take it to a car glass company who used it for a pattern.
They even made sure to cut the new glass so that the saftey glass stamp was visible on the lower drivers side at no extra cost.
I cleaned the old channel and slipped the new glass in, then tightened it all up.
Turned out a nice job.

Regards,

Steve Boothroyd

My friend had his done recently - he separated the two windshield halves and took the whole shebang to the glass company. They removed the old glass, fabricated and installed the new and disposed of the old glass. Giving them the whole windshield insured everything fit right.

I'd follow Tim's advice. The pros know what they are doing with glass. Laminated glass is easy to damage. I once used clamps to draw the glass into the frames, fitted the corner keepers and then let the clamps off. Ping! A crack in one corner as the glass relaxed against the clamp.

Allan from down under.

I just had the lower windshield glass replaced on my ‘24 Touring. I took the frame with the cracked glass to Henderson Glass here in Brighton. I was able to talk to technician who was to do the the work and made sure he knew to save the brass channels. He did a very nice job; you can’t tell the brass channels have ever been out. The only thing I didn’t think about was to ask if I could have gotten untinted glass. The lower glass is now a shade or two darker than the top. It isn’t overly noticeable, but once you see it you can’t un-see it.