I'm trying to remove the windshield glass from my 26 Roadster. Do I need to soak the old rubber in some kind of chemical ? I'm afraid I'll break the old glass by prying on the edges...I want to keep it for a template for the new glass.

You may want to consider taking the whole configuration to a local glass shop. They should be able to Remove and replace the glass for about 100 bucks.

It depends a bit on how the glass was installed, and to some extent when? I had to take a windshield apart just a couple years ago for a T I was working on. The windshield frame had been badly restored quite a few years ago, and required some better repair (requiring welding that the glass could not tolerate). The glass had been installed using a modern (relatively speaking) rubber channel between the frame and the glass. The rubber channel had bonded somewhat between the frame and the glass. So I put a few drops of oil around the rubber channel and let it sit for a day or two. Some of the rubber channel released from the frame, some from the glass, most from both.
After a bit of cleanup, I was able to reuse all the rubber channel and install the glass in the welded frame.

Original type brass channel usually doesn't stick much. With a little care, it can usually be taken apart and reused. You do need to sometimes pry the steel frame open slightly to get it to release. That of course is when the glass usually gets broken. I have a few times held the frame (open side down over soft padding) and held it open slightly with my bare hands and shaken it. Not always, but often the glass will just slip out and drop onto the soft padding.

I've had luck using lacquer thinner...just soak it good and it should weasel out.

Thanks guys. The Roadster was restored in the mid 1950's. Looking again at the gasket..it seems to be some sort of cloth or canvas type materiel not rubber.

A lot of glass shops used to use a cloth double sided friction tape. Almost any common "thinner" should soften it.

that sounds like glass setting tape. Lacquer thinner should loosen it up some--take your time! The tape is originally "swelled" into place by putting some oil on it!
and yes, prying against the glass will like break it.

Thanks again..I'll try to soak it in some thinner.

Two things I always let the pros handle...mounting my clincher tires and glass work. Worth the money.

Tim...I plan on getting the new glass installed, just need to get the old out.

I live in a small town and our nearest glass shop has an older gentleman working a day or two a week that does all the "Hinky stuff", his term not mine. This guy is great, when I was looking at buying a T I caught him at the shop one day and asked about possibly replacing the windshield ( I hadn't seen the car yet, and thankfully it already had new glass) and he told me that if it didn't have safety glass already, to just bring the frames in and he would take care of removal and the new glass.

I would take the frame to the glass shop and let them remove the old glass, that stuff can cut you from across the room. you may find that it was installed in an unorthodox way too. Just find an old guy that remembers the Eisenhower Administration and let him lay a little "old school" skill on the table.

Since I got my truck I have come to appreciate "old Guys" who know what they're doing.

Jason, there's a older guy here in town that does glass that I'll ask. He's can be pretty grumpy but he's my only option haha