While I'm cleaning up the Automatic Windshield on the ol' brass picup, I'd like to see some options for the brass channel filler, as mine is beat up and loose. The channel is 3/8" wide and 1/4" high, and the filler p/n 7850 is available new/repro for $200.
Is the new/repro good quality? Has anybody found a replacement filler? Modern stuff I've found is at least 7/16" wide. I'm using 3/16" thick safety glass.
I have one strip of repro channel in my '13 touring, which has a Rands windshield. It is very close to the original, and I doubt if anyone would ever notice.
Larry, I'll trade you an Original for it.
Thanks for the testimonial on the repro. You never know...
Hello Rick,
I believe that the repo brass channel will fit the steel windshield frames only. The curve of the earlier brass windshields is a tighter radius and will not work on those.
I'm going to bite the bullet and use clear silicon to hold the glass in the brass frames on my '11 Hupp. It'll never go to Pebble Beach.
Thanks for the info, John. Warren Roberts had a devil of a time doing the tighter radius on the repro Mezger windshields he was making. Last I knew, he had the business for sale.
George, I used 3/4" black rubber electrical tape (with the backing) for the cross pieces where I didn't have original, and it was better then clear silicone. I bought a roll at HomeDebt about 12 years ago. Dunno if it's still available.
Ive done a couple brass windshields and used the replacement brass setting channels and they worked fine. Both mine were reproduction frames and the channels were made to fit.
Did the repro frames have the tight radius like the originals, Richard?
The replacement brass channels for the earlier windshield frames have a curve already formed into them. Lang's catalog gives the dimensions for the standard windshield frames. I would check that and see if the overall dimensions for one of them match your frame. If the width is the same, and your height is the same or shorter than the stock ones, then you can probably use one of the standard replacement ones.
Dave S.
I would like to add, that the channel used in all T's through 1925 are brass. The later ones are nickel plated.
Ralph, I checked a repro frame against a Rands original and was surprised to see the corners on the Rands are a sharper bend than the repro.
Check with Speedway motors, they have brass setting channel for windshields as well as complete frames I found out about them when I received a windshield for my roadster in the mail from a well known supplier..... I thought it was strange it showed up in a speedway box.
RD, Didn't I send you a brass channel cross piece some years ago? Could you use it? Garyl Turley told me, just last night, that Speedway supplies all the frames and channels to our main T vendors.
Ralph,
Should all else fail, there is something better than rubberized electrical tape from HD or 'black goop'. It is called 'Glass Setting Tape'.
It comes in various widths and thickness', is a bit resilient, has some stretch for rounded corners and you can build up the actual required thickness out of the various thickness available to make it tight in the frame without springing the frame.
Then install the glass, and simply run an Exacto knife around the windshield frame to trim it flush with the frame. Should you not be able to find a brass insert to work for your frame, give a shout.