This is an article I wrote for a book project I'll likely never finish but it is good information. Windshields are one of the most expensive single purchases you'll make on a lobuck T build. These apply to fibreglass bodies as steel ones have a wooden structure with a steel skin. There are a couple of options on the 23-25 T bucket body for windshields: 1. 17-22 windshield short stanchions and hinged lower upper frames or one piece frames. These are the forged steel short posts that overhang outside the cowl line. Some originals have a cup built in for using cowl lamps, these work well with modern round cleance lamps used in the "cups" as turn signals/parklamps. The frame mounts to the posts with screws/bolts through the upright into the steel slugs that slide inside the frame tubing to reinforce it at mounting points. These posts mount the windshield straight up vertically. Some companies offer these with a severe tiltback which I believe is too far but that's me. 2. Full height or chopped stamped steel 23-25 posts. The lower frame is fixed/recessed between the posts and the uppers pivots on cones. Both styles mount to a stock body with 2 carriage style bolts at the bottom of the posts into the sides of the cowl and one bolt into the face of the dash on each side. Most glass bodies have a poorly done corners at the ends of the dash/cowl for original or reproduction posts to mount to and require some modification for a good fit. Often the cowl bead must be ground down and sometime the door beads as well. These posts mount the windshield with a 7 degree angle back. Part One: DO NOT PAINT YOUR BODY BEFORE DOING ALL FIT AND FINISH WORK FOR ANYTHING THAT ATTACHES TO IT OR GOES THROUGH IT!!! Part Two: Assemble your windshield assembly and set it up on the body finding the ideal mounting position. Ideal means, hopefully, the mounting ears are not overlapping the cowl or door beads and the windshield frame bottom edge is parallel on the top edge of the cowl without a dip (smile)* in the middle. Any space under the frame 3/8" or hope-fully less can be filled with sewn up beading or stock Model T frame bedding rubber stripping. *(We'll not deal with this problem here. we'll assume you have a body from a manufacturer that has kept up their moulds and eliminated this age-old problem) You may or may not be able to use the rear mounting bolt on the rearward ear of the post into the dash de-pending on your body construction and whether you have aftermarket posts which often don't have this original feature. Once you have the frame positioned where you believe it belongs secure it in position with duct tape or bracing. Part Three: Step back and look at the assembly? Is it straight and square from every angle? YES? GOOOOOOD! Part 3 1/2: Let's talk about posts for a second or two. There are original Ford steel short posts in varying configurations (various shapes of mounting ears and with or without side lamp mounting pads), and various aftermarket manufactured short posts (Speedway and others) which are made from various metal alloys. Some of the after-market posts have body mounting holes drilled (sometimes even all three, 2 bottom and 1 rear), most have windshield frame mounting holes drilled. Some come in a raw state, some polished, some plated. If your posts are already plated hopefully they have all the mounting holes drilled and or squared up (the two lower ones). If not you'll have to drill the posts as well as the body. Best bet to "save" plating, use a large c-clamp (and a good friend) to hold post/windshield assembly in position. Tape over the plating where the holes are to be drilled with some good quality masking tape. Mark your holes and drill through the posts and on through the body. We'll talk about this more later. Windshield Post mounting hardware: Original posts use a variant of the carriage bolt, works great. If you find carriage bolts that fit well into the square holes that's super. Do yourself a favor and sand or grind (carefully) any markings, letters, numerals, etc. you may find on the head of these bolts and make them smooth. The plating on these bolts is usually junk anyway so you'll either paint 'em or have them chromed or brassed or whatever. I like to use old-style stainless-jacketed small bumper bolts for this application. The heads are smooth, polished and look great. The heads are slightly larger than OEM Ford bolts and even modern carriage bolts but they look great on painted or plated posts and they are hell-for -strong. Of course there as many options for you to use as there are fastener styles so do what you like just make sure what you choose are a good fit in the mounting holes. Part Four: If everything looks good and you have determined where the body needs building up mark your cowl with the final location around the posts with either a grease pencil or a common lead pencil. Do not use a "MajicMarker", "Marksalot", "Sharpie" or other of this style of marker. (Chances are good is you do, the ink will bleed right through your primer, Bondo, finish paint and clear and totally ruin your afternoon that day.) Roughen up the body post mounting area and use your favorite filler (Rondo, White Magic, fibrefill, cat's whiskers, corvette repair kit) to build up the areas necessary for your posts to fit well. You can put saran wrap inside your posts and mount the windshield assembly over the uncured filler, wait for it to kick off, and then remove the posts. This will give you a good start on the fitting process. Do your fitting work carefully and note how the posts fit on the body. What you're looking for is a nice flush fit of the mounting ears to the body posts and a nice even fit up from the ear to the windshield frame in the front and the back. You may want be real tricky and "sink" the posts into the body by building up around them and such as that. Have fun. The important thing for our purposes, a good solid wind-shield mount, is under the posts and inside the body. Part Five: OK, your exterior work is done, your post/frame assembly fits well, and your mounting holes have been drilled through the body. Now let's look INSIDE the cowl and see what we can do. First, make a couple of steel or aluminum plates say about 1/16 to 1/8" thick drilled with matching holes to the mounting ear holes on each side. Make 'em shaped kinda like the lower part of the mounting ears of the posts. Mix up some filler, butter the plates nicely and in-stall them inside the body over the mounting bolts. Use flat washers and split lock washers and tighten the bolts lightly. Let the filler harden overnight. These reinforcement plates serve to spread the mounting pressure over a larger area and give your mounting bolts a "parallel and square" surface to tighten to. Now let's talk about the rear mounting ear. If it is sitting flush with the back of the cowl and you feel up inside and think there's room for the end of a bolt, flat washer, lock washer and nut.... GREAT. Drill that hole and use whatever fastener you choose to install. If the original style mounting just ain't gonna happen, you can make an extension from a piece of strap iron which will go from the mounting ear over further on the "dash" area to be bolted up. You can weld this ex-tension to original steel Ford posts or attach it to bronze or aluminum posts by rivets or small bolts/screws. This rear ear and/or extension mount is important as it helps stabilize the post/frame assembly on the body and prevent rocking/racking from wind resistance on the road. Even if you have windshield stay rods in front running down to the frame, this original style support is advised. Part Six: Take the post/frame assembly off the body and spray some primer or whatever over your bodywork. Rattle can is fine, you'll be sanding it off anyway. Now, reinstall the assembly and tighten everything up. Only tighten the carriage bolts and other fasteners until the split lock washers are flush, you don't want to crush your pretty new work, do you? Stand back and check everything out. Are you happy with fit and finish? GREAT! Now jump in the car, or climb in, or fall in, whatever your entry style happens to be. How do things look from inside the cab? Is the windshield frame obstructing your vision in any way? Do you feel comfortable looking around? Pretend the wind is hitting you in the face for 16 hours on the road to teh Roundup ........ do you give a happy damn? I thought not. Get back out of the car. Grab the posts and either side and see if you can shake 'em around. NO? That's what we're looking for. A properly mounted windshield assembly will feel solid and be solid, and now you have one on your car. Take the assembly off and wrap it back up in Grandma's quilt and set it back in the closet till you're ready for final assembly. (Hey, don't really use Granny's quilts for parts storage, use a cheap blanket. Granny's quilts are part of family history and need to be treated with loving respect and used, not stored in the cedar chest for a day that never comes or used as packing rags.) Hope I haven't left anything out this time and you can see the "pictures" I've drawn while you read this. ... Dean Jones
Thanks for writing this (so long ago). Surprising that nobody had an comments to add. I just acquired a fiberglass T bucket body and this info will come in handy.
Getting ready to do the same job. Thanks for the write up.... seven years ago. Any more recent pictures of glass body windshield fitment?
The biggest issue is the different widths of the various bodies, at the windshield post mounting points, verses the different widths of the windshield assemblies, including the posts from the multitude of manufactures. It’s best to check these widths before purchasing either/or.
All the pictures above are sideways, tough luck. Save them and edit them in whatever software you use. My computer is too cranky and old to do that, but if you read this article it offers a lot of insight in molding in a T Bucket windshield. It's pretty helpful along with the OPs original post.
one of the things that irk me about the post are, the bolt hole nearest the door usually keeps the door from opening. i should really say the bodies are all different. with so many people making them from a copy of a copy somehow it got shorter at this location. i have several bodies and each one is different.
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