I found that my windshield frame has damage. It seems that the car was in some kind of accident where the frame got pushed in, beaten and battered.

The previous owner did a bondo job on it, and I've since removed all the bondo and discovred some pretty sad metal. Luckily there is not any serious rust, just a small amount of surface rust on the inside of the car by the dashboard where the hoop joins to the body. Its at this point where the bending of the hoop cracked off paint and exposed bare metal.

Question is, how do I repair this? Do I replace the whole windshield hoop, do I try to work the metal so it becomes smooth? Should I take it to a shop and have them check the alignment/pull out the frame on a celeste rack?

Here are some pictures...

-Tony



This is the worst of it, the bottom of the frame has some ugly damage. I guess this could be fixed but I don't know how. Maybe welding small pieces of metal over it? Or removing the bad parts and welding in new metal????

In this one you can see the gap between the frame and the window is not quite right.... However, this may just be that the window is misaligned. I need to check this.

Checking the alignment may not be a bad idea if you suspect the car was in a rollover accident. Maybe people here will be able to tell you areas to look at for warping/creases. However I suspect time on an alignment table costs $$.

click on the 914Info link on top of each page on this BBS and go to the body-dimensions page.
you'll find all you need to check and see if the frame is tweaked.

i recall Mark de Burger posting about a complete windshield frame replacement a few weeks ago.

ask him or do a search on the board.

Andy

I think Mark just replaced the top portion of the hoop.

cut the hoop off and go speedster style....

Jkeyzer is right, that was a partial repair. It seems like the full replacement is a more daunting task, because it requires setting up the measurements. Although with those measurements you pointed to, I could probably build up a jig from scrap metal to hold it in place while welding.

I will check those dimensions tonigt and see where I stand. I'm wondering if I decide that I need to pull the frame out, how I might do that. It seems as though it would take a lot of force to move the frame evenly.

Seeing as how I have two fenders and a hell hole to repair, I'd like to avoid a whole windshield frame replacement if I can, while making the car look nice still....

-Tony