Wow! Thanks for all the responses guys, sorry i never updated this sooner than 6 months later. when i posted this originally, i was going through a tough time, my 28 yo brother had just passed away a few weeks prior, we all got wicked covid 19 for the first time at a family gathering to celebrate his life...then this rusted windshield frame on my wifes newly acquired dream rig... uhg to say the least!
it was an unusual winter in Minnesota, with no snow on the ground in February, i drove the windshieldless lx home from the glass shop where it had spent the night, (if you have never driven a vehicle without a windshield in your life, you have to try it, exhilarating!) my shop with a welder and tools was 20 minutes away from my house, it was only 20 degrees outside and i couldn't afford to catch a cold again...so it was then towed (backwards) to my shop. AAA!
i didn't receive any responses for donor patch panels here, i did get a nice response from classic cruisers in salida as always, but they said they had recently cut the same patch panel out of fj60 and it was a pain, so they needed 600 bucks to cover their time (understandable but out of my budget, but maybe not yours?) i knew i had to make it work for myself... i had been gifted a donor windshield wiper cowl cover from a mud member years before, lue yang if youre still out here, thanks a ton...
with the concave as well as bowed shape of the missing metal, and not very many landmarks left to create the shape from...i carefully dissected the donor wiper cowl, and got the 1" tall strip of metal i needed cut off, and tack welded it carefully in place... 200 tack welds later, a fair bit of grinding, primer and paint, and we called the glass guy over to finish the job!! the new glass went it great, looks great, and has been enjoyed with extra appreciation ever since! 1 tiny weld burn on the dash, thankfully unnoticeable from almost all angles
