71 Wiper door question.

[Rick Church]

I recently compared the tightness of my wiper doors against some other early C3s. Apparently, I have got some components that have been worn out or incorrectly installed. It is obvious that some one has had the doors off at one time. There are rubber shims and/or washers (spacers) under the grill retaining screws. The screws seem to be stripped and will not tighten. The door that is against the windshield has some play in it. It moves about 1/4 of an inch when rocked bad forth (lifed from the window side up and down). I am assuming based on looking at other cars, that there isn't supposed to be any noticeable "play" with the door if it is installed properly. What is likely to be the problem that is causing this looseness and the installation of these shims/spacers? The grill portion is about 1/4 inch high on the passenger's side. I am familiar with the expensive bolts and bushings that are available. Could the problems lie there?

Rick

[Dave S.]

Re: 71 Wiper door question.

Rick,

My 71 has rusty steel flat washers between the fixed grille and the supports at the location of the fillister (?) head screws. They appear to be original. I assume they were installed at the factory to level it with the adjacent hood and wiper door.

[Jack H.]

Re: 71 Wiper door question.

The 1971 Chevrolet Chassis Service Manual devotes reasonable coverage to the Corvette wiper door. There are a NUMBER of adjustments and when done properly, shims are not needed between the grill and it's mounting platform....

One of the basic problems is:

If a prior 'bubba' removed the wiper door mechanism without understanding its individual adjustments, he probably 'lost' the factory original setup (hence rusty washers here/there as shims). You'll find fore/aft shims were used between the basic wiper door mechanism and the firewall/cowl AND there were up/down adjustments that needed to be made BEFORE the wiper door frame was final torqued into position.

Typically, the prior bubba got 'er out (lost the factory original mounting position recepie), replaced what needed to be repaired, put 'er back in and blindly torqued things into place THEN went to install the grille and discovered NOTHING lined up!

Loose grille to frame mounting screws are pretty much par for the course. The factory original screws were thread cutting/self tapping fasteners and IF you were in a hurry and failed to meticulously line up a screw in its original hole, you wound up 'chewing' out prior thread with the holes 'wallowing out' over time. About all that can be done now if this problem exists, is to (a) install heli-cores, (b) fill and re-tap the original holes, or (c) step up to an incorrect/oversized screw.

As for not sitting down properly, there's a fore/aft consideration as well as an up/down consideration. Original wiper door had flat/flush adjuster screws on the outer corners that nestled against mating pads at the bottom of the windshield. These are covered in the CSM book. Are yours there and adjusted properly? The fore/aft alignment is a function of the wiper door to firewall shimming as well as goodness of fit with respect to the bolt/bushings.

[Rick Church]

Re: 71 Wiper door question.

I bought a Chevrolet chassis manual on ebay just a few days ago. It looks like that book may be a big help in aswering my questions. The assembly information manual just isn't that detailed. Thanks for the hints and information guys!

[Dave S.]

Re: 71 Wiper door question.

I don't believe my 71 had any prior bubbas working on the wiper grille or anywhere else on thecar for that matter. Its a beautiful 21K original mile "prior bubbaless" car throughout. I'm the second owner. As I mentioned in the previous post the washers under the wiper grille certainally appear to have been installed at the factory.

[Terry M.]

Re: 71 Wiper door question. *TL*

I have seen a number of very original cars (including my own) with shims under the wiper grill. Flat washers and what appear to be pieces of headlight shield seem to be most common. These are usually visible without disassembly. Given the generally poor factory fit of the hood, wiper door and grille I am surprised they took the time to shim the grille.

[Jim T.]

Re: 71 Wiper door question.

Jack concerning the wiper door grille attachment screws having stripped out threads in the framework I have one stripped out and was going to use a nut on the bottom side of the frame to secure the screw since it pretty much out of sight area. I agree with the heli-core fix, I have used this to repair the bolt attachment locations in the wiper door.