I just finished an overhaul of the power window mechanism & lock mechanism on my '70 and addressed and ELIMINATED the door clunks. :) Sorry for the long post, but I thought that some of you who are in the middle of a window mechanism rebuild or about to tackle one, might find the information useful. :) I'll be putting some detailed pictures up on my webpage next weekend (if all goes as planned....URL below). In the meantime here are some directions for removing the glass & power window motor assembly and a bunch of tips & things I learned along the way. One down.... one more door to go!
My husband mig-welded the PS bracket for me a few weeks ago. We included an extra brace to strengthen it, by adding a small cross piece between the 2 bracket pieces (the vette bracket which bolts to the door, and the other parallel bracket not used by the corvette, no doubt some common part to another GM car). I painted the new welded area with Eastwood's cold galvanizing compound. (Looks like flat grey paint, not metallic at all, probably totally incorrect, but since it's inside the door I didn't sweat it....) The black portions have been repainted where needed. The inside of the door was cleaned. The PW & lock & door latch mechanisms are sparkly clean (brake cleaner) with fresh lubricant! The inside of the door has been sanded in the rusty spots and repainted. The edges where the bolts had worn off the overspray have been repainted. The plastic cover piece over the lock mechanism (aft top inside door) has been cleaned & put back. The fuzzy glass rattle guides have been velcroed. The glass is back in and whaddyknow, it even goes up & down... FAST! YOWZA! Tomorrow I tackle the window up/down/in/out adjustments. It's not too far off for a first guess.
First some safety issues: Don't reach inside with the keys in the ignition ON the PW gear / spring can take out fingers etc. You'll need a 2nd set of hands to support the glass.... or at least I did! To get the glass out, basically you need to remove the 3 bolts holding the glass in place. You must put in a bolt to hold the gear & PW plate together if you're tackling the gear or spring. Only after that can you work on the PW assembly itself.
You need to take the interior door panels off, the vapor barrier off & remove the black cover on the PW assy. The short horizontal slider (about 8") needs to be unbolted. Also remove the 1" x 2" fuzzy things attached to the top inside edge (they hold the window out). I loosened them and dropped them down and fished them out the bottom. Then raise /lower the window so that you have access to the 2 bolts which hold the glass to the horizontal slider bar which is attached to the X on the PW mechanism. These you get to with a nut driver through the 2 access holes (easy). You get one, then move the window up / down to get the other one lined up. Those are the 2 aft bolts... piece of cake.
Then the tough one in front, with a bolt in the front vertical slider which goes through a hole in the glass. Pay attention to the washer / rubber gasket sequence. You'll need to reach inside and around to the outside of the glass to unbolt this. It's a stud on the teflon (?) slider thing and doesn't come out easily. I was able to fit a small socket wrench in there to loosen it & then used just my fingers so I didn't loose all the washers etc.
Once the glass is unbolted (but the stud is still through the fwd hole) you can lift up the rear side and tilt the top front inwards (bottom near the stud outwards) to disconnect it from the captive bolt on the front vertical slider. That's the hard part & I suspect if one's not careful they can break a corner off the front of the glass. It helps to have a hand inside to guide and someone else tilting the glass.
Once the glass is out the rest is straight forward (patience& juggling required to manipulate things through the little access hole). You probably want to remove the front & rear vertical sliders (easy) for more maneuvering room inside before you tackle the PW motor & bracket assy. Very last unbolt the PW brackets. The service manual says to do this early on but it just screws things up and makes the motor torque the stuff inside. Then disconnect the wire clip from the motor & don't forget the wire in a clip on the front of the bracket. Remove the long horizontal bar & the short horizontal bar so all you have is the PW assy & the big "X". Then that can be slid forward so you get the back end of the X out the back of the door & it follows with the front which has the bracket & motor.
Before you take the mechanism to the workbench, adjust the actuator height so that you can bolt the gear to the backing plate (safety issue). That spring is VERY STRONG. You can probably do this outside the car with the power plugged in as it's *imperative* before you take apart the rest of the mechanism. I didn't disassemble any further since the teeth & spring were in fine shape, so I left that step out. My understanding is that to disassemble (like if you need to replace gear) you need to drill / punch out the rivets. I didn't need to do that. I just cleaned, lubed and welded the bracket (all as one component) and then reversed the procedure... after refinishing the bolts and restoring everything else which needed it.
I've compiled a list of tips from my experiences about the other parts in my restoration which might also be useful.
1. After you remove all the bolts from the window glass, get the threaded slider stud off the glass with it down about 1/2 way (not up higher like the service manual implies). This gives more maneuvering room to get the glass off the front bolt. You must have the other 2 bolts out first. 2. When cleaning the latch / lock without removal (I used brake cleaner) stuff a BUNCH of newspapers inside the door to catch the drips.... and don't let it run forward inside the door, it's hard to get a hand up there to wipe the excess out, and brake cleaner can probably do major damage with time. Be sure to put a rag under the hole in the back corner where all the goo will drain out, and wipe it frequently so it doesn't damage the paint. 3. Don't loose the rubber backing on the little fuzzy (sorta like velcro) door rattle pieces. You'll never find that alone and will have to buy new pieces with metric screws. Carefully pull off the fuzzy part and epoxy the rubber in place then use outdoor industrial strength soft side of velcro over the old piece. I've been told that the repro pieces are metric and require retapping of the door liner to fit, though I haven't verified that. 4. Make sure the anti rattle foam is on the power window motor between the motor and the black cover plate. 5. Don't overtighten the small cover plate bolts. Bubba did with mine and 2 of the 6 screws were missing... because he had stripped them I've since found out. 6. Spray cleaner into the round sliders (they have several little holes in them), you'll be amazed at how much black gunk comes out. 7. When reattaching the large horizontal bar, keep the front disconnected, raise the window all the way up. Then get the back piece connected to the back vertical rail. Then slide the horizontal bar forward onto the front X piece. 8. While all the innards are out, look up at the horizontal metal channel which backs the outside top of the door. Mine had some surface rust over the factory overspray. I sanded & painted it while the doors were empty. You'll never see the rusting when looking down into the door from the top glass channel. 9. If the inside horizontal rod for the door latch or the outer edge vertical rod for the door lock clunks rotate their rubber rings 180 degrees and move their position about an inch one way or the other. Put some lubricant on the door itself where this rubber piece slides to prevent squeaking. 10. Put the clip on the Motor bracket to hold the PW wire after it's assembled & bolted & plugged in. That way you can get the wires facing the right direction and not bent. It's a bear to get that clip back off in those limited quarters when inside. 11. If your horizontal lock bar rattles and clunks put an extra small washer on the aft edge where the clip attaches to minimize the jiggling somewhat.
Copyright 2000 Juliet Page. All rights reserved. julepage@annapolis.net
Juliet's 1970 Corvette
My husband mig-welded the PS bracket for me a few weeks ago. We included an extra brace to strengthen it, by adding a small cross piece between the 2 bracket pieces (the vette bracket which bolts to the door, and the other parallel bracket not used by the corvette, no doubt some common part to another GM car). I painted the new welded area with Eastwood's cold galvanizing compound. (Looks like flat grey paint, not metallic at all, probably totally incorrect, but since it's inside the door I didn't sweat it....) The black portions have been repainted where needed. The inside of the door was cleaned. The PW & lock & door latch mechanisms are sparkly clean (brake cleaner) with fresh lubricant! The inside of the door has been sanded in the rusty spots and repainted. The edges where the bolts had worn off the overspray have been repainted. The plastic cover piece over the lock mechanism (aft top inside door) has been cleaned & put back. The fuzzy glass rattle guides have been velcroed. The glass is back in and whaddyknow, it even goes up & down... FAST! YOWZA! Tomorrow I tackle the window up/down/in/out adjustments. It's not too far off for a first guess.
First some safety issues: Don't reach inside with the keys in the ignition ON the PW gear / spring can take out fingers etc. You'll need a 2nd set of hands to support the glass.... or at least I did! To get the glass out, basically you need to remove the 3 bolts holding the glass in place. You must put in a bolt to hold the gear & PW plate together if you're tackling the gear or spring. Only after that can you work on the PW assembly itself.
You need to take the interior door panels off, the vapor barrier off & remove the black cover on the PW assy. The short horizontal slider (about 8") needs to be unbolted. Also remove the 1" x 2" fuzzy things attached to the top inside edge (they hold the window out). I loosened them and dropped them down and fished them out the bottom. Then raise /lower the window so that you have access to the 2 bolts which hold the glass to the horizontal slider bar which is attached to the X on the PW mechanism. These you get to with a nut driver through the 2 access holes (easy). You get one, then move the window up / down to get the other one lined up. Those are the 2 aft bolts... piece of cake.
Then the tough one in front, with a bolt in the front vertical slider which goes through a hole in the glass. Pay attention to the washer / rubber gasket sequence. You'll need to reach inside and around to the outside of the glass to unbolt this. It's a stud on the teflon (?) slider thing and doesn't come out easily. I was able to fit a small socket wrench in there to loosen it & then used just my fingers so I didn't loose all the washers etc.
Once the glass is unbolted (but the stud is still through the fwd hole) you can lift up the rear side and tilt the top front inwards (bottom near the stud outwards) to disconnect it from the captive bolt on the front vertical slider. That's the hard part & I suspect if one's not careful they can break a corner off the front of the glass. It helps to have a hand inside to guide and someone else tilting the glass.
Once the glass is out the rest is straight forward (patience& juggling required to manipulate things through the little access hole). You probably want to remove the front & rear vertical sliders (easy) for more maneuvering room inside before you tackle the PW motor & bracket assy. Very last unbolt the PW brackets. The service manual says to do this early on but it just screws things up and makes the motor torque the stuff inside. Then disconnect the wire clip from the motor & don't forget the wire in a clip on the front of the bracket. Remove the long horizontal bar & the short horizontal bar so all you have is the PW assy & the big "X". Then that can be slid forward so you get the back end of the X out the back of the door & it follows with the front which has the bracket & motor.
Before you take the mechanism to the workbench, adjust the actuator height so that you can bolt the gear to the backing plate (safety issue). That spring is VERY STRONG. You can probably do this outside the car with the power plugged in as it's *imperative* before you take apart the rest of the mechanism. I didn't disassemble any further since the teeth & spring were in fine shape, so I left that step out. My understanding is that to disassemble (like if you need to replace gear) you need to drill / punch out the rivets. I didn't need to do that. I just cleaned, lubed and welded the bracket (all as one component) and then reversed the procedure... after refinishing the bolts and restoring everything else which needed it.
I've compiled a list of tips from my experiences about the other parts in my restoration which might also be useful.
1. After you remove all the bolts from the window glass, get the threaded slider stud off the glass with it down about 1/2 way (not up higher like the service manual implies). This gives more maneuvering room to get the glass off the front bolt. You must have the other 2 bolts out first. 2. When cleaning the latch / lock without removal (I used brake cleaner) stuff a BUNCH of newspapers inside the door to catch the drips.... and don't let it run forward inside the door, it's hard to get a hand up there to wipe the excess out, and brake cleaner can probably do major damage with time. Be sure to put a rag under the hole in the back corner where all the goo will drain out, and wipe it frequently so it doesn't damage the paint. 3. Don't loose the rubber backing on the little fuzzy (sorta like velcro) door rattle pieces. You'll never find that alone and will have to buy new pieces with metric screws. Carefully pull off the fuzzy part and epoxy the rubber in place then use outdoor industrial strength soft side of velcro over the old piece. I've been told that the repro pieces are metric and require retapping of the door liner to fit, though I haven't verified that. 4. Make sure the anti rattle foam is on the power window motor between the motor and the black cover plate. 5. Don't overtighten the small cover plate bolts. Bubba did with mine and 2 of the 6 screws were missing... because he had stripped them I've since found out. 6. Spray cleaner into the round sliders (they have several little holes in them), you'll be amazed at how much black gunk comes out. 7. When reattaching the large horizontal bar, keep the front disconnected, raise the window all the way up. Then get the back piece connected to the back vertical rail. Then slide the horizontal bar forward onto the front X piece. 8. While all the innards are out, look up at the horizontal metal channel which backs the outside top of the door. Mine had some surface rust over the factory overspray. I sanded & painted it while the doors were empty. You'll never see the rusting when looking down into the door from the top glass channel. 9. If the inside horizontal rod for the door latch or the outer edge vertical rod for the door lock clunks rotate their rubber rings 180 degrees and move their position about an inch one way or the other. Put some lubricant on the door itself where this rubber piece slides to prevent squeaking. 10. Put the clip on the Motor bracket to hold the PW wire after it's assembled & bolted & plugged in. That way you can get the wires facing the right direction and not bent. It's a bear to get that clip back off in those limited quarters when inside. 11. If your horizontal lock bar rattles and clunks put an extra small washer on the aft edge where the clip attaches to minimize the jiggling somewhat.
Copyright 2000 Juliet Page. All rights reserved. julepage@annapolis.net
Juliet's 1970 Corvette
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