R10 Rear Sliding Window Tracks

Virage Racer

Virage Racer

Member
Fellow Frogger
Joined
Jun 6, 2002
Messages
163
Location
Perth Western Australia
For a long time I've put up with some pretty shabby rear window tracks in the trusty 10. That's been OK until the kids recently discovered the joys of back and forward vs. up and down.

I'd love to hear the experiences of those who've been there before ...
 
They are a bit ordinary!! Mine have never been touched and are not much worse than 30 years ago. You can dismantle them and replace the channel material - bit fiddly but smooths things up.

JohnW
 
Ah, rust. Hmm. My only suggestion is to find good doors, but there's a challenge.

Mark Bird has done a seriously good job of restoring his R10 here in Perth - you've no doubt seen it at French Car Days, maroon rectangular headlamp model. Why don't you ring him up and ask him what he did - RACWA vehicle inspections in the terrace will find him.

JohnW
 
There may not be as much rust as initially thought, the felt sits in a void at the rear window that just drains into the door, the front 1/2 sits in the pressed part of the door and may have some rust though.

Pull off all the obvious screws, lift out the sliding window and remove the felt channel. The channel is held to the upper section of the frame by metal tags which are punched in the door frame and bent over to hold the channel in place, be very careful not to snap them off. The channel is fairly standard bailey channeling, but the metal and fabric stuff sold in strips doesn't like being bent, the felt invariably comes away, could be that I'm not very careful though. I found that a good Renault 12 bailey channel works well. It is best to punch holes in the base of the channel where the window slides to allow water to drain into the door rather than come over the channelinto the car(the original strip also has holes punched in it).

The seal that the outer face of the sliding part of the glass bears on (pop rivited to the door)is available from the usual sources either French Connection or Caravelle Imports in Melbourne.

As usual replacement is a reversal of removal, but you may need to apply mastic where the chrome metal channel screws to the door also to stop water coming in.
 
OK, I'm feeling more encouraged now! Simon, you mention the fabric/steel combo vs. standard bailey channel type and I'm wondering if the original fitment is fabric with a steel frame/reinforcement. That might account for the rusty skeletal look of one side in particular.
 
The original is a fabric/steel combo. It is the same as available from most restoration places. What seems to happen is the bitumen coatin on the stel hardens over time water gets in and rusts the steel.

The Renault 12 bailey channel doesn't have steel, but has enough "body" to support itself.
 
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