Son's 86 arrived outside home today, drivers side window won't wind up.
Loaned him my Fuego to get to work and pulled the interior door trim off to assess the problem.
Didn't take long to find that the upper arms had come apart and dropped to the bottom of the window bay. Also half of the nuts holding what was left of the assembly were missing and probably the reason the assembly was twisting until the diecast bits at the centre of the arms came undone.
Fortunately I had an earlier Fuego I could rob of parts. Out came the drivers window, winder motor and assembly. First thing I noticed was that the earlier assembly was much more robust and heavier in construction.
I carefully measured things up and the two systems use the same basic bolt holes.
I examined the two windows and found that both had a bit of rusting on the base channel and were identical, except the one out of the 86 had more rusted channel at the front, so used the earlier one. Used some "Fertan" rust preventative (a Tan bark preparation)waited till it dried and spray painted some rust preventative paint and later coated some silastic over each end to help prevent water leaching into the channel. After greasing the channels and moving parts of the assembly I refitted it, then tried to fit the window in, too tight... Ah need to read the Haynes manual and
removed the assembly, fitted the window in its channels 2" from the top and used wedges to hold the window in that position. (Should have read the bloody manual BEFORE!!!!)(Does make it much easier!!)
Fitted the winder assembly with a few expletives while I got the nylon runners in the sliders at the base of the window, then fitted the lower channel nylon runner and very carefully used the power button to position the 4 securing studs and gently nipped up the 10mm nuts.
Checked that all seemed to line up and then tightened all nuts after putting shake proof washers under them.
I also cleaned all the felt channels with a brush and blew them clean with compressed air before refitting the window. Worked better than ever.
I also noticed that the early car has metal clips holding the rubber trim so replaced several of the plastic trim clips with the metal ones, they seem much more robust also.
I then brushed the rubber trim strips clean and refitted them inside and outside the door. This took most of the morning and I also made sure the
interior door trim was properly refitted.
The question I have is, have other owners noticed the difference in the construction of the winder assembly and have they found the early ones to be more robust in service? Also the nylon clips as against the metal clips for the trim, are these better (as they appear to be?)
Perhaps on the next pick - a - part visit I need to pick up some spare early winder mechanisms/trim clips.?
Regards.
Ken
<small>[ 03 November 2003, 09:42 PM: Message edited by: Kenfuego ]</small>
Loaned him my Fuego to get to work and pulled the interior door trim off to assess the problem.
Didn't take long to find that the upper arms had come apart and dropped to the bottom of the window bay. Also half of the nuts holding what was left of the assembly were missing and probably the reason the assembly was twisting until the diecast bits at the centre of the arms came undone.
Fortunately I had an earlier Fuego I could rob of parts. Out came the drivers window, winder motor and assembly. First thing I noticed was that the earlier assembly was much more robust and heavier in construction.
I carefully measured things up and the two systems use the same basic bolt holes.
I examined the two windows and found that both had a bit of rusting on the base channel and were identical, except the one out of the 86 had more rusted channel at the front, so used the earlier one. Used some "Fertan" rust preventative (a Tan bark preparation)waited till it dried and spray painted some rust preventative paint and later coated some silastic over each end to help prevent water leaching into the channel. After greasing the channels and moving parts of the assembly I refitted it, then tried to fit the window in, too tight... Ah need to read the Haynes manual and
removed the assembly, fitted the window in its channels 2" from the top and used wedges to hold the window in that position. (Should have read the bloody manual BEFORE!!!!)(Does make it much easier!!)
Fitted the winder assembly with a few expletives while I got the nylon runners in the sliders at the base of the window, then fitted the lower channel nylon runner and very carefully used the power button to position the 4 securing studs and gently nipped up the 10mm nuts.
Checked that all seemed to line up and then tightened all nuts after putting shake proof washers under them.
I also cleaned all the felt channels with a brush and blew them clean with compressed air before refitting the window. Worked better than ever.
I also noticed that the early car has metal clips holding the rubber trim so replaced several of the plastic trim clips with the metal ones, they seem much more robust also.
I then brushed the rubber trim strips clean and refitted them inside and outside the door. This took most of the morning and I also made sure the
interior door trim was properly refitted.
The question I have is, have other owners noticed the difference in the construction of the winder assembly and have they found the early ones to be more robust in service? Also the nylon clips as against the metal clips for the trim, are these better (as they appear to be?)
Perhaps on the next pick - a - part visit I need to pick up some spare early winder mechanisms/trim clips.?
Regards.
Ken
<small>[ 03 November 2003, 09:42 PM: Message edited by: Kenfuego ]</small>