Window channel.. How hard to reinstall?

[Ford_Crazy]

My 70A is almost back from the painter and I'm contemplating the job of putting everything back together.  One of the things I had a real problem with during disassembly was the side window channels. This is the channel that guides and holds the side windows into the frame.  It is part metal, part cloth and part black fuzzy felt. My old channel was nearly gone when I took it out, but it looks like it was riveted to brackets screwed into the doors. I bought the new channel and it came in a long tube that you cut to length. Has anyone installed new channels in one of these cars?  I also had a heck of a time removing the rear window crank mechanism.  I don't have a clue how I am going to fish everything through the small holes in the rear panels and connect the rollers and clips.  Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks

[rmk57]

  I remember seeing an in depth article in Dennis Carpenters catalogue about installing window channel run. So you need to borrow or steal there catalogue. Good luck, Randy

[bagboy]

Relax, I asume that you have a wagon? It's bout the same. The trick is molding the channel into the body. Use 3m black weatherstip glue. Some small v -tapered screws at several places.Take your time and you may want to snip a couple of places on the backside at bends. You may want to use some  'strip caulk' to seal gaps [3m]. The best part is the end job- take your time

[shopratwoody]

I did mine also. I had to buy a couple extras after kinking and ruining 1 or 2 but it all came out
good in the end. Just go slow and easy

[Ford_Crazy]

Whew...  I feel better already.  Sure looks like a mess when you pull it all out.  My car is a 2 door post.  How hard is it to reinstall the rear window lift mechanisms?  Very tight space and not much room to work. I'm thinking I may have to cut a few extra holes to work through? Any tricks?

[RICH MUISE]

I'm a little late with this reply to probably do you any good, but maybe it'll help someone else. I just finished replacing the window channels in my custom's 2 doors, and rebuilding the vent windows assemblies. The flexible channel that you have is stainless steel, coated with rubber on the outside, and cloth/fuzzy on the inside. The channel you have is longer than you need, so the easy and safe way to do it is to put the bend in it leaving extra on both ends. This is easily accomplished by finding something round that is the correct radius...a socket works great. I screwed the socket down to my work bench and easily bent the channel around it, using the old channel as a guide to make sure I was leaving the extra on both ends. Line up the old channel over the new and mark the ends for cutting. Your old channel should still have the retaining clips attached to it so you can also transfer the location of these(7 I think) to the new channel. The clips were originally attached with two prongs that went thru the channel and bent over. I couldn't find new clips, so I cleaned my old ones up, flattened out the prongs and glued them to the channel using dow corning 765 available at glass houses. It's a black silicon rubber they install storefront windows into aluminum frames with. The door has slots where the clips snap in, so there is a little forgivness in location of the clips.The steel mounting bracket was also originally attached to the channel with the bent over prongs. After sandblasting and prime/paint the brackets,I used the same adhesive to glue these together also, as the window is going to keep it from going anywhere anyways. If I remember correctly, the screws that hold the brackets together  to the door are an uncommon thread size (12-28 I think), so i drilled the nut out an retapped it 1/4-28 and replaced the screws with stainless. caution when you are cutting the top end of the channel to length: there is about 1" or so of the bead only on the outside side that protrudes past the rest of the channel and slides in above the wing window. my next post will pertain to the wing window

[RICH MUISE]

vent window/glass channel ass'y: This channel is a rigid stainless with fuzzy in the channel. I got mine from classic auto in Oklahoma city. They come precut and drilled, basically ready to install, and include the rivets. After disassemly, I blasted/primed and painted the bracket ( I think also drilling and tapping the nutplate to 1/4-28) and reriveted it to the new channel. The riveting can be easily done in a drill press using a transfer punch of the correct size in the drill chuck. Transfer punches have a nice conical shape to the point so it rounds over the rivet nicely. I had to sacrifice a punch because the point was too long and was bottoming on the inside of the rivet head. I just ground of a little of the point. almost everything on the vent window frame is stainless, and with a few hours work you can get them looking better than new. I replaced my vent handle with new ones. I was installing new smoked gray glass, so I set that in with lots of the dow corning 765, using small shims inside the frame to keep the glass centered, let it sit overnight and trimed it with an exacto knife. worked great. make sure you have plenty of the sealant oozing out so you don't have any voids. It is easily removed from the glass and stainless, so you can just let it get messy and clean up after drying. The vent window rear seal, frame and glass channel are all riveted together at the same time. The new seal also comes with the rivets. The seal that goes around the vent window frame I got from carpenter, and had to be reworked a little. The cutouts for the hinge appeared to be cut by hand after moulding and were not in the correct position. The rain gutter above the vent is also stainless and also will polish up great with a few hours work.  I've spent countless hours getting the stainless trim on my car better than new. If you need any help with info on that, let me know.
Rich from texas

[Ford_Crazy]

Wow!  Thanks for the great info.  I am about to start the channel renstallation and really appreciate your input.  We need to save your instructions for future reference.  I couldn't find anything on the web about this. 

[Frankenstein57]

Ditto on the thanks guys, I'm getting ready to do mine soon.  Mark

[57chero]

I just finished my ranchero tonight it took a few hours each side, I highly recommend the channel and and fuzzie strips from concours parts there excellent quality and they come with the clips attached in the correct places no cutting needed ,the wing window division bars are pre drilled and come with rivits, the fuzzie strips also have the clips attached and the stainless bead is flattened and turned up on the end where it meets the door frame just like the original,everything fit perfect which makes the job go smoother and best of all its all made in the USA.

[texasmark1]

...going thru the same thing myself (64B body);

have one door done and almost ready to do the next;
yes, its tedious, no its not glamorous; yes it feels good when its done; yes, you will skin a knuckle or two, yes you will probably have to say a few "magic" words before its all said and done... but it can be done. 

Just stay at it; do one door at a time... so that you have the other one to look at when reassembly time comes!! 

[JPotter57]

Rich, that is an awesome tech article you put together, lots of good info.  If you dont mind, I want to save that info and put it in a tech section I am working on for the main site.  If you or anyone else has pictures of any part of this process, send them to my email.  If not, I will be doing this procedure later this year, and will try to get some good pics of it.  Again, great job Rich...

[RICH MUISE]

sorry to say I didn't get any pics of the actual process, only before and after pics.  Feel free to use the info any way you wish.thanks, Rich

[Ford_Crazy]

I just finished installing new door glass side in my 70A and thought I would add something to this thread.  The window channel comes in straight pieces and you have to bend it at 90 degrees. At first, I had a lot of trouble keeping the stainless bead from kinking.  I made a jig out of 1/4 plywood with same shape as the glass, locked it into my vice and bent the channel around the wood.  If you go slow this works great.  Using the old channel as a guide I pulled off the clips and brackets and glued them to the new channel using 5 minute epoxy. You have to be careful to get them in the right place to line up with the holes in the door.  Once this is done, you drop the glass all the way down to the bottom of the door while keeping the front glass in the run.  Slide the new beaded channel into the door and place the back of the glass into the grove in the run.  Pop the clips into the door holes and you are good to go.  It wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be.  Thanks for the help!   

[Frankenstein57]

Guys,

I finished installing my window channel thanks to Rich and Phil (Ford Crazy) for their pointers for the installation that made it a lot smoother.  I would recommend using a good quality epoxy.  My first try I used an off the shelf adhesive and it failed.  I used Phil's idea with 1/4 inch hardboard, and here's a picture of it. 

You can also mark your fasteners and different spots on the template for reference on the new channel.