Spring 2014 Update

Well, spring has reluctantly come to NW Ohio, and with temps getting into the 50's and 60's, I've been venturing out to the man cave to start putting the door glass, latches, etc., back into Tillie.

It's been about 3 years since I pulled the doors apart, and even though I did take quite a few photos during the dis-assembly process, all those parts looked a bit intimidating!


 Side glass window regulator



Remote door latch release hardware


I did lube up the various springs, gears, and moving joints before installation.



An inside look at the door handle release (upper) and the key lock hardware (lower)...
6-Pack members have recommended putting pieces of insulation / sound deadener on the doors to eliminate some rattles / tinny sounds the doors can make (lower left).  


Making progress



There are several ways to assemble the door related hardware, and I read as much as I could before starting.  Of course the patches of insulation /sound deadener get applied to the inside of the doors first, followed by the channels the glass will slide in...front and rear of the door. I'm sorry I didn't get a photo of the channels before the installation, but the pix below give you an idea of the rear channel.



Ok, so far so good, but now comes the tough parts...dropping in the regulators and getting them semi-installed, followed by the glass. The regulator has 2 plastic studs that slide in channels attached to the glass, but they have to slide together while inside the door. This takes a lot wiggling of both parts. Once one stud slid into place, the second wasn't too bad. 


Well, I thought the tough part was over once I could roll the windows up and down...wrong.


Each window has two seals...the inside one has a fuzzy surface that slides against the glass, and the outer seal  acts like a squeegee against the outside of the glass. Each seal has 7 clips that hold them in place, for those of you who are counting, that's 28 clips. 

I took this photo with the clips in my palm to give an idea of the size...small !
The silver clip is for the outer seal and the black clip is for the inner seal.


Here is a pix of the inner and outer seals. The inner has the chrome strip. 


I found these locking suture devices from Harbor Freight a big help in positioning the clips to the door lips.











This "J" shaped tool was designed to remove vinyl house siding, but it was also a big help in pulling the clips secure. (Thanks to 6-Pack member Bobby D for this tip.)



I really struggled with the first outside seal...it just wouldn't come together. After some staring, the" light bulb came on"...the seven clip locations are pressed into the seal.


I decided removing the rubber in those 7 locations would allow the clips to slide on...voila!


During my pre-installation reading, I came across a web site called Britsport of Seattle. They have a section that addresses rebuilding TR6 doors. One of the tips I gleaned was to install the clips on the doors first. To do that for the outside seal requires laying a piece of tape on the door, holding the seal in place, then marking where the seven  indents are for clip location.



The final tip from the Britsport folks was to unbolt the rear glass channel and remove the two regulator stops... allowing the glass to be as low as possible in the door and loose enough to push off to the side.

Unbolting the channel

Remove this lower stop.


This stop is midway down the inside of the door.


I used  my tape roll to keep the glass pushed off to the side.

Getting the glass out of the way was a huge help in placing the clips correctly.

Whew, finally completed!



After the side glass struggles, for the windshield installation I decided to call in the professionals from Sonic Auto Glass in Toledo. I'm glad I did as those two guys spent well over an hourgetting the windshield glass correctly installed!


Coming up next...The Interior!