A week or so ago I posted a request for information on doing up the doors
on an AD truck. I got one suggestion to check the door hinge pins (thanks
Rob), and this check gave inconclusive results. The doors DO move up and down
a bit, but the movement feels like flexibility in the hinge/pillar/door
assembly more than looseness from pin wear. I watched for differential motion
between the door and the pillar and saw none.
From the lack of informative posts on this topic, I would have to guess
that not many of us have messed around in the door/window/weatherstrip area.
Well, I have a tale or two to impart, having spent a little quality time with
the shop manual and then partially stripped the driver's door and reassembled
it.
First the door mechanism is very simple, and once you sort through the
proliferation of jargon, the manual makes sense in a sparce sort of way. It
would have been helpful if GM had included an exploded view of the door
assembly showing the relative position of the various parts and calling out
their names. I recently bought a 1959 parts manual hoping for clarity, but
alas that book is also very shy of exploded views. Here are a few tips
gleaned from experience:
1. After stripping off the door upholstery and handles, The manual tells
you (Pg 1-9, Fig. 18) to remove bolt "A." Access can be gained by removing
the hinge cover plate on the bottom and reaching upward with a 1/2" socket on
a long extension. This is visible only with a small mirror and a snakelight.
2. After removing bolt "A," the 5 smaller screws around the ventilator
assembly can be removed. The window is then lowered, and the ventilator can
be maneuvered out. I found that the window can slide forward out of place and
make life very difficult trying to "maneuver" that ventilator! Make sure the
window is all the way aft in it's track before you attempt to remove the
assembly.
3. Once you get the ventilator assembly out, there is very little you can
do with it in a typical home workshop. The shop manual never mentions
changing the vent window gasket for good reason, it is a riveted assembly,
and I'm sure the dealers just replaced the whole shootin' match rather than
mess with it. On my last trip to Golden State I noticed they had rebuilt
ready-to-install complete ventilator units on display. They were expensive
($75?) , but may beat the fooling around required to do a proper job. Has any
body rebuilt these units and would you care to tell us how? I have the
gaskets and window channeling to do this job in stock now. If I have to buy
Golden State's units, I have wasted my money, and not for the first time!
I didn't start on the weatherstripping yet, but this too needs doing up.
Would anybody care to offer some tips to those of us that have never worked
with it yet? How do you remove the old seals? Do you just pull them off and
scrape the surfaces clean? What adhesive is the best to use? The manual
mentions that certain retainers need to be uncrimped. Is there an easy way to
do this? What tool should be used?
Paul O'Neil, Hudson29@aol.com
1951 Chevrolet 3600 Pickup Project, See it at:
The Poor Man's Advanced Design Tech Tips Page
http://home.earthlink.net/~conntest47/
Fullerton, California USA
AEROMARK - Need Rubber Stamps or Signs? See:
http://www.aeromark.net
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