I am swapping the window regulators from my SV to my S3. My door panels
from my SV already had the holes for the higher regulator. This requires a
new bracket for each side. But, I expected that and already made that.
What I didn't expect was that they changed the tracks on the bottoms of the
side windows, and the corresponding "heads" that slide into the tracks from
the window regulator "scissors." The heads on the SV are smaller and
shorter than the S3. So, I had to pull off the window from the S3 tracks
and put them on the SV track. (note that one of my windows broke in the
accident - I just figured I'd swap in the S3 window, track and all).
The windows fit in the channel with a rubber piece. When I restored my car
the last time, my windows had pulled out of the channels from age. So, I
bought the rubber pieces, not knowing how to do them, and glued it all in.
Now I understand you are supposed to put oil on the rubber piece, slide it
all together, then the rubber absorbes the oil, expands, and squeezes
everything together. I did this. It seemed to work fine. I just wonder
if those 30 year old channels which are showing their age with rust, are
strong enough to fight the expanding rubber so that there is solid grip.
Unfortunately, I'm probably not going to know until 9 months from now when
I'm rolling down a window and the track pulls off the bottom of the window!
I also had fun and games with the velvet-type stuff SS sells for the back
channel. After I glued it on, I found that the velvet was too thick to
allow the window to slide through smoothly. In fact, it was really hard to
slide it - and I'm sure a quick way to pull the tracks right off of the
bottom of the windows! I looked more carefully at my original stuff. The
SV had a standard canvas-type material in there. The S3 had something a
little thicker than the SV stuff, but not much, and seemed to have some
rubber melted in with the fabric. I actually had a piece of heavy duty
pants-like fabric, very much like the SV stuff. So, I cut it into strips
and glued it in. It works perfectly. No rattle and no binding. Sorry SS.
I guess you can't be perfect all of the time.
Someone did suggest lubricating the felt channels with silicon. Which I'm
sure is a great way to fix something that probably shouldn't be wrong in
the first place. But, when I mentioned this to my dad, he just about
exploded "NOOooooo!" Seems that silicon is VERY bad news in the rocket
world and forbidden from anywhere near them. Dad said that it simply can't
be cleaned off, kills the rocket seals (which causes for some very big,
premature explosions), and will make it equally difficult to paint any door
surfaces, etc., that get some on it. He also said that he used SS's rear
velvet stuff with no problems.
So now you know.
Jay
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