Quarterlight seals - a simple job made complicated! (image heavy)

[Al_Stag]

Hi guys,

Well whilst waiting for the replacement frame with quarterlight to fit in as a substitute I decided to tackle the passenger door. Oh dear, how I wish I hadn't bothered!

Old seal came off well enough, and new one went on really easily (post-fairy liquid) but trying to get the spindle back in was a nightmare! Until I re-read the pdf instructions which are floating around on various threads...

Partially raise the entire frame up out of the door until the friction clamp around the
quarter light spindle can be reached. (An inch or two is sufficient, and it will not disturb
anything inside the door)
Slacken off the clamp bolt enough to release the quarter light assembly, which can
then be carefully drawn up and out of its aperture in the main window frame.
(The workshop manual claims that the small nut and bolt securing the clamp can be
accessed through the aperture that contained the wheel box. Don't believe it. You might
just free it off enough this way, but just try getting the spindle back through the clamp
again later!)

Easily said, less easily done. "Just another 1/8" more needed... eungh... pull....".... POP..... Out comes the frame. Oh **** thinks I. Cue the next 45 minutes trying to fit the frame back into the door (lifting the frame, pulling backwards, pushing forwards) and just as I get success the back pops out too, with resulting damage.

SSL20763.jpg

In the end I removed the window winder mechanism as-per the ROM and lowered everything to the bottom (which was a pain to get up again and as for aligning the 4 bolts? That was another hour!).

The upshot (or downshot) of it all is that now my door won't close No doubt it's due to my heavy-handidness pulling and pushing trying to manipulate the frame and winding gear (without another pair of hands, but she was cooking tea at the time so I can't complain). It will close, if I shove it hard, but the alignment seems all wrong. The swage line is perfect, but the door bottom almost seems to be "kicking out". I'm now out of ideas and don't want to start moving the A-pillar or door-latch hinges if I don't have to!

SSL20764.jpg Not shutting!
SSL20774.jpg Level gaps
SSL20762.jpg Level swage!

So now I'm confused.

(second post with more pics follows)...

[Al_Stag]

Continued.

... continued

Also, on examining the door I notice the bar that runs behind the "window slider" is bent... could this have anything to do with the nightmare that was trying to fix the bottom two bolts?

SSL20768.jpg Bent bar
SSL20779.jpg Impossible bolts

The window does wind down, albeit very slowly (whereas it was fast before but stuck at the bottom 1").

The gaps I now have on the inside are quite worrying too:

SSL20767.jpg Where the quarterlight meets pillar
SSL20765.jpg Looking inside from outside (the gap is actually much bigger)
SSL20766.jpg Looking from outside in

Is this a case of simple door alignment or do you think there's more afoot?

Cheers,
Al.

PS if anyone is nearby and fancies a beer in the evening some point this week or weekend in return for a good pair of eyes I am well stocked!

[Al_Stag]

The quarter lights themselves!

Oh, I almost forgot the reason for the post! To also show the new quarterlight seals...

Here they are attached - I'm not that impressed as when the quarterlight shuts it doesn't seem to seal over the glass properly?

SSL20778.jpg Looking down alongside the glass frame
SSL20777.jpg Looking along the bottom seal

I'll get some better pics soon. Has anyone else experienced this with the seals? they're from Paddocks, but are SOCTFL.

Bigger images are available in my "forum" photoalbum.

So to summarise my questions:

1. How can I get the door to shut properly? Is it A-pillar hinges or the where the hinge fits onto the door?
2. Do you think I've broken or bent something inside or on the frame?
3. What's the best way to fix the bit at the front of the quarterlight where it disappears into the door - it looks quite rusty!

Cheers in advance,

Al.

[Gresley]

Hi Al,

I have just fitted a pair to my car, also from Paddocks. On the driver's door I took the frame out a little as you describe to remove the clamp. It sounds as if you may have disturbed the adjustment of the window frame against the hood. It took me quite a long time fiddling about with it as it will adjust in and out and also up and down with some fore and aft movement possible also. I set it so that it just presses lightly against the hood seal and is even front and back. It touches the normal door seal quite firmly. If your door fits the aperture OK I would not touch the hinges personally, and if it closed OK before then these must be adjusted well. I was a tiny bit dissapointed at the fit of the quarterlight window against the seal too, although it is not bad really, just a little different from original I think. They are much better than my perished originals though! The passenger door quarterlight did not have the clamp on it so i could easily replace the seal without disturbing the frame.

Hope this helps a little.

Brian.

[Al_Stag]

Hi Brian,

Thanks very much for coming back. You say that you have no friction clamp on the passenger door - does that mean they're not strictly necessary? That could solve a lot of hard work when I come to change the snapped drivers side.

I checked the in-out alignment and still can't work it out; it seems to "kick out" at the bottom right hand side yet it's flush at the front, the top of the frame only touches the soft-top seal right before it closes and the seal has a big gap between the "door pillar side" of the frame and the b-pillar.

A weekend of tinkering coming on I feel.

Cheers,

Al.

[Gresley]

Hi Al,

I didn't know that my passenger door had no clamp until a couple of weeks ago and did not notice anything wrong, so they could well not be essential. I may be wrong here, but looking at mine I thought that it must just stop the quarterlight in the right place and stop it from closing too far.

Sounds like you may need to drop the frame a little bit maybe, I levered mine backwards a little too from the front (carefully!!).

Good luck,

Brian.

[David B]

Hi Al,

The window frames are adjustable from within the door. There is the facility to move the top of the frame in or out a small amount. The front and back of the frames can be moved up or down as well. This should help to close the gaps.

David.

[Al_Stag]

Hi guys,

I had a play yesterday evening and with the window moved all the way "back" (ie so there's a noticeable gap between the top of the frame and the softtop seal) it's still sticking proud, so that makes me think it's definitely some problem with the hinges. I'm wondering if one moved whilst "manipulating" the window frame... The "in and out" of the door is unfortunately controlled by the A-pillar hinge isn't it?


Cheers,

Al.