A full restoration of the 1/4 windows is a very time consuming, and somewhat expensive task. The chrome work is expensive, but after that you still have to buy the rubber that holds the glass to the frame, the rubber that goes around the outside of the frame, and then the rubber that attaches to the car body. Not cheap.
When doing an assembly of the parts, many have commented over the years that you need a fixture or 4 hands. All true, because after you place the rubber on the glass and attempt to slide it into the frame, the rubber is busy sliding off. I use liquid soap as a lubricant, which works well, and was fortunate to get them assembled on about the 4th try on each side- no fixture and no other hands. It is important to make sure that the straight vertical chrome piece goes back to the side from which it came, otherwise you might not get nice tightly mitered corners. I have included a photo of one of mine. Also of note, is that the chrome will have built up on the surfaces, despite the best efforts of the chrome shop. Openings & mating surfaces may need light filing- mine did. All of this takes plenty of time and patience. During the assembly, I lost one of the tiny screws that holds the knob to the latch assembly. They are magnetic, but I gave up after about 45 minutes. Consider little things like this if you tackle the job. I still have the rubber to frame piece to fit, and the rubber to body as well, but while those are tricky (like cutting around the hinge), they are more time consuming than difficult. I also decided to use my original glass. It has slight bubbling at the edges that can be seen in you look carefully, but hey, Miss April deserves some patina. Overall I am happy with the progress. These take way more time than installing a windshield! Be sure to click on "Previous" at the page bottom to see lots of previous Blog pages!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
restoration & blog Archives
October 2022
|