How to Fix the Rear Convertible Window., Removing the vert back seats! Options

[njccmd2002]

First of all this is a tough job.... Read all two times before you attempt this and post for extra questions

If you are lloking for something easy, this is not easy I repeat.. x2.

The first step is to remove the back seats. here is a basic layout.



The lower seats, comes off easy, all you have to do is lift, and will snap off its position.

To remove the Upper seat, you have to remove 4 push pins located on the top side back part of the seat, the part where the velcro is for the boot.



after you haver carefully removed, lift the vynil cover to expose 4 retaining bolts. You will need to use a 13mm socket to remove.



and here is the vert rear strut bar. OEM



To remove the side plastics.
First remove the door sills.
Then remove two screws at the bottom of the speakers.
then remove two screws at the top. One is under the seat belt and the other is the button of the boot.
Optional is to remove the seat belt from the floor panel. This is to move away the interior plastic trim.
the last thing to remove the plastic trim is two push pins located on the rear, they are hidden and a PITA to put back in.



There is one last push pin on the top You can see it here...



and this is what you get to see, your own car guts... i did not disconnect the seat belt. i just made space by pulling it ..

Then remove the exterior weather strip by removing 4-5 screws. dont drop them!



ok, so what now. If you look at the picture above.. you barely see the convertible motor. (Sorry as my collection of pics got lost). But there are approx 3 screws that hold the window track and 4 that hold the window motor to the chassis. They are underneath somewhere.

To get to it, you have to remove the speaker plate, the plate that sits on top of the vert top motor and the plate on the bottom that holds the two screws to retain the plastic trim. they all use 10 mm bolts. Here is an exploded overview of the system...



Once you get to view the track screws and motor screws, you have to take the whole system out, but before please do the following!!!!

IMPORTANT: bag all screws by location and label bags. You dont want to be guessing afterwards. Take pictures and measurements of the 3 track screws, the distance in mm of how much they are sticking out the nut. As they have to be regulated to the same measurements.

The track bots consist of a Long Screw with nut, that are not attached together, they allow to regulate the track.

Pics are better to remember. Take notes of the distance between the edges ot the chassis of the car to the window inside and out. The two top screws are easy, the bottom one, I just took a pic before and compared it with another pic after instalation.

A BAD REGULATED REAR WINDOW WILL NOT SEAT WITH THE FRONT WINDOW AND WHEN CLOSING THE TOP IT CAN BREAK. So its very important you pay attention, measure and take pics to avoid damage.

There is no easy way to do this, if your car is tinted, well, forget about it. This is Real 100% PITA. I pulled it all out at the same time. removed all screws, and brought the whole system out.

Another way of doing this: you can disconect the lever from the motor to the window assembly first. Raise the window halfway being a very tight space with a 10 mm IIRC socket disconect the bolt. Watch out for all the parts, as it has washers, springs, etc, dont loose them. (thats why i pulled all at the same time). Dont trust your memory, take pics

Then you have to remove the bolts on the track that are called stoppers. These are the wants that prevent the window to keep going up, there are two. That way you be able to pull the window out with the assembly out, by sliding it.

Then you unbolt (x3) and pull the track second and unbolt (x 4) and pull the motor out last. always measure your distances distance. (to get an idea how to regulate afterwards)

This is your culprit.. priced between 45 and 65 dls at local dealer. The broken bushing. No its not sold separetely. on the picture you can see the arm lever of the motor still attached.



this is your track system, make sure you regrease it properly afterwards....



So another party pooper I ran with was, once i had my plate assemly, how the heck to remove the glass from the old plate, it is held by some weird azz screws, i tried pliers first, no help....

With a dremel tool I created my own weird looking socket tool with pins. You can see i shaved off the sides leaving some pin on the socket. On the side is the aforementioned nasty bolt. It took me hours to figure this one out!



I unbolted the window, then bolted it on the new plate. I do not have torque specs, this is not on the Chilton Manual, so tighten enough, and not to much to break the glass.

Next is putting all back together. Please get alcohol, neobacin, and bandaids.

This part is 900% PITA and RBH ( rear bu.. H...)

Here is what i did.

Bolted the motor first. (x 4 Bolts)
Bolted the Track second (x 3 bolts) If you measured, it was easy to put it back in place.
and regulate temporarily

Slide the window plate, carefully. Then have somebody playing with the motor switch, adjusting the arm lever to bring it halfway up. Tighten the arm lever.

This is very difficult, youll get cuts, and scrapes. Some parts will fall inside the chassis. So better have a long stick with magnet tip.

Believe me, its doable, if its too low then adjust the motor lever higher, or lower. Have a friend play with the switch.

After this, replace the stoppers. The best way to adjust the window, is with the top down, and the doors closed, make sure the gap is uniform (window to window), that it slides with no problem and it is not pointing outwards or inwards. (always compare with the opposite windows. remeasure all the gaps and bolts to make sure you have adjusted correctly.

To avoid this damage in the future, ALwAYS LOWER YOUR WINDOWS WHEN YOU ARE ABOUT TO CLOSE THE TOP. Closing the top with the windows up, weakens these plastic bushings.....

Enjoy, and feel free to sticky. As soon as i find my other pics I will edit to make it more understandable.

This post has been edited by njccmd2002: Jul 7, 2011 - 7:19 PM

[IllIllIll]

So I got my rear window out yesterday & took a look & two of the three wheels were broken. I decided to try to make my own wheels on the lathe out a piece of delrin. I'm a complete amateur with the lathe, so it took me a few hours measure & set up the work & make 3 of the wheels to try out. Since I think I paid about $80 for this metal part with plastic wheels in it a few years ago on the other side I guess it's worth my time to tinker with it before shelling out that kind of money.

Here I am drilling the center out. The drill bit stays stationary & the plastic is what spins, for those that have never worked with a lathe before. The delrin cuts very nicely.


I then turned the piece down to the proper diameter, & cut the groove to the proper depth, but those pictures where too blurry.
Here I am using the cut off tool to remove my new wheel, so I can go on to the next one.


Here are new wheels I made compared to the original ones on the other side. They are only a couple of years old, but had caused me problems due to the the fit being too tight, you can see how the wheels are black in spots, from the paint wearing off the metal track. The stock pieces don't spin while my replacements can spin & rock more freely. This seems to make them slide up & down the track way more smoothly, but time will tell if they last or cause the window to be too loose & rattle.






And installed.

My first wheel was a bit too loose, & I thought it might fall off, so I made an extra, they are both looser than the stock wheels, but they still take some force to go on to the posts.

I'll let you know how they fit when I get them installed in the car & if they were out too soon, or cause me other problems.
Oh and before any one asks, I think I only paid about $5 for a one foot piece of the Delrin (acetal) plastic online.