Now Complete Restoration / Pulling my 1969 'Bee down for strip and paint

[birdsandbees]

Door seals fit VERY well. No glue on them, even though Metro states to use same between "pins".

Front "wing" window seals. # WR 2308 for the pair.

Wing window posts that were rechromed.

Now to put the puzzle together. Didn't even realize that the chrome / stainless polisher vendor didn't put them back together again.

[birdsandbees]

Was about to head to town to go see the glass guy when my brain said "go check your own shelves in the hangar". Call it NOS glass setting tape, probably older than my car but still as good as the day it was made.. PPG even!

My OE mirror missed the "ship out for chrome" box, so we'll have to pretty it up the best we can.

Lots of tiny pit holes, but we'll see how well it cleans up. Have to be carefull not to go too far and have a copper looking mirror instead.

White cutting media on the yellow wheel and Rouge on the soft wheel. A bit of 2000 sand paper in a few places to boot.

Rubbed down with MAAS

Dremel to get into the tighter spots.

FINALLY, a reproduction part that is spot on with correct details, other than part number! :rolleyes:

Mirror installed to car with new gasket, captive washer 1/4" nut on the stud inside the door and oval head philips screw from the top.

[birdsandbees]

Making sure I've located all the parts for the puzzle to get the door glass done. Gotta thank the dozen + guys before me that documented at least part of the assembly and it's parts... as the FSM is lacking to say the least.

More chromer BS. Driver's side pin left jammed into swivel head and chromed. Pin is suppose to be mounted in vent frame.

Pin clamped in vice and crow bar to remove, of course damaging the new chrome on the swivel head because it slipped.

On the other side, they left the pin in and it got chromed, so is now larger in diameter than the hole in the swivel head it mates to.

Had to ream that swivel head out to #12.

Installing the drivers side pin with some JB weld to keep it in. It's been rotating improperly there for 40+ years.

Special screw that holds the post and vent window frame together. 10-24 flat head with threads cleaned up.

Cleaning out the threads after chroming with a 10-24 tap.

[birdsandbees]

Common failure, the bottom "hook" breaks off the window track. I remember brazing this one back on, in the car, back in '88. Since it was crooked, only being welded on one side (and didn't appear it would fit through the door slot ) I cut it off and cleaned it up.

Then MIG welded it back into place straight and then cleaned up the OE spot welds inside the track that sat proud, so they don't catch the door glass slider material.

Cleaning out the track with a rag stuffed tight and acetone. Checking for any places that catch and carefully filing them smooth with a riffler file.

I learned today why the chrome and polishing specialist didn't put the window frame back together, after his $415 PER side cost even though it was quoted as Re and Re. Not sure how big a pry bar they used to take them apart, but the swage ring was still on the old bosses and the frame wouldn't fit back over them. Dremel to clean off the "ring".

I actually had to open a few holes a size up to get the vent frame sitting tightly to the front post.

Not a great start, first hit and a swagging nub snapped off. Good thing there are two. I HIGHLY suggest to anyone else, clearance the frame holes.. test fit to make sure everything sits right... pull apart.. apply panel bond adhesive and then clamp the frame back into place over night. DO NOT attempt to swage the nubs to hold it together.

Should have experimented on the passenger side first, since that door will be seen less!   I did manage to put both frames together with only this one casualty because it moved on my bucking bar as I hit the swagging nub with the punch. A helper today would have been swell...

Chromer also increased the size of the pivot shafts so big they won't even consider going into the holders. Had to take the belt sander to them and bring them back down to size.

[birdsandbees]

I cut the 0.060" thick glass setting tape 9.5" long to match the glass & holder frame length. Not sure why "Tony's Parts" install information calls out only 8" as it will leave 3/4" of bare spot on each side/end of the glass, the other end detents get filled with black RTV to simulate the OE gasket shape.

Setting "tape" ready to lay over the vent glass holder.

Tape in place and glass pressed into same, making sure it's center in the casting.

I couple good taps of persuasion to fully seat the glass.

Trim the excess tape off.

Glass nicely in place. The open end on the right gets filled with black RTV, as does the one on the left on the other side to finish it up. OE style gaskets don't seem to be reproduced.

New Precision gaskets cleaned up with glass cleaner and lubed with same during install.

I started in the sharp corner at the top. I had a bit of a bump in the gasket along the A post and then noticed there is a "nubb" to locate at the top, about an inch before the top corner. Needed to force the seal up slightly and all went into place.

[birdsandbees]

After the top corner the A post was completed next. Lots of lube and the paint brush handlle to force rubber into front bottom corner and then across the bottom making sure pivot hole is centered. Up the window slider post last.

Test install had the top of the glass out onto the frame a bit.. shown by my finger.

I used one of the lower frame holder pins to give the pivot mount a little tweek to bring the glass top forward.

Upper pivot ear and gasket.

Bit of grease and ear/gasket put into place.

Inside gasket, bezel and screw. Story of my life, screw just a bit short, won't catch enough threads.

Almost done. Needs a longer screw, retainer split pin on lock lever installed as well as the split pin on pivot shaft that restricts the rotation travel.

[BLK 68 R/T]

Very nice. Getting close to being done, seems like they are they never "done" though 

[birdsandbees]

Thank! Almost there.. but the list still seems LONG...

Need to get her done and the interior back in for Daughter's wedding first of all, but I need to get onto the Bird so I have it roadworthy for Dega as well and with Spring here friggin customers are bugging me about their float planes.. 

[birdsandbees]

Wavy spring washer goes on lock post first, a bit of grease on the post and then the knob.

Lock knob in place and split pin ready to install using channel locks to push the pin into place.

Rotation stop pin installed to pivot shaft.

Other than finding a bit longer screw for each upper pivot bezel the vent frames are ready to move on to door glass installation.

Lock side window channels. This is a post car and channels are unique for it vs hardtops. New guides are Cat Wiskers # AS2001 or National Moparts # WS302

Drill out the two rivets that hold the rubber/felt guide in place.

Repro rivets on the left.. OE on the right. Time to look through my rivet shelves for something with a similar small flat head as not using those big things.

Reproductions are VERY close to the OE's. They are the right shape, size and interior felt like material. OE guide rubber/felt part # 2860398 for the OE crowd.

[birdsandbees]

Well I found a "few" rivets that should work to duplicate the fit of the OE ones. AN442-AD4-3

OE / AN442 / Reproduction. 442-4-3's have the correct head diameter and length to work perfect. Afraid those big head suppled semi tubulars will sit proud and be a rub spot.

New rubber/felts slipped into place leaving about 1/8" proud at top of channel.

Back drilled through the rubber for the rivets.

I drilled a piece of scrap wood and put all 4 rivets into same and ran them on the belt sander to half thickness.

They now match the OE rivets head thickness and I gave the new surface edge a quick sand to round off.

Rivets into place with tweezers and then pushed through the rubber and metal channel.

I used an old mould ejector pin the same diameter as the rivet head as my bucking bar and a ball peen to set the rivets.

[birdsandbees]

Perfect, nicely down below the felt surface.

Cut off the excess leaving a bit of overhang.

I slipped both lock side channels onto my new glass. Drivers side runs smooth, passenger not so much. Leaving them this way to see if it's just from "packaging set" before I open up the metal channel slightly.

Go big or go home.. I read enough warnings to not use the repop vent window slider material and bought OEM's awhile back. Somewhere around $300 for these two pieces of mylar/felt. Proper shape, curved to match the glass = no jamming.

Lock pin/sliders that go through the glass and inside the slider felts. OE left, OEM middle and repop right.

OE lock pin/slider center hubs touch when in the glass. OEM hubs will touch, but gap is not enough for glass and slider felt thickness. Repops are terrible in all regards, worked well in the rear flip outs, but not for the door glass. It's been long documented they are "too thick", but in reality it's the inner (glass side) faces that need to be relieved to match the glass/felt thickness and not reduced on the outside edge to make them work if you have no choice.

Test "slide" of the mylar felts.

I found on both vent frames that the felts catch the stainless as they go up the channel. Probably not an issue once all together, but I'm not taking that chance.

[birdsandbees]

Just a few licks of the file and everything slides smooth.

OE passenger glass ready to remove old mylar felts, slider pins and raising/lowering bracket.

The plastic "peg" is actually a "rivet". Give the center a light rap and if it won't move in this direction hit it from the other side. This one went out this way and the drivers side wouldn't budge, but just a light tap from the other side and it shot right out.

Bracket off ready for clean up and then install a new gasket between it and the new glass.

New Repop rivet top, OE bottom.

Reference dimension from top corner of glass to start of mylar felt = 11/16". Checked my SuperBird and its are at 9/16". Spec is probably a 5/8"..

Door glass up stop at the bottom rear of the glass. Remove screw and carefully push it out of the glass. I made the mistake of squeezing it and snapped a tab off.

Attention body and paint people. When you're done all your skim coat blocking and filler priming, clean up the lock tumbler holes with clearance before paint! These are brand new door skins, I shouldn't be doing this.

[birdsandbees]

10 minutes to a nice smooth fit and of course I have to touch up the paint so it doesn't rust out from the hole.

Then the dilemma ! Sealing gaskets...

I have this complete kit. Black for handles, whitish gray for locks.

And I'd bought others.. Gray, beige, clear, mystery black o-ring I tried but won't work cleanly. Why not BLACK FFS !?

[birdsandbees]

Magic in a can! Key locks have never turned so smooth.

I was scratching my head for a bit. Both of my locks had the arm pointing the same way, which is impossible to install or hook up. Looking at the ends I noticed a brand new C clip on the drivers lock. Guess it fell apart when removed and they put it back together backwards. Drivers side left, passenger side right.

New door handle that was installed by the paint shop. I kept meaning to get around to installing the reinforcing plates I bought over a year ago. DON'T WAIT.. do it NOW!

This is my drivers door, just from closings to date. I pushed the dent out the best I could with a rubber covered hammer handle.

Door reinforcement plates and 5 minute GAP FILLING epoxy.

Test fit before install.

About 1/2 the syringes of epoxy mixed up and buttered on.

Quickly put into place and the nuts just finger tight so the epoxy can take the shape of the door.

[birdsandbees]

Looking good at this point.

Fortunately my window regulators are in great shape, even the plastic rollers. Removed them from the doors to be sure no glass media is inside them and to lube ready for install.

Krown in the drive gear bushings and pivot, wheel bearing grease on the teeth and guide surfaces.

Interior door handle to door latch release rod. Thought I had some of this cloth sheathing to re and re, but size I had was too small.

Some heat shrink tube will clean it up and keep the anti-rattle desire intact.

Passenger side.

Shot to show the correct clip to hold the rod to the inside door handle. The latch mechanism end just sits in a hole with no clip.

Retainer clip for the key locks.

[birdsandbees]

Key lock in place and hooked up, showing proper retainer clips for it and for the door handle push button to latch mechanism rod.

A few hours later I tightened up the door handle nuts. Beauty is back and dent is gone!

How the "lock side" glass channel sits.

So glad to say... we're ready for glass!.. and I'll be so happy to be past this stage if all goes well!

[birdsandbees]

Vent frame channel up stop / rail cap.

Installed. There is a left and a right.

I'm so sick of AMD glass and wish I'd bought it all from ECS, not AMD through National Moparts.

This is nobodies fault but my own. I picked it up in person and should have inspected it on site before leaving. Scratch right in the center of the door glass. That and finished shape compared to OE is sad workmanship to say the least.

Lift channel attached to new glass with "gasket" and new plastic rivet. Pin on rivet not set yet.

Just happens that is the exact distance the hole punch will reach from an end!

Showing this "mistake" so nobody else makes it! Hole is too close to the bottom of the felt / edge of the glass.

Test fit shows the hole being where I punched it puts the felts about 3/32 too far out from where they should run in the channel.

[birdsandbees]

Also appears I have a burr somewhere and shows how easy these felts tear.. break out the riffler files. Fortunately I hadn't cut the felt to length yet and had enough left to redo the end.

Felt cut off and repunched, dead center this time.

Hole punched dead center = slider pins fit perfect. Fortunately by using my old rear flip out window slider pins, I had 4 sets of OE's that weren't cracked to reuse and didn't have to modify the repros to use.

Felts cleaned and lubed, again just using window cleaner, and THE VENT CHANNEL carefully slid onto the glass / felt assembly. It's easier to slide the frame onto the glass, while holding the felts, than trying to slide the glass into the channel.

Drivers door glass assembly ready for install.

More AMD glass BS on the passenger door glass.... Slider pin hole is almost 1/8" too far from the edge of the glass!

This is the felt shoved on as far as it will go.

OE over AMD.

[birdsandbees]

Fortunately the hole is in the correct place, the edge of the glass is 1/8" too long compared to the OE.

Go big or go home! At this point I really didn't care of it shattered into a million pieces. Took my time to keep the heat down and kept the 40 grit flap disc moving along the edge and removed that 1/8" of glass.

Same deal as the drivers side on the slider felt / pins and assembly and the passenger is ready for install.

Door gap taped off to hopefully avoid any chips or scratches.

Light coating of grease in the lift channel.

Used some felt strip I had for anti-rattle and then put the mounting pin into place.

Entire assembly set into place. Despite what the FSM says I found I had to remove the regulator, install the roller to the lift channel track and then bolt the regulator back in place.

Tried twice and kept getting the vent rubber hung up at the A pillar. Couldn't hold it in place and the window at the same time. Chipped some paint as well...

[birdsandbees]

Fortunately the wife appeared in the shop and while she held the lock end of the glass I held both sides of the vent rubber with thumb and forefinger and lowered the assembly into place with success.

Long bolt goes in the top door hole, through the A pillar frame and into a captive nut in the door.

Everything sitting loosely in place. I found if you put the window full up (without the lock end glass up stop in place) it will tip the vent frame forward and make it easy to set up.

Found eyeballing the vent frame gasket for parallel to the door panel worked perfect and then snugged up the A pillar top bolt and the fork nut.

Allen head bolt tightened up.

Nice even gap up the A pillar and across the top of the roof rail.

Up stop installed to the lock end of the glass.

I set the lock end guide channel up so that the glass sat centered in the door gap. Then checked how it closed against the roof rail seals and all looked good.

[birdsandbees]

Door glass seals / wipers. "Cat Whiskers" Part # 990828

Note there are lefts and rights, the clip spacing is not even.

With the glass fully down you can just get them into place. If you don't have enough room adjust your down stop on your regulator to give you more room.

Seals in place. Love the Catwhisker design as an "eavestrough".

SIX hours. Two door glass assemblies together and one installed.

[birdsandbees]

Door end seal that came off the car left and new repro right. Not sure if the removed was OE with the glass slot or something "borrowed" through the years from a hardtop.

Without glass slot seems to work just fine.

Passenger assembly in place and I'm taking a rest after struggling to get it to go in. Found that my allen head bolt area wasn't opening up for some reason. Gave it a little twist from below with a flat screwdriver and success there after.

2 hours on door #2 ! All set up, tightened up and whiskers in place.

So nice to have all the glass in!

Taped off all the ends of the wing windows.

Filled that void with some Black silicon sealant and then immediately peeled the tape.

Almost looks like a factory gasket now.

[timmycharger]

Looking great!! So many things here I wish I saw before attempting mine which would have saved me time.  Thanks again for posting all of this stuff in detail.

Getting so much closer! 

[birdsandbees]

Looking great!! So many things here I wish I saw before attempting mine which would have saved me time.  Thanks again for posting all of this stuff in detail.

Getting so much closer! 

Hey, yours is one of the glass installs I had printed out on the bench amongst the others... trying to get a full "picture" before I started. 

[birdsandbees]

Re and re'd the passenger rear glass a few times and while I made it better, this is the closest I could get the rubber seal to the quarter panel. There's been seam sealer in there since new quarters went on in '78, which suggests us teens didn't get it quite right back then!

My solution, some 1/4" diameter rubber I have on hand.

Jammed the round rubber stock up between the glass frame and the rubber seal to force it out against he quarter panel.

Worked very well and stayed in place.

Seal pushed nicely over to the quarter now.

Silicon RTV smeared across the seal, 1/4" rubber and quarter to hold everything in place and water tight.