Big Double-Header Window Scraper Procedure Pt 2

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Amskeptic
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Big Double-Header Window Scraper Procedure Pt 2

Post by Amskeptic » Sun Mar 31, 2013 5:13 pm

Door Refresh 2

With the door stripped down thus far (and it's only 2:00PM!), why not strip out the easy-to-get-to door latch assembly and door handle? Why not?

Step 10:
Door Handle Removal
Remove the screw under the protective cap and your door handle is removed by a simple pull out and rearward to unhook the front of the handle. Catch the plastic grommets underneath the front and rear contact areas.
Door Refresh 10
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Clean and lubricate the door trigger hinge w/spring, lubricate the lock cylinder with engine oil as you rotate the lock, a little powder graphite sprinkled into the horizontally held key slot with the key holding it open will allow gravity to take the graphite to places it could never go while installed on the car. Wax the chrome of the handle even the surfaces that do not see the light of day . . . you think I kid.
Door Refresh 10b
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Pull the inner door handle so you can reach this retainer and pull the eyelet from the rod. Once it is pulled out, you can slide it up the rod a little, and remove the rod from the door latch.
Door Refresh 10c
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Now you can remove the 10mm bolts holding the inner door handle on and pull it free with the rod following it out. Treat this assembly to well-worked in grease wiped down after to prevent dirt accumulation.
Door Refresh 10d
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Step 11:
Door Latch Removal
Unscrew the lock button for Squarebacks '68 and late buses.
Remove the three screws in the below photograph. They may be tight. Do not blow it. Get the big phillips screwdriver or bit and push hard into the screw as you apply a snap twist loosening torque. Do not slip. The latch should come out pretty easily with all the window junk out of the way. There may be a nice plastic guard snapped on to the latch assembly. Do not take it off until you have settled down and put on your contemplative hat. Remember . . . how it holds on to the latch assembly, then you may remove it.
Door Refresh 11
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This is not the place to go into a big door latch write-up, but you will get excellent results just by cleaning the assembly with a brush and your favorite solvent, then slathering the entire door latch with engine oil. Wipe it down as it drips. Actuate the latch by "closing the latch" then pressing the pad that the door handle normally presses. The latch will spring open. Repeat. Add oil. Turn it so gravity can help the oil go into all pivoting, rotating, sliding parts. Wipe down. Then add grease to the sliding parts. Wipe down again. If your door latch has been misbehaving, it may be missing the below spring. I made one on the spot to replace it, but if you have to halt the project to obtain one, it is best for your car over the long haul to have your latch functioning correctly, both as a safety issue and as a stop-the-damage issue:
Door Refresh 11a
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Clean the insides of your door, and touch up all rust spots with rust catalyzing primer. I spray it in the cap and use a small brush to avoid overspray. The little rectangular holes where the serpentine inner scraper spring retainer goes is a good spot to make nice, as are the holes just on the other side of the window channel where the outer scraper clips will go. The vent window area is usually pretty good, but find and hit the rust. While it is drying, let's look at the vent window. It is getting new rubber, right?

Step 12:
Vent Window Prep
The window itself has to be removed from the frame. Drill the spread side of the rivet not the flat side. Just kiss it enough to blow away the outer spread part of the rivet and pop it out of the window bracket. Save the fiber washers, please, they are good for maintaining a slight friction and they trap the oil you are going to use upon reassembly.
Door Refresh 12
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Door Refresh 12a
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Remove the clamp bolt/screw and its presser piece at the bottom. Now you can pull the window from the frame.
Door Refresh 12b
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Clean and smooth the vent window axle and where it is clamped on the frame. This will allow you to have that famous precise taut smooth vent window action when you reassemble with good quality grease.
Door Refresh 12d
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Peel the old rubber out of the frame. There is an outer run and a separate vertical run. Look very carefully at how it is inserted in the frame channels. Note how the rubber configures at the pivot points. This is a very sophisticated extrusion. If the frame is rust city, brush it lightly with a wire brush, wash it soapy water, rinse it well, allow to dry thoroughly, and spray a couple of light coats of rust-catalyzing primer on it. Get all surfaces. Allow to dry overnight. Spray a couple of coats of black semi-gloss Rustoleum Engine Enamel early the next morning and it will be ready for assembly by mid-afternoon. You may continue with the rest of the procedure while it is drying.

Step 13:
Install Outer Scraper

As mentioned, it is flimsy. It often ships on a piece of cardboard where it has been taped so thoroughly that you run the risk of damaging it just trying to get it free. If it has already been bent, you will see the crazing or fracturing of the anodization. Reject it. If the rivets are popped out along the rubber scraper and metal reinforcement plate, reject it. Grease each rectangular hole in the window sill where the serpentine spring retainer for the inner scraper and the tent clips for outer scraper are going to go, with petroleum jelly.
Door Refresh 13
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Bring the delicate brightwork/outer scraper to the it to the window opening. Grab a sharkbite retainer and retain the upper vertical run of the scraper to the door at #1. Snap in the tent clip at #2. Keeping a gentle rearward pressure to fill the radius at the rear of the window opening, get another sharkbite retainer in at #3. Now finish the tent clips along the bottom and do not let the flimsy reinforcement metal-shoddily-riveted-to-the-outer-scraper-brightwork bend!
Door Refresh 13a

Install lower vertical sharkbite retainer and keep a gentle pressure on the lower radius of the brightwork in the window opening. It may want to bend away from the door surface, leaving an unsightly gap.
Door Refresh 13b
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You will have to "roll" the brightwork to close the gap. We're sorry. You may need to do partial disassembly to pull the brightwork away from the opening so you can "roll" the outside edge of the brightwork to fill the gap as you reinstall. Notice that as I photographed this, I was applying enough pressure just with my left thumb, to almost distort the trim's radius . . . that actually worked to keep the gap closed as I installed the upper sharkbite retainers.
Door Refresh 13c
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Once it is all acceptable enough, bend the tabs at the very ends of the brightwork to hold them against the opening soon to be filled with your vent window assembly. Tape the paint if you have do fiddle-fitment work at the edges.
Door Refresh 13d
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Here's a warning. The old scraper was indeed bent at the retaining plate where it like to shriek on the glass, and the brightwork was crazed and bent in the corner where someone thought to make it fit more nicely with a hammer.
Door Refresh 13e
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Step14:
Build Up Vent Window
The frame is painted and cured. Grab your new rubber and slather it with dishwashing liquid. You will be pressing a solid rectangular profile buried inside of lots of edges into the metal frame channel. You *must* do this correctly or you will join hordes of unhappy vent window owners who cannot figure out why their vent window refuses to close correctly after new rubber was installed. The rectangular profile must be squeezed, dropped into the frame channel, released and smoothed out inside the frame channel. You will see the edge of the rectangular block of rubber disappear under the lip of the frame. When you reach the pivot holes, the rubber is no longer trapped in the channel. You have to do some sideways sliding to center the untrapped portion at the pivot hole (or pivot bracket slice at the top). You are responsible for getting the rectangular block of new rubber in the frame channel all the way around. If you see bumps on the outer edges particularly where they meet the glass frame, your rectangular block has either spilled out or was never in there in the first place. Here's a chronically incorrect seal that was botching the right vent window.
Door Refresh 14c
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Good Luck, I'll wait, it is comfy here at the keyboard. Replace the vertical seal when you are done with the outer run. Same method, work the edges up against the outer seal. You may trim to fit, but do not cut too short. A semi-facsimile of a picture frame semi-bevel cut on the vertical rubber where it joins the outer rubber is acceptable if you are really good . . . Got it? Now install the vent window axle through the rubber and down to the clamp. Hit the clamp with good grease and install the presser and the screw lightly. Get your new rivet (tiny little bolt?) fiber washer, and stick down through the bracket into the vent window upper bracket hole. Peen the new rivet or install the tiny little nut. Now tighten the clamp screw until the window has a minor drag. Add just enough to give it the same resistance as your hand meets when you stick it out the window at 60 mph. Wipe down the rubber from any goopy dishwashing liquid, and hit the rubber with talcum powder, liberally, and close the vent window. Does it bunch at the upper pivot? Does the window look askance? Can the knob properly swipe over the reinforcement of the vertical frame for a secure close? You can bend the upper pivot bracket *carefully* to resolve spacing/function issues.
Door Refresh 14
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Step 15:
Install Vent Window Assembly

Keep it closed during reassembly. Tick the lower end down into the door at the crazy angle and slowly work it forward as you guide the paint-killer upper bracket into the channel. Remove this sharkbite retainer temporarily so the bracket will clear the brightwork on its way home, then reinstall it.
Door Refresh 15
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Watch especially the outer scraper rubber and flims-omatic cheep retainer with the EZ-Pop rivets. Bus does not want a complete installed position, because you have to get the window regulator installed. Just get the vent window close to home but wiggleable.

Step 16:
Install Latch/Door Handle

Just do it. Don't forget the plastic guard. Thread the lock button actuator rod up into the hole in the door sill, for those of you who have EZ-pick lock buttons.

If your inner handle has been lazy, shorten the pull rod by making a little wave in the rod. VW has a trick tool, we may not. I use two small visegrips to make a ^ in the rod, away from the plastic support please, so that you get a release of the closed latch before the handle reaches the end of its travel. If you overdo this, the lock on the earlier buses will not be able to actuate.

Step 17:
Install inner scraper. Your new scraper may have slots for the serpentine retainer in the wrong position, like mine did. Cut new slots after you are sure. You can always try to flip the serpentine spring over to see if yours was punched out incorrectly, but then the serpentine spring may not index with the rectangular slots.
Door Refresh 17
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The smooth striped face faces the channel. That is the side that you insert the serpentine spring into, so the tents face the inside of the door. The curved portion is at the back. The front has a tag that has to fit between the vent window frame and the door sill. Fit the serpentine spring retainer in the slots of the inner scraper and lubricate the tents sticking out towards the inside of the door sill. The serpentine spring will want to flop rather than insert. The scraper will want to bunch up. The tag will refuse to fit between the vent window frame and the door. If your serpentine spring is buggered, it will pop out of holes already negotiated. Prevail. Make sure the ends are flush with the inner scraper! Otherwise, the glass will be scratched and the sound is so unpleasant.
Door Refresh 17b
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Door Refresh 17c
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Note that the rear window guide is incorrectly clipped here. You will be installing it very soon, see if you can do better . . . With the scraper rubber safely inserted between the vent window frame and the door metal, you may slide the vent window frame forward and reinstall the phillips screw that holds the top to the door.
Door Refresh 17d
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Align the lower bolt holes and get the 10mm bolt (s) installed. If your vent window assembly likes to rattle in the door opening, it suggests that the door opening has been widened from a steady diet of people pounding the vent open and closed. I have not attempted to narrow the two door skins that make up this channel in which fits the vent window assembly.

Step 18:
Install Glass/Regulator And New Or Old Felt
Prop the glass on the floor of the door area and bring the regulator in behind it. Squareback can insert the operator into the channel, bus can leave the two separate. We need to install the felt in the vent window frame before we can position the glass. Bring it up to the top of the window opening. The rear felt will butt against it, so make sure goes right up into the upper door. You can tack a few spots of adhesive along the channel and press home firmly. If you have a new piece of rear felt, treat it like it is old and fragile. It is new and fragile. Try to get a rough idea of where you will need to bend it at the back by placing its end against the newly installed front felt in the vent window frame and see where you will need to arc it. Be gentle here. The fabric likes to tear and the rubberized gloop likes to fall off the metal u-sections.
Door Refresh 18
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Using the butt-end as a distance piece, keep checking the arc you making against the profile of the door opening. Now slide the felt down between the two scrapers (do not catch the felt on the edge of the serpentine wire or that skinny reinforcement plate barely riveted to the brightwork (let's look at 13e again:)
Door Refresh 13e
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Carefully press the felt into the upper sharkbite retainers a little at a time. A dowel or a blunt object approximating the thickness of the window glass is good, because you really want to press at the bottom of the felt's groove. Do not over insert, we have a trick coming up.
Door Refresh 18b
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The bottom of the felt is going to be bowing forward a bit, it wants you to install the lower rear guide with that clip now. The manual says "pull out the felt a little so you can see where the lower guide clips in." Since we have not driven the felt home down the vertical run retainers yet, and the glass is still low and out of the way, let's do just that. Once the lower guide is in, you may attach its 10mm bolt and washer, then push the felt sort of in the lower guide. What I do to make a nice radius of the felt at the top, is to install the window regulator fully (four 10mm bolts and washers for the bus, three for the Squareback, pick up and guide the glass into the felt channels, (bus, attach the lifter to the glass bracket with two more 10mm bolts and washers, just lightly for now, Squareback should already have the two assembled), and crank the window up until it seats your window felt for you with the correct radius, too. Help it along with a good push on the bottom of the glass. Then do finish taps with your dowel/wedge whatever. Make the edge of the felt about a quarter inch shy of the door opening, evenly all the way around.
Door Refresh 18c
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Now you can adjust the lifter-to-window bolts to make the glass even across the opening under lift pressure. You will see which way to move the glass/bracket elongated slots against the lifter by experimentation. Snug the bolts to an easy 10 ft/lbs and see that the glass disappears into the nice straight felt dead-even. The window may run a little stiffly at first. If it is ridiculous, check your felts for being too closed up now, check for radius between upper and lower rear channels (you have limited adjustabilty with loosening the bottom 10mm bolt, but hey, and possibly bunt the whole vent assembly + front felt run forward a bit. The glass should not rock unduly between the front and back felts as you reverse direction with your temporary window winder.

Step 19
Install a new vapor barrier, there is a write up right here in this Forum. Do not get big thick plastic. 3 or 4mil knows how to follow the topography of the door panel better and makes a longer-lasting moisture barrier.
Door Refresh 19
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Sun is still up! About 8:30PM.
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BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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asiab3
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Location: San Diego, CA
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Re: Big Double-Header Window Scraper Procedure Pt 2

Post by asiab3 » Sat Aug 13, 2016 6:23 pm

Amskeptic wrote: If your vent window assembly likes to rattle in the door opening, it suggests that the door opening has been widened from a steady diet of people pounding the vent open and closed. I have not attempted to narrow the two door skins that make up this channel in which fits the vent window assembly.
I have found these factory shims on two original-windowed cars now. Busdaddy on TheSamba claims to have seen quite a bit more.

Image


That makes me think that a discrepancy in the door manufacturing process was easier to deal with using shims than throwing out doors that didn't pass muster. I know that's very Un-Volkswagen, but the shims come out of many different years, both early and late bay buses that we know of.

Robbie
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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Amskeptic
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Re: Big Double-Header Window Scraper Procedure Pt 2

Post by Amskeptic » Sun Aug 14, 2016 10:17 am

asiab3 wrote:
Amskeptic wrote: If your vent window assembly likes to rattle in the door opening, it suggests that the door opening has been widened from a steady diet of people pounding the vent open and closed. I have not attempted to narrow the two door skins that make up this channel in which fits the vent window assembly.
I have found these factory shims on two original-windowed cars now. Busdaddy on TheSamba claims to have seen quite a bit more.

Image


That makes me think that a discrepancy in the door manufacturing process was easier to deal with using shims than throwing out doors that didn't pass muster. I know that's very Un-Volkswagen, but the shims come out of many different years, both early and late bay buses that we know of.

Robbie
Any other photographs? That is most interesting . . .
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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asiab3
IAC Addict!
Location: San Diego, CA
Contact:
Status: Offline

Re: Big Double-Header Window Scraper Procedure Pt 2

Post by asiab3 » Sun Aug 14, 2016 8:59 pm

70crew's 70 Crew Cab had them in two different sets of doors; one set that came on the car and another set that we had around for parts. Buddy did not have them, but my vents were not original either.

We're not the first ones to be confused…

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=363465
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewto ... ?p=6927359
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewto ... ?p=4527125

They appear in black as well:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewto ... ?p=4018974

I have not begun to look for these on other cars, but I have a feeling that VW was on to something.

Robbie
1969 bus, "Buddy."
145k miles with me.
322k miles on Earth.

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