Want some opinions on fixing doors and Windows; pictures inside

[arlowf]

I am a nuisance lol.
If they'll do it for $500-600, I'm in. I'll even take the inside panel off beforehand.

 

[Rt Jam]

Something looks very wrong with the door to quarter panel alignment. The bottom seems way far outwards. Is the front outwards too? Check top and bottom of front of door. Bottom should be easy since it needs to be flush and parallel with rocker panel

This is the problem with adjustable parts. You adjust and adjust and next thing you know, it's so far out or now other things need to be adjusted to compensate for the initial adjustment.

I will support this statement with a video. When my car needed door bushings. Since my fenders were off. I replaced the bushings without disturbing the factory adjustments. I supported the door with lumber, cut the pins, replaced bushings and never took hinges off the car or door.

We have the last cars built with shims, oval holes and adjustments. If a rear hatch on a minivan is crooked, it's because it's bent. They do not adjust, they replace with a straight one.

 

[69hurstolds]

I feel violated. Should title this video: "Watch as I open and close a G-body door twice." 🙂

I got out the popcorn- was thinking it was going to show some bushing replacement action but then.....NAWWWWWWWW!!!

Now watch this. I'm just going to close the door and walk away...close the door, walk away. 😆

 

[Rt Jam]

I'm not a Vlogger or profesional youtuber. Do you need instruction to show how to knock out a worn bushing and pushing in a new one?

I'm just showing the results from not disturbing the factory adjustment. Hope you enjoyed your popcorn.

 

[CopperNick]

1. Agree on the door hinges being your culprit for your door sag. i have pictures posted somewhere on one of the forums about G-Body doors and their hinges. The hinges are rebuildable, but cores are getting hard to come by. OPGI offers hinges as assemblies, and Dorman offers the pin and bushing kits.

2. The window regulator is another matter. Should your reguiator be the manual version, it would be my considered personal opinion that the coilspring that reacts against the weight of the window has broken or popped off. These springs are Not available as a part. They can be had but it takes the pick-a-part crawl to find and secure them.

WARNING: When you find one or the complete mechanism, due to the spring, the arms will be under tension and any sudden release of that tension will allow the arms to act like a large pair of scissors!!! To safely extract that coil spring you have to clamp the arms to each other to keep them from moving. Vice Grips work well for this.

If your mechanism is electric, then there may be no external spring. it might be all inside the motor casing. I do NOT advise trying to split the motor from its actuator mechanism. Doing so is a great way to either get your fingers broken, or worse, amputated. There is enough stored energy in that assembly to cause severe damage to a hand or fingers if they are in the road when it snaps open or closed.



Nick

 

[69hurstolds]

Hope you enjoyed your popcorn.

Oh, I surely did. Thank you for caring.

Don't get too uptight about it. In case you missed it, I was just yanking your chain.

 

[arlowf]

1. Agree on the door hinges being your culprit for your door sag. i have pictures posted somewhere on one of the forums about G-Body doors and their hinges. The hinges are rebuildable, but cores are getting hard to come by. OPGI offers hinges as assemblies, and Dorman offers the pin and bushing kits.

2. The window regulator is another matter. Should your reguiator be the manual version, it would be my considered personal opinion that the coilspring that reacts against the weight of the window has broken or popped off. These springs are Not available as a part. They can be had but it takes the pick-a-part crawl to find and secure them.

WARNING: When you find one or the complete mechanism, due to the spring, the arms will be under tension and any sudden release of that tension will allow the arms to act like a large pair of scissors!!! To safely extract that coil spring you have to clamp the arms to each other to keep them from moving. Vice Grips work well for this.

If your mechanism is electric, then there may be no external spring. it might be all inside the motor casing. I do NOT advise trying to split the motor from its actuator mechanism. Doing so is a great way to either get your fingers broken, or worse, amputated. There is enough stored energy in that assembly to cause severe damage to a hand or fingers if they are in the road when it snaps open or closed.



Nick

How did I miss this? There's supposed to be a spring in there? I didn't know that. I can find ZERO good diagrams or videos on the internal workings of a Monte Carlo LS 1986 door. And the ones I have found mention nothing about a tension spring. I would LOVE for that to be the problem.
Anybody have any info on this? It's a manual window, I can roll it up and down but when I hit a bump the window slides down rapidly (and the crank spins itself around). Basically I don't understand what is supposed to keep "tension" on the window when it's up so it doesn't roll itself down.

Edit: To throw this idea in the pile, I have a friend who claims he fixed this issue on his impala by replacing the window rollers. He claims those get worn down and those are what are supposed to keep tension on the window in the track and not allow it to roll itself down.
So is it some mystery spring I'm missing, is it the regulator, or is it the rollers?
He thinks I just needt o replace this:

 

[arlowf]

I would start with grabbing the back end of the door, with it open about a foot. Left shoulder against the rear upper corner of the door skin, right hand under the the lower rear corner of the door. Window down. Left hand on top of the door, above the door handle. Lift up to check for slop in the hinge bushings. My money is that's the problem. Also, if the door drops when
you open it, it's most likely slop in the bushings. New door hinges are available as are hinge pin and bushing kits to fix your hinges.

As for the window, my guess is the window is detached from the regulator but I'd have to get into it to see. Anyone competent enough to get the door panel off without tearing it up should be able to fix the window. Parts are readily available. Hope this helps.

If it were detached from the regulator it wouldn't roll up and down when I turn the crank. And the crank wouldn't spin when the window falls down. It does. So it can't be detached.

 

[CopperNick]

Sounds like I may be taking and posting some pictures here, if that would help. Okay, brief typo-byte. The window has both vertical and horizontal rollers. The single, sole, and only vertical roller is located at the back lower corner of the window adjacent to the door latch mechanism.

The other rollers are actually attached to the "X" arms on the regulator, and they come and go along two horizontal tracks that are screwed to the inner door skin. Right now my passenger's side door on my 85 is in skeleton mode so all this stuff is sitting on the bench. I even have a mechanical regulator lurking on the front bumper, just taking up space and getting dusty.

Lemme know.



Nick

 

[arlowf]

Sounds like I may be taking and posting some pictures here, if that would help. Okay, brief typo-byte. The window has both vertical and horizontal rollers. The single, sole, and only vertical roller is located at the back lower corner of the window adjacent to the door latch mechanism.

The other rollers are actually attached to the "X" arms on the regulator, and they come and go along two horizontal tracks that are screwed to the inner door skin. Right now my passenger's side door on my 85 is in skeleton mode so all this stuff is sitting on the bench. I even have a mechanical regulator lurking on the front bumper, just taking up space and getting dusty.

Lemme know.



Nick

Did you just say you have a driver side mechanical window regulator sitting on the front bumper? Are you offering to sell it?