docmirror

I'm going to start stripping off the trim on my 90GT soon to prep for paint. I have taken off various window trim on cars before, but this stuff appears to be a bit strange.

The 1/4 glass is partcularly unusual. I have figured out the side trim of the windshield, and I think I have a handle on the hatch bezel, but the 1/4 glass trim has me befuddled. I may be taking the glass completely out.

Thanks,

heinrich

I made a tool. You need something very smooth that is basically like a flat screwdriver that's bent 90deg. This will force the trim out and back in when the time comes. I used an aluminium shelf support with a bent rounded grip tooth. I did post pics maybe 2 years ago?

Nicole

Doc:

Basically, you have to staart getting the corner pieces off, then llift up the other trim pieces. If you still have the old aluminum pieces, be prepared to bend them in the process, which makes them useless. Replace with the newer plastic trim when you reassemble the car! BTW: It's very tricky to get that trim back in - takes a lot of dishwashing soap and other tricks...

I would definitely take the quarter windows out for painting. There have been reports of corrosion in the lower areas of the quarter windows, and taking them out would allow you to see and fix the problem before it comes back to haunt you.

What color is your car?

Best of luck!

Nicole

Pictures, please!!! Both tool and procedure...

slate blue

Nicole you are quite correct about the corrosion every car I have pulled the quarter windows out off had rust (4) Leave the trim in place when removing the window other wise you will probably damage it. The aluminium in my opinion is the better of the two options, I just had my second batch powder coated and they look like new, no better than new.

If you are painting the car you will only need two wide screwdrivers, somebody pushing on the other side will also help, you could tape the paint with enough layers to protect it, but in reality I bet there will be rust and it will need to be stripped. To fit it back in, you will need some mastic, it's black goey stuff that never really sets. You don't need much, get a smooth cord of about 3 mm to 4mm diameter, place it in the rubber recess and fit the glass into one of the corners as tightly as possible.

Have a friend gently push down on the glass as you monitor its progress as you pull on the cord. I just fitted one yesterday, make sure you have fitted the moulding pieces before you fit the glass to the car. Make sure your rubber is clean also. I.E remove all dirt and old sealant.

Rez

I've got nasty rust on my driver rear quarter. I plan on repainting eventually. Obvioulsy water collects in that region. I wonder if it is feasible to make a inconspicuous water drain during prep for paint.

Rez

I lifted this from a combo of a couple of places.

Side Rear Window Removal
Removal -
1. Cut several feet of strong chord (I prefer nylon chord/string). If possible, slather some silicone lube (Wurth's, for example) to make it slicky slidey.

2. Open back hatch. Fold up the weatherstrip lip at about the center bottom of the glass and putting pressure outward on the glass at that spot until you can push some chord under the seal, over the glass opening lip of the body. You can use a flat piece of wood or other helper to try to push the chord all the way down

3. Carefully (!) find/fish the chord from the outside of the glass by moving the weatherstrip up enough to find and grip the chord (I used a toothpick, wood skewers for shish-kabob work too). Pull the chord out so that there is equal amount inside and out of the car. Do not get heavy handed or pull too fast as the result could slice the chord into the rubber weatherstrip.

4. Put on some gloves. Either wrap some chord around your hands (I prefer this method because it allows you to 'feel' the tension), or use dowels or something to act as handles for the chord ends. Carefully pull the chord in such a way that it curls the lip of the seal (as viewed inside the car) over and out of the window opening in the body. Be mindful that this happens only while the chord is being passed toward the outside of the car, and if you aren't careful, you will cut the seal with the chord. While a cut won't necessarily ruin the weatherstip, it should still be avoided. Continue to work around the glass until you can grip the assembly and pull everything out of the opening.

5. Once you get about 1/3 of the window seal outside of the body opening, you should be able to press on the glass from the inside to get the rest to let go. Clean glass edge all around, clean out glass groove in weatherstrip. Clean opening in car. Using a quality silicone weatherstrip lubricant (I prefer Wurth's, but there are many brands out there), put a small amount into the glass groove of the weatherstrip. This will provide a water seal for the glass and facilitate installation. Next, slop a liberal amount of lubricant on the car opening. You really can't get too much on here, but you'll have to clean off any residue, so no need to get gonzo.

6. Install the glass into the groove of the weatherstrip. Then, place the reveal trim into it's groove around the weatherstrip. Do not use lubricant for the trim. You should now have a complete assembly that holds together on it's own - glass, weatherstrip, and trim.

7. Cut very long piece of nylon chord (3 meters or so), and place the chord into the outside groove of the weatherstip - the groove that fits over the car opening. Put enough chord in there so that the two ends pass one another in the groove by maybe six or eight inches. Hold the whole thing together and place the assembly into the window opening making sure the weatherstip lip is positioned properly starting at the area where the chords pass one another. I found the top corner at the B pillar to work best as a starting point. While holding the chord in place, continue to press as much glass/weatherstrip into the opening as possible. Keep close eye on positioning. If anything pops out of position (glass to weatherstrip, trim, etc), you must remove the whole assembly and set up again. The silicone lubricant is a tremendous help here because you (or an assistant) can maneuver everything fairly easily. Once the assembly will not press into place any further by hand, FROM INSIDE THE CAR, slowly pull outward on one end of the chord while holding the other end steady (so it doesn't get pulled along through the groove). Watch to make sure the weatherstrip lip is being folded up and over the window opening and back into it's proper position. Again, if anything doesn't go properly or slips out of place, you must pull the assembly back out and start over. While pulling on the chord and positioning the weatherstrip, continue to move the assembly in the opening so that the weatherstrip fits properly when viewed from the outside. You'll be surprised at how much you can move the whole affair due to the lubricant. Keep pulling chord, checking inside of weatherstrip, and adjusting fit as you go until fully installed.

7. Clean off excess lubricant from around the opening. Make sure the weatherstrip is properly in place. Inspect that the outer lip on the outside of the weatherstrip is not folded under in the body opening. It's a minor thing, but a perfect installation demands that the seal fit perfectly! If you find (as I did) that the weatherstrip had several places where it was visibly folded in, you can pull it into proper position by getting behind and under the weatherstrip. It only takes a blade or similar flat tool to run along the opening causing the weatherstip to position itself properly (when viewed from the outside of the car). The trick tool (credit to Gary Campbell) in the trade is called a 'Ford Board'. This was created by a Ford employee on the assembly line and is a flat piece of nylon designed to do this job without fear of scraping paint or damaging rubber. It's about the size of a nail file, and works like magic! Although I have one in my tool box (thanks, Gary!), perhaps you can fashion one from the description.

docmirror

Okay, I've got good info here. I think I can visualize the two methods for insertion. Heinrich uses a flat angle tool to work around the window section by section and rez accoplishes the same result by cord release to pry back the lip of the seal, while the outside holder finesses the glass into the opening(cute).

As with all really important jobs, proper foreplay and lubrication are fundamental. I've got one of the corner strips off the window and I can see the pry method for the trim strips. As for replacement, I think I'm going with the plastic, only for ease of use and commercial availability. The car is not going for concours honors, but if I can save the Al trim all around, I may reuse that. I wonder how it would look painted guards red? Hmmm, hafta do the windscreen trim and hatch too.

I'm not taking the hatch glass out for paint, just because of the hassle of refitting, and the likelyhood of cracking the glass on insersion. The hatch trim covers to the glass edge, so any very minor paint problems will be covered by the trim strip.

Car is going on for interior work on Sunday. Getting all new seats covers, trim repair, A pillar covers, dash cracks fixed, and center console secured and repainted. I was going to go with the carpet kit from 928SP but the shop I use found a very, very close match at a killer price(sorry Jim, still placing an order for other stuff though). Since my Geo Metro went Tango Uniform, I'll be on the left coast looking for cars next week. See next post.

Thanks folks, another glass disaster avoided, I'll check for rust and mediate if found.

slate blue

I don't know if you read what I said properly, dont remove the trim pieces if you are going to take the glass out. There is no need and you may only cause damage. You BTW may already have the plastic trim pieces. The trim pieces come out real easy once the glass is removed, also from what you have written, I not sure you understand the precedure? The cord is for the refitting of the glass.

The tailgate glass removal is easy! If you have some mig wire use that to cut it out, take 5 minutes at best. You may find rust there also, I always have. I.E is on 87 or older models. Hope this helps.

wicked944

Ok well before I got my spare key, and my electrical wiring was goin a little crazy the doors would lock when I closed the door or would unlock and lock again so fast that you couldn't get in until it felt like letting you in. I was washing my car and at a nice, but still a public car wash, and after I pulled the car around I got out to wipe it down. I didn't realize I left the keys in the ignition until the door clicked shut... and of course, locked. windows up and no where near home. AAA that'll work right! no.

He gave it good try, like an hour but I ended up pulling off the trim and using his screwdriver to pull back the rubber and slowly pull back the glass, I'm pretty skinny so I was able to get it open enough to get my arm in and reach the door lock. I got the window back in, the rubber perfectly back in place. But I'm gonna kill that trim piece it wouldn't go back in. I tried every tool I got and nothing, what does that 90 degree tool thing look like.

heinrich

Basically it's a long triangualr piece of metal with a rounded tip at the sharpest angle. That tip is bent upward by 90deg if the triangle is laid flat onto a table top. Now you have a lever with a rounded tip that points to the side of the orientation of the tool while you're using it. That bent piece is only wide enough to fit into the stripping rubber, and as you slide the tool and open the rubber with it, you push the beading back into place with your thumb as you go. Works very well. Must not be able to cut or scrape the rubber.

SharkSkin

Heinrich, can you post a pic?

docmirror

Yeah, I got the gist of it. Seems pretty easy the way it's described. I'll laeve the trim in until the glass and trim, and gasket are out of the car. I'm gonna need some of those suction cups to hold the glass while I work it.

I won't be painting for a few weeks, probably early next year. I can practice a few times on one of the side windows. I do'nt want to replace the rear gasket unless I have to. If it's needed, I'll do it.

T_MaX

Anything here look close?

http://www.mytoolstore.com/kd/kdbody01.html

http://www.thetoolwarehouse.net/shop/AP-4505.html

Andre Roodnat

I took off the windshield trim because the shield had to be replaced. It came out quite easily, but then again I was working with a broken windshield. The side mouldings of the windshield come out sideways, so from the outside. Take a woodblock for that and gently tap it out with a hammer (see drawing). The top has to be wedged out. Thats more tricky when the windshiels is still intact.

The paint at the bottom of the window of the right rear quarter panel was getting a little bubbly on 2 spots for about 1cm. Seems it was time to get the window out and inspect the damage. I took a ty rap of about 6mm’s wide and drilled a hole at about 10 cm’s from the end. The top of the ty rap is flexible but hard yet not hard enough to damage the paint. With some wiggling I managed to stick it under the rubber quite easily on the first try and it came out inside the car. I pushed it through until the hole in the ty rap was inside the car, put the wire through the hole and pulled back. With a gentle sawing motion the rubber came out of the window opening. Overwhelmed with joy I had the window in my arms like a proud daddy, holding his baby for the first time. The complete procedure took me 10 mins. flat.

As I suspected there were some deep cuts were the corrosion was. Apparently some beercan mechanic thought it necessary to use the sharpest tool he could get to do whatever he had to do and cut right through the paint and zinc layer.

To remove the rust, I used a dremel with a small grinder. The first layer of corrosion removed quite easily. Just keep moving the dremel over the spot. All the corrosion seems to be gone at fist glance, but there metal leaves a dark spot where the rust used to be. I kept grinding until the metal was shiny again. Then some layers of corrosive paint, some filler, base paint and the top layer.

I took the window out of the rubber seal and washed it until all dirt was gone and dried it by using the compressor and blowing out all the water. I put some talcum powder on the rubber to prevent it from drying out and cracking in future.

Putting the rear quarter window back in was almost as easy as taking it out. But putting the trims back in place was the hardest job I did on the car sofar. As already said, try to keep the trim in the rubber as much as possible refitting the window. Expect to get sore fingers. Good luck!