Forward = hinge side of door. Aft = latch side 1. After removing the door pocket and disconnecting the latch rod, pull the inner door handle up and remove the two screws beneath it. Pull the door handle/ash tray assy out and unplug the ashtray light from there. 2. The door panel pulls away from the bottom easy enough but it was unclear exactly how to disengage the upper forward lip of the panel inboard of the mirror. The door lock rod needs to be unhooked at this time. Tip the bottom of the panel away form the door quite a bit and slide the panel aft and up at the same time. It will pop out with some resistance. (During re-installation you'll want to curl the upper/forward lip of the panel back in before re-installing on the door.) 3. I marked around the three big washers in the bottom pulley support rail (gold angle in the bottom of the door) and loosened all three nuts to the top of the studs. I removed the forward and middle nuts ONLY. (NOTE the ground cable under the forward nut) This allowed the pulley support angle to be lifted up at the front end enough to un-loop the cable from the various pulleys. 4. Removal of the motor is now possible. Take note of how the power supply wires are hooked up. Mark with colored tape etc....... 5. I disassembled the gear box per instruction and found the hard green grease. The area around the worm gear was nothing but dry powder. It's a wonder anything moved. I scraped off what I could and soaked everything in lacquer thinner for a couple minutes and brushed the residue off with a toothbrush. The lacquer thinner dissolves the hard grease quickly and easily. No Dremel or wire brush needed.. 6. I dried everything with compressed air and prepped for reassembly.
I looked at the choices of grease that I had for the gear box, High Temp Moly Bearing Grease and Lithium Grease. The Moly grease was too stiff and the Lithium grease is prone to deterioration and susceptible to heat. Brian Crall suggested Redline synthetic. I ordered a 14 oz. jar of CV-2 grease, for constant velocity joints, good to 800 degrees.. It is light bodied but gives superior film strength. As it turns out this grease allows the motor to spin-up easily. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
After winding the cable up on the spool I used a cable tie to hold it in place while I installed it on the backing plate. I packed everything in grease and put the gear cover on. I used BOTH wave washers when I put it back together. I figure if the pressure of one extra wave washer bogs things down we have a bigger problem. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I didn't have any stiff styrofoam to make a cable tensioner out of so I built a tool out of 1/2" plywood that would fit tightly between the gear housing posts. I cut some tight grooves in either edge that would snag and compress around the cable when I tapped it into the spool housing. It took a couple tries to get the dimensions right but worked like a charm. (A good thing too as I had to reuse it 3 times on the Driver's door!). To install the tool in the spool while keeping the cable tight I ran the cable through padded jaws of a vice and hooked a bungee cord to the gear box and my tool box. I cut the cable tie and tapped the tool into the spool. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Time to put the motor in the door. Later I just give the wire a yank and the tool pops out. Before I ran the cable I installed the motor booster from Rodney Dickman, (104.00 delivered). I installed to the bottom of the door just forward of the pulley support rail. I ran the ground to the bolt in the forward lower corner of the door that anchors the lower end of the window track. Be sure to run a Dremel with wire brush on the area under the washer to create a good ground . Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Before routing the cable I removed the two upper pulleys and found they were dry as a bone so I lubed the axles of both. The front pulley was showing more wear so I switched the front one to the back position. At this time the window should be blocked up as high as possible with with a chunk of 2 x 4 (grooved on top). Only the aft nut is holding the lower pulley support bracket in the bottom of the door. As noted previously, the diagram of the cable routing is inaccurate. After three attempts I finally figured out the routing sequence. 1. I started with the lower cable coming from the gearbox and routed it over the forward upper pulley first, then I brought the cable down to the forward lower pulley then back around lower "rocker" pulley in the center of the door. Be sure to make the appropriate twists in the cable to make the correct crossovers) 2. Go back up to the forward upper pulley and pull the cable (pink on the schematic) all the way towards to the aft lower pulley and let it hang. Be sure to twist the cable loop to get the correct crossover at the center of the door.. 3. Take the upper cable from the gear box and loop it over the aft upper pulley. Check crossover at center of door. Loop the cable under the aft lower pulley. Go back to the center of the door and loop the section of cable between the gear box and upper aft pulley under the upper "rocker" pulley at the center of the door. Your cable is now strung.............hahahahahahahha........hopefully. Look down through the top of the door and make sure the cable on the forward upper pulley is routed OVER/ABOVE the guide roller that is located just aft of the pulley!!! If it isn't DO NOT TIGHTEN THE CABLE!. It will bend the roller bracket. ( Don't ask how I know this) You should be able to push down on the lower pulley support bracket and start the CENTER nut. NOW you can pull the plywood cable tensioner. Press down on the lower pulley support bracket and install the FORWARD nut. Be sure to line up to the index marks around the washers. At this point turn the key on and cycle the motor up and down a couple of times to make sure the cable is winding on the spool okay (check with mirror and flashlight) and it is NOT "sawing" on anything. CHECK ALL OF THE CROSSOVERS!!!! Now lower the window and attach the cables to the window. Before detaching them I made a note of any gaps between the window and the bottom stops. This is helpful in "setting" the window. Run the window up and down and check for binding.
Just for the record. The Drivers window took about 40 seconds to "almost" close. After the fix the speed increased 150%. With the window booster installed it increased another 25%. This is with the engine OFF. Currently it takes about 7 seconds to cycle up. Oddly, the passenger window in my TR was fast to begin with and I almost decided not to mess with it but then I thought of the dry upper pulleys and for piece of mind I would check it out. The gear box had original green grease in it but was pliable though sparse. Glad I pulled it apart. With the booster installed it's faster than the windows in my BMW. When everything was put together I sprayed the window channels with silicone lubricant.
Because I live in the beautiful Pacific Northwest where RAIN is measured in FEET and because I drive my cars in the RAIN I decided to do add some additional corrosion protection to the inside of the doors. I ran the windows UP, wrapped all of the cables, window tracks and pulleys in tin foil and sprayed the lower 3/4's of the door with LPS-3 CIC. I would have preferred Dinol because it dries into a hard film whereas the LPS stays tacky and waxy. Something you want to apply ONLY after you are completely done with everything else. In the pictures the LPS appears as a milky tan substance. It's been used on Boeing airplanes for years so it should be good for another 20 years or so. I made sure the drain holes in the bottom of the door were open and that's when I found a curious surprise. There are little white courtesy lights on the bottoms of the doors, in the lower aft corners, so I had to get those working. Fortunately NAPA had some little 4 watt bulbs that fit so I reconditioned the sockets and reinstalled the lights before spraying the LPS. Once the LPS was sprayed I unwrapped everything and coated the cables and pulleys with that STIFF Moly Bearing grease I had. I also took a modeler's brush and wiped the pulley axles with Moly based CV grease by pushing the pulley to one side and then the other. I set up some fans and I will give the LPS a chance to dry for a day or so before putting the door panels back on. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
So, it took me one hell of a lot longer than 3 hours per door, (more like 3-days) and if I can do it (and re-do it a couple of times) ANYONE CAN DO IT!! I hope this gives you fence sitters the confidence to get rid of your embarrassing SLOW FERRARI windows.
It takes a long time to be thorough and do it right but will pay off. Do not forget to go after every connection and the switch itself with contact cleaner. People call from time to time to get a price on tuning up the windows in old cable driven cars. They usually stutter and stammer when I give them a price. No one believes how long it takes until they have done a good complete job themselves.
If it means not going back into these doors for the life of my ownership it is worth what ever time it takes. Now I can move on to the other 40 things on the list..................................... BTW, that was 104.00 for the PAIR of window boosters. These things work!
A couple of items I forgot to mention. The motor in the passenger door is canted forward, not aft like shown in the diagram. The cables enter through a different opening than the cables on the driver's door and the opening is wider so a new cable tensioner tool needs to be made. Before attaching the window to the cables be sure to cycle the motor all the way down with the window switch so the system will be indexed properly. I checked the LPS this morning and it has virtually disappeared and doesn't smell much so the panels go on today. Fast windows! Yee haw!
JEEZ....great write up DJ. Mine are slowing down again so perhaps time to pick up a set of boosters and hit the doors.
A couple of variations to Spazzo's fantastic post: Instead of clamping the cable in a vise to sort out the cable wraps on the drum, I put a pulley on the cable end so that the motor could be operated to ensure that the cable was tracking properly on the drum. Second, I fabricated a simple clamp to keep the cables tight on the drum. Pix attached. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here are some pictures of the window booster hook-ups I forgot. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Thanks everyone for the great instructions. I got the motor out and have the cover off. I pulled the small gear out of the motor but can't get the big gear out because of the 7/8 " round piece on the other side that seems to be pressed on to the big gear shaft. Can anyone tell me if this just pulls off straight? It does not look to be threaded. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hi there, Some great posts. Thanks for taking the time to explain in such great detail. I have been plodding away doing the windows on my 1990 TR (UK RHD car) and am near completion on one side. I was just curious, did you ever find out what that inner black vapour barrier was for as I had one in my car too. It appeared a bit scrumpled up on mine when I took it out (and not really doing an awful lot!) and I am contemplating whether to try and include it in the reassembly. Thanks, Dhanj
From memory, I reused and re-hung the inner vapor barrier after I did the cables. As near as I could figure it is there to direct moisture to the bottom of the door where it can drain out. I taped the upper edge and rolled it up to the top. Then I think I applied double-back tape to the inner door structure and unrolled the barrier, reaching inside to stick it to the inner door structure.
Great - thanks! I made use of the inner vapor barrier too and stuck it back in. The job is now complete and the window moves a good a bit smoother than before. I was surprised by the lack of rust inside the door but it looked like it had been treated pretty well. I did spray a good amount of waxoyl in the critical places anyway just in case. A big thanks to all the forum members who contributed to this thread (cgperry and Spasso in particular). I don't think I would have had the confidence to try taking the door apart without the accounts they gave of their own experience. I will do the drivers door too at some point once winter sets in properly here in old blighty.
Actually a little mini tip from me. When reassembling things I'd got the motor in position with the styrofoam and then looped the cable around the pulleys - all was looking good. I removed the styrofoam and tried the motor - again all looked good. Then when I'd attached the cable to the glass I realised that I'd looped the cable incorrectly around one of the pulleys - OH NO! At this point the last thing I wanted to do was take the motor out again and I knew that as soon as I loosened the cable that's exactly what I'd have to do! Unfortunately stuffing the styrofoam back in didn't look like it would hold. So I improvised and locked the cable in place at the motor end using some bits of timber cut to size and a few screws/washers - see attached images. By doing this I'd locked the cable in place at the motor end and ensured that the cable did not slip back towards the motor. This then allowed me to re-route the rest of the cable (to the left of the picture) around the pulleys and get it right. Phew! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I had to reroute my cables on the first door thanks to the incorrect depiction in the WSM. I had originally used a wooded wedge in the motor pulley and reinserted it enough to hold. Your clamping set-up is a safer method. All said, it's a job I do not want to do ever again, even for money.
The motor itself is the same one used by Alfa. It's still not a very good motor when new, but getting it through Alfa can save some bucks over Ferrari
