A window into the soul

After one and a half year of trial and error; here is my 456GT window gap post. Spoiler; The windows are not perfect yet (are anyones?) So I am still looking for advice. But I also think I’ve accumulated some knowledge that might be helpful for those who are currently fighting in the same trenches. I’ve got a feeling there are a few.

I bought my 456GT 94’ in november of 2021. Beautiful manual in British Racing Green, sporting an elegant and quite pronounced gap on the drivers side, as well as a smaller but definitely noticeable gap on the passenger side. If I’m ever selling this car, my childish dream was to be able to advertise it as ‘the only 456GT you’ll ever see with fully working windows’.

My first attempt at a fix was Daniels custom made bolts. (Thanks Daniel!) A mechanically gifted friend and I gathered our tools and begun on the passenger side. Daniels bolt worked like magic. We swapped out the door speaker at the same time, and had installed the new bolt and got everything back together in under an hour. With no adjustments what so ever, we simply patched it all up again. The mechanism felt like it came out of the factory yesterday.

So needless to say our spirits were high when we jumped over to the drivers side to repeat the success. But it’s hard to overstate how much more pain this side would cause.

The first thing we did was shattering the door glass into a million pieces. The screw that secures it to the glass guide, has a max torque of 7.8 Nm, and I suggest you stick well within that limit. We didn’t know, and tightened it as well as we could, until the window suddenly was spread all over the interior of the car. Not fun. I know I’m not the only one on the forum who has done this mistake, so take it as a cautionary tale to those who have yet to embark on this 456 rite of passage.

After sourcing another window from the UK, vacuuming the car one hundred times (you wouldn’t belive how many strange places a piece of italian glass can get stuck inside a door frame of a 456) we were finally ready to give the drivers side fix another go. We installed the new glass, the fixed regulator with Daniel’s bolts and.. no luck. Okay, granted, the window gap had decreased, no doubt about that. But it was by no means removed. Then begun the tedious process of adjusting the regulator fixings to try and change the alignment of the door glass and its seal. It was no less than maddening, as it seemed impossible to discern any logic as to what any of the adjustments were actually doing. Our first victory was digging out the technical info bulletin once issued to Ferrari mechanics on how to fix the darn issue (Thanks for sharing @carguy246 and @cls !) Following this step by step process made the whole thing somewhat less maddening, if not easy. I’m still going to call it a must read for anyone yet to embark on the voyage.

When all was said and done, the window gap was now gone, however a new problem had arisen in its place; The window wouldn’t lift when the door was closed! Something strained the electric motor to the point where ball joint in the slider connecting the glass to the elevator would pop out, making the window drop from the elevator and fall down into the door. This happened to me once on a short stop during a roadtrip. I had a friend in the passenger seat. I’ll never forget the look on his face after the glass had just dropped down into the frame with a loud bang. It seemed miraculous that it didn’t break. My friend is a colorectal surgeon, spending his days watching bellies split open on an operating table. But he later told me the sound of that glass hitting the metal underneath made him the most uncomfortable he had ever been. So much for wanting some drive through on a road trip in a vintage Ferrari.

Another issue that had made its entry was wind noise. It was sneaking into the car where the window meets the mirror, and pushing the triangular plastic trim reduced the annoyance somewhat. I suddenly found myself holding a hand on it while driving. So I definitely wasn’t done.

I decided to blame the wind noises on what I thought was a persisting misalignment of the elevator. My reasoning was that some rough drilling while trying to rid the elevator of its OEM aluminum center pin was the culprit. I reckoned we had bent the mechanism somehow. The window not being able to lift I was blaming on a tired electrical motor (I couldn’t remember if I ever tried it with the window closed before we began fiddling with it). The solution to both problems was to go all in: Buy a new regulator.

Thus started the last chapter in my window saga. I found a used, albeit very nice looking LHS Window regulator, part #66219100 from a shop in Australia. I bought it and had it shipped to FImports in Florida. No more bullshitting around. They took the job, and a few days later it was on the way to Norway with brand new steel center bolts (I’m assuming, as their magic is hidden under some welding). So far so good, but I could have done my budgeting homework better: The elevator was shipped across the globe and back - then came the rather hefty Norwegian import duties, where they even add the shipping cost to calculate the VAT. When all was said and done, this next step of the plan had cost me around 2000 USD.

My previously mentioned mechanically competent friend once again flew in from Northern Norway, eager to fix the problem for good, and to get the car on the road for the season (Trust me, you don’t wanna drive your f car during the Oslo winter. There roads are literally white… from salt, not snow.) We installed the new elevator, did all the adjustments from the bulletin, and.. same result as before. Okay so the window gap was gone, fair enough. But the elevator still wouldn’t lift the darn window when the door was closed! And honestly, the difference from the passenger side is still night and day - the whole system simply feels wonky and used on the RHS, compared to its sibling. The wind noise in the front was gone.. Only to be replaced by wind noise from the top of the window. And I soon enough realised the silence near the side mirror was due to the front of the window now resting neatly tucked underneath its rubber seal, whereas the mid part of the window was stopping right on it.

Some wind noise I can live with. And the window gap is indeed gone. But I need to be able to lower and raise my drivers side window for Petes sake, it’s a basic human right! (right?) In a way I’ve fixed one problem and gotten a worse one back! So this is where I’m at after countless hours, probably twenty removals of the door card (even properly redoing the moist seal every single time!) one new window, one fix from Daniel, and one new elevator from Australia, fixed in Florida.. If there is an honorary medal for 456 window fixing attempts, I want it.

And the moral of the story? Years ago a Syrian car technician used to help me with my Mercedes 230E. He always told me (In heavily accented Norwegian); “Never try to make a car perfect. Never try to make a car perfect” (He always said it twice).

It’s advice I’m definitely not going to take, so if anyone has any thoughts on why the elevator won’t lift the darn glass, let me know! (Could it be the new glass having has a slightly erroneous shape?)

All the best from Norway, where spring has finally arrived.


Relevant links:

Daniels forum post about his custom bolts:
https://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/threads/window-regulator-splined-replacement-part.619777/#post-147192994

F Imports in Florida:
https://fimportsandexotics.com

456GT Door and window diagram:
https://www.ferrariparts.co.uk/diagram/ferrari/456-gt-gta/118-doors-power-window-and-rearview-mirror

The full window fix bulletin from Ferrari is also attached.


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Correction of a typo; I meant to say it was the LHS which is troublesome and the RHS which is perfect. I also should specify that I believe I had no trouble with the operation of the window before changing the door glass, so using simple logic I guess the new glass could be the culprit..

Also here is the relevant bolt not to be tightened beyond 7,8 Nm unless you want to unleash hell.



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