Window winder refurbishment challenge - need help | FerrariChat
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Window winder refurbishment challenge - need help

Discussion in '308/328' started by vulcan300, Apr 28, 2013.

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  1. vulcan300

    vulcan300 Karting

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    Jeremy G
    #1 vulcan300, Apr 28, 2013
    I decided to tackle the driver's side window winder on my 82 308 yesterday. I eventually got the motor and cable out, and when I took it apart I found that someone had gone to all the trouble of servicing it and had filled it with copper neverseize as lubricant!! May the fleas of a thousand camels infest that person's underwear!!! The neverseize was more like glue than lubricant and that explained why I had to pull the window up with my hand to close it while pushing the button. After lubing it up with a copious amount white lithium grease the thing winds like a champ. This is where my painful evening began. I'll preface this by saying that I wasn't attentive enough and didn't careful note the setup of the motor and cable when I removed it from the car.

    I wound the cable on, installed the motor and cable and found that I had wound the cable too many times and didn't have enough slack. So I removed the motor, reduced the number of windings, reinstalled it, and now there was too much slack. I repeated this process again and again for hours and hours not getting it right.. At one point I had it just a bit short. Maybe 3-4 inches of cable was needed. At this point would winding the cable fully one way and then reversing it have been the thing to do? What I ended up doing was reorienting the cable in such as way that I was able to get just enough tension on all the rollers to allow the window to go up, but the cable is too loose for my liking and there is no more adjustment left at the tensioner pulley.

    Any advice at this point will be appreciated!

    J
     
  2. 2dinos

    2dinos F1 Rookie

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    #2 2dinos, Apr 28, 2013
    Whoooooooaaaaaaa - dude! Stop! Take a break and come back to it.

    We've all been there restoring these window drives. If you lose the setup, meaning cable orientation, check the parts book. It does a good job telling how to route the cable. If you dissassembled the capstan and lost the number of cable turns or between what posts the cable goes thru, be patient. Set it up as best you can. Take your time, and study what's going on to bring it back to where it should be. You can always study the other door. If you're too far twisted up in the project, you can always take it to a shop. Make certain the cable drive works properly before attaching the glass. I haven't heard of the glass being damaged, but it's always a concern. And it might make you feel better to know that the original grease turns to glue as well.

    Best of luck.
     
  3. Jonny Law

    Jonny Law F1 Rookie
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    #3 Jonny Law, Apr 28, 2013
    I think bed bugs would be easier to summon these days. :)

    There are several threads on this process. Some more informative then the others. I think the 328 is the same as a 308. 2dinos is spot on about using the other door as a reference.
     
  4. BigTex

    BigTex Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    #4 BigTex, Apr 29, 2013
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  5. BigTex

    BigTex Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    #5 BigTex, Apr 29, 2013
    There's a simplified pulley/cable sketch out there, maybe Birdman's website, but that should get you going....the glass carrier #15 obviously sits in the 'empty corners' of the cable routing shown in the parts diagram.
     
  6. Dr Kananga

    Dr Kananga Formula 3

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    #6 Dr Kananga, Apr 29, 2013
    It's all about the cable around the motor spool.
    I spent a few hours on door 1, always coming up too long, only to discover the cable was too long: the GT4 cable is shorter than what the tutorials suggest, only discovered after I took door 2 apart.

    After shortening the cable to the correct length, I was still coming up long, every time...
    After a couple hours on that, I threw in the towel and decided to save it for another day.

    It's on 'the list'.
     
  7. 1Evil4re

    1Evil4re Formula Junior

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    #7 1Evil4re, Apr 29, 2013
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    I know you said you were working on the driver's door but this is the only diagram I could find. I do agree. Birdman has an extensive write up on this on his website.
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  8. BigTex

    BigTex Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    #8 BigTex, Apr 29, 2013
    Thanks!

    That's the one.....simpler view, same system.
     
  9. Jonny Law

    Jonny Law F1 Rookie
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    #9 Jonny Law, Apr 29, 2013
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    Here ya go. Drivers side. It may help to draw lines on the metal part of the door panel to show the path of the cable. This may seem sacrilegious, but it will keep things straight.

    Although I never used the wedge block myself. I recommend getting the motor mounted, threading the cable across the pulleys, but don't mount the window yet. Raise (or lower) the adjustable pulley so there is slight pressure on the line, then tighten the pulley nut into place. Use the switch to raise and lower the cable without the window in place. This will re-spool the line on to the spool correctly. If the adjustable pulley has moved, re-adjust it to take up the slake. Then run the window cable to the bottom until it stops, install and attach the window.
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  10. vulcan300

    vulcan300 Karting

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    #10 vulcan300, Apr 29, 2013
    Good advice for sure! The thing was I couldn't stop. I had to get the car to the point where the window would go up and stay up since I was working at a garage an hour from home in the middle of farm country and had to drive back home and park in the garage of my building. An open window, even under a car cover is asking for trouble.

    But you're definitely right, getting frustrated didn't help my analytical capability. Thinking logically, when the cable came up just a bit short I think I needed to run the motor all the way to one end and back again to wind the cable properly and gain the needed length. I'm going to tackle the other door and take careful notes the next time I have some spare time and then revisit the drivers door.

    Man will eventually win over machine!!
     
  11. vulcan300

    vulcan300 Karting

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    #11 vulcan300, Apr 29, 2013
    Thanks for the diagram. Seeing the fully disassembled pulley helps. I think the cable routing must be for a different model though. The simplified diagrams provided in the thread are a big help.
     
  12. vulcan300

    vulcan300 Karting

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    #12 vulcan300, Apr 29, 2013
    I think if you come up too long you need to wrap one more loop, get the cable around as many pulleys as you can, and then run the motor from stop to stop a couple of time to wrap the cable as tightly on the spool as possible. I think this method would have saved me a lot of frustration, but I won't get a chance to confirm my theory for a couple of weeks.

    I must say though, after taking the idiotic anti lubricant out and replacing it with white lithium grease, the motor runs the window up like a champ! With the proper lubricant no window accelerators are necessary.
     
  13. vulcan300

    vulcan300 Karting

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    #13 vulcan300, Apr 29, 2013
    @2hotcop and @Johnny Law, thanks much for those diagrams. They are a big help and easy to follow!
     
  14. BigTex

    BigTex Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    #14 BigTex, Apr 29, 2013
    I leave my windows down under a cover, all the time.

    The glass is too expensive for them to break it over a CD player....:D :D :D
    I leave the doors unlocked too......

    "Just take my %^&*, but donlt hurt my car.."
     
  15. BigTex

    BigTex Seven Time F1 World Champ
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    #15 BigTex, Apr 29, 2013
    Well relabel your title then....LOL!

    OR you could add "In the UK" to it, maybe.....:D :D :D
     
  16. vulcan300

    vulcan300 Karting

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    #16 vulcan300, Apr 29, 2013
    Excellent points! My parking neighbor got broken into a couple of years ago. I might have to change my approach to storage.
     
  17. 2dinos

    2dinos F1 Rookie

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    #17 2dinos, Apr 30, 2013
    One other thing I recall. When you're setting up the cable run. put a couple pieces of masking tape over the cable approximately where you anticipate the window to bolt up. Little flags which you can slide on the cable. Then run the flags up and down to find the smoothest section of travel. Also - you don't want the window run (your flags) to go to the extremes of the capstan rotation. The cable flexes over at the ends of travel, and will make for short cable life.

    As you look it over, it'll start making more sense.

    (I gotta go fix a dumb bmw window now and I'd rather do a Ferrari cause the bmw has an airbag to mess with!)

    Best of luck with her.

    PS: Make cables controlled but not tight. Again, as you set it up, it'll gel.
     

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