Do I need to bend my window frame?

[wjdunham]

Checking the fit of my (new to this car at least) window frames. Passenger door gap is fine, but the driver's side still way off and I'm completely out of adjustment room after loosening up all of the bolts.

Do I need to bend it a bit (about 3/8 to 1/2" at the top)? If so, what's the best approach, over a tire which is about the largest radius item I have in the garage.

Thanks for any help.

Bill

[dannobee]

Put one knee at the upper part of the inner door skin, at the rear of the door. Grab the window frame with both hands and pull toward you. Go slow and recheck until the front and back of the window frame fit the opening.

[Tom_in_NH]

There is an adjustment bolt to the rear of the speaker hole near the bottom of the door. It adjusts the angle-in / angle-out of the window frame relative to the roof line.
The other window frame attachment bolts must not be tight when making this adjustment.

[Uwon]

As Tom advised, do not bend the door. All three vertical attachment points have some adjustment spacing with the rear one having the most. Is the lower hinge too far in which will affect the amount of adjustment that you have to play with at the rear of the window frame?

Looks like you are doing a full build so you are also probably tackling the alignment of the fenders to cowling, doors and hood as well. All interrelated and there is a proper sequence for it. All a daunting task that requires real patience.

Cheers,
Johan

[wjdunham]

Thanks all. Yes, this is a full build, I will need to tear the car apart for paint but checking that everything can be aligned properly before doing so. I've aligned the doors and fenders to get the proper gaps everywhere already.

I completely removed all of the bolts and just positioned the frame by hand to see what's going on. If I do so I can get a very nice 1/4" gap around the entire frame, but the bottom rear section of the frame is resting right against the door panel well behind the screw hole in the door bottom, so I do think the frame itself needs a bit of "adjustment". If I put all of the screws in, but leave them loose so that I can move the frame around by hand there is no way I can get it to align properly.

Bill

[7783911]

I have one door on my targa that seems a bit cockeyed, top is a bit too tight and bottom rear edge is sticking out. What is the best method to adjust the door fit?

[nomore]

Bill; take the window frame back out of the door and 'massage', ie bend the leg until you get
the correct clearance.

[Arne2]

Originally Posted by nomore

Bill; take the window frame back out of the door and 'massage', ie bend the leg until you get
the correct clearance.

Agreed, don't try to do this with the frame in the door. Too much chance of door damage.

[wjdunham]

Thanks for all the advice, getting there. Pulled out the frame and bent it over a 16" wheel/tire. The frame is very stiff and takes a lot of force to re-form it. I can now see that it will fit just fine with a bit more careful massaging and proper adjustment once it's bolted back in!

[eastbay]

What I would do is pull the good fitting passenger side and compare the radius of the leg, if different, bend to match. If not, investigate further. YMMV

Be careful bending in the proper spot as the window needs to go up and down.

[wjdunham]

Got it worked out.

Tools of the trade, the tie-down allowed me to control the amount of deformation:



The results, I checked the curvature of the rear post with the window and the window still sits nicely in the middle and shouldn't bind:



Thanks for all the help as always!