Dave's Adventures with Window regulators

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

So, as the next installment in "Dave's Adventures", I removed the door cards to replace the speakers in the wife's 82 911SC. During that project, I found a funny-looking metal part that came out with one of the wires of the old speaker.

It was the spring retainer for the driver's window regulator. Same problem as this one:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/573892-found-my-left-rear-floor-mat-any-guesses.html It appears that this is a relatively common problem these days, as the parts get older and have more use cycles on them. Like in that thread, the spring had only partly unwound because it caught on one of the mounting points.

For the most part, I followed the Pelican Tech Article on the subject, found here: Pelican Technical Article: Replacing your Window Regulator and Motor - 911 (1965-89) - 930 Turbo (1975-89)

There are a few things I did a little differently, or things I thought could be clearer, and I wanted to share those here.

First, I found that my point-and-shoot digital camera could fit into the door much easier than my eyes could. This shows the wires plugged into the motor, which would have been difficult to see even with a mirror.




I realized later that it would have been much easier to see the wires after the regulator was loose in the door; you can move the motor down to the hole where the speaker goes and it would be easier to check the colors and unplug the wires there.

Next, the regulator moves around a lot better once the rollers are out of the track on the bottom of the window. The rear one just barely came out with the right combination of lifting up the window, and pushing the motor/regulator assembly to the rear of the door. Once it was out, more maneuvering slid the front roller out of the channel.




Putting the retainer back in requires access to the back side of the arm where it mounts; the spring tends to push this arm across the fan-shaped gear section. A little screwdriver through one of the mounting holes keeps it from being blocked.




I was unable to peen the back side of the retainer adequately, so I wind up using epoxy to hold it in. I figured that the shape of the part going into its hole would provide the primary support, and the epoxy should be good enough to keep it from moving around. Once the epoxy had cured, I used some pliers to grab the end of the spring, and move it to the retainer and put it through the slot in the retainer.




I had remembered reading in another article about keeping the regulator straight while installing it, so I used a zip-tie to hold it against the spring force. When installing the regulator, you have to get it on the correct side of the window frame--that being the side closer to the door webbing and further from the door skin.

Starting the bolts that hold the motor onto the regulator was difficult. I reached in through the large hole in the main part of the door, and held up the regulator with that hand. With the other hand, I held the motor. I used a third hand to start the bolt... Wait, I only have two hands? That explains why it was difficult. Anyway, once the first one is started, the others are much easier.

I could only get the wires plugged back into the motor by maneuvering the regulator so that the motor showed through the speaker hole. I used the same opportunity to cut the zip-tie that I had used to hold the regulator straight as well.

Getting the regulator mounting bolts started was much easier than the motor mounting bolts.

Once it was bolted back in, I plugged in the window switch and tested the window. Fortunately, it worked! From there, I went back to putting the speaker back in and the door panel back on.

I hope this helps!

--DD

[hcoles]

Good info. Thanks. I haven't had to go in there.... yet on my 89.