Spitfire 1500 Replacing door glass seating channel

[Hexaflexagon]

The channel in which the door glass sits has corroded and as a result it has developed a turned inwards 'lip' which fouls the regulator mechanism when lowering or raising the window when at roughly the half way point. It's  not possible to raise or lower the window past this fouling point without removing the trim and pushing the window outwards slightly to 'bend' it past the fouling point.

I've seen this thread
Sorry , link no longer available

in which point 4 mentions a strange circlip that needs removing in order to separate the channel from the regulator but can't spot this circlip on any of the exploded diagrams at the usual parts suppliers. Does anyone know what the part number is in case I break the one I remove and need a replacement.

In addition, when replacing this window channel and also the inner and outer weather seals, what are your thoughts on the order of replacing the weather seals. Should I fix these before pushing the window up and refixing to the regulator or afterwards?

Any comments on the best way of fixing the weather seals would also be useful. In particular the relevance of mention of the 'special tool' which I'm presuming will be necessary if the seals are fitted after the window is installed. Or have I misunderstood this?

[Clive]

http://www.leacyclassics.com/607867.html
is the clip

badly shown 9in terms of what it looks like) here as part 607867

http://www.canleyclassics.com/?xhtml=xhtml/diagram/spitfire1500windowregulator.html&xhtmlcatalogue=xhtml/catalogue/spitfire1500.html&category=fasciatrimseatsandfixings&xsl=diagram.xsl

Rubber seals fitted last after the window, otherwise the window wont go in.
As to the tool, it is just a bit of bent metal. I cut a strip of steel (usually a bit of an old panel, plenty thick enough) and make the hook at one end and a larger pulling hook at the other (wrap of gaffa tape to protect fingers) A little blu tack or similar is useful for keeping the clips on the tool when fitting.

[Clive]

http://www.leacyclassics.com/607867.html
is the clip

badly shown (in terms of what it looks like) here as part 607867

http://www.canleyclassics.com/?xhtml=xhtml/diagram/spitfire1500windowregulator.html&xhtmlcatalogue=xhtml/catalogue/spitfire1500.html&category=fasciatrimseatsandfixings&xsl=diagram.xsl

Rubber seals fitted last after the window, otherwise the window wont go in.
As to the tool, it is just a bit of bent metal. I cut a strip of steel (usually a bit of an old panel, plenty thick enough) and make the hook at one end and a larger pulling hook at the other (wrap of gaffa tape to protect fingers) A little blu tack or similar is useful for keeping the clips on the tool when fitting.

[Hexaflexagon]

Thanks Clifty. That's most useful.

A few supplementary follow ups if you don't mind.

Re the regulator bolt/window channel fixing. Do you happen to know how that strange clip is located? Is it pushed or perhaps twisted on in some way? More importantly what's the easiest way of removing the current clip and what's the purpose of the U shaped bent bit? It looks as though it's designed to snap over a flange on the bolt, but the bolt seems to be just a plain shaft. And is there a part number for the bolt? The exploded diagram doesn't seem to mention it?

Is there any significance in the 607902 washers being leather rather than say rubber or metal?

Any idea why it seems such a complicated clip since on the face of it a normal bolt and self tightening nut might have seemed more appropriate.

Given that it's the glass seating channel I'm having to replace what's the best order of events. I take the point that the window seals are the last to fix but is it easier to fit the seat channel to the glass outside the car, drop the whole lot down through the door and then bolt in the regulator mechanism, or first bolt the regulator to the seat channel inside the door, then drop the glass down and push it into the channel?

Is the glass only held in the channel by the pressure of the seating rubber that wraps round the edge of the window bottom?

Usual TIA

[Clive]

The clip acts in the same way as a circlip. The end of the "bolt" is actually round unthreaded with a groove all the way round. It is part of the regulator an doesn't come off.
It will pull off by hand by sliding it off, but access is tricky and you can't see what you are doing.
Leather washers as they just work, and don't rattle like a metal one would.
Yes, relies on the rubber strip to hold the glass in. Alternatively, I have used a PU adhesive (eg tigerseal, or cheap toolstation PU40) to glue the glass in position. Helpful when the channel you happen to be using has been somewhat eaten by the tinworm.

[Hexaflexagon]

Hi Clive,

Thanks for the suggestions.

I finally got around to replacing the window channel, rubber and door seals. That funny circlip was indeed a nuisance. I managed to get a hand mirror into the door cavity so that I could just about see how it was positioned and hence  which way to pull it off. Needless to say removing it was fiddly and putting it back on almost as much.

What on earth were the designers thinking of? Seems to me it would have been just as simple to have the pin on the raiser arm come through the slot towards the interior making the circlip easy to see and remove.

The rubber seating channel for the window bottom was also trickier than I expected. Slotting the window into it wasn't quite as easy as I thought. In the end I arranged the U section of rubber in the channel so that the outside of the rubber was slightly higher than the near side which seemed to help since the glass could be pushed back against the far side of the rubber allowing the near side to be 'fiddled in' with a flat blade screwdriver.