Stiff Vitesse Window Winding

[Jason C]

Hi all,

I’m new to the world of Triumph and the community. 🙂

I have a Triumph Vitesse 1968 Mark 1 and would love some help with resolving a stiff passenger window winder.

The joy of window winding requires strong muscles and becomes even harder to wind upwards towards the top section. Upon inspection the regulator cog mechanism seems to rub slightly on the raised fixing nodes making a scraping noise in one direction, but seems to turn "okay" when out of the door. I refitted the quarter panel and glass, oiled moving pivots and regreased the window regulator and refitted as per the Body Service Training Notes, but no noticeable improvement.

Couple of questions;

1. Where the window regulator is mounted to the body by the crank handle, the panel seems to flex considerably when winding. A symptom of needing a new regulator, or have I not refitted the channels/quarter panel correctly. Am I missing something with the channel setup for smooth winding, I have fitted the wire behind the channel for alignment etc. How does one tell where the quarter panel should be aligned, it looks okay when the door is shut to the body. Is there a distance between quarter light frame and A pillar that should be adhered to? Something else to look out for?

2. There seems to be quite a bit of adjustment within the set-up, i.e. when should the central bolt for the window regulator arms be tightened to the body for correct alignment?

3. Weather shield — I have removed this from the window glass to see if this would make a difference. Also, it seemed to make a subtle rustling noise behind the panel as the window was cranked. What is the best practise for this water barrier? Can I recreate like a modern car system by adhering the plastic barrier to the inside of the door panel with resealable chalking. Or will the water come inside. Or fit something like this to the door panel itself; http://www.newtoncomm.co.uk/ca.....ners-herald-vitesse/ Am I correct in thinking the primary goal of the plastic shield is to protect the door panel from damage from wet windows, rain inside the door cavity. Or is it to prevent water entering the vehicle?
I understand the inside door cavity to be considered a wet cavity. Looking for an elegant solution.

Thank you in advance for the help.

[JohnD]

Jason,
The weather shield is intended to keep the water falling down inside the door off all the mechanical bits and pieces, that are NOT supposed to get wet!

The Newtons device is only to protect the door card, I presume if the weather shield has failed.
I'm no expert on adjusting the window winders - got rid of all that gubbins years ago on the race Vitsse, but yes, there is a lot of scope for adjustment.
I'd say that the flexing you see is because of excess friction/resistance in the linkage.
Blind guess - have you checked the channels the glass runs in?

John

[Jason C]

Thanks John,

Interesting, sounds like I need to refit a weather shield as per factory. Correct checked channels, one has a new liner the other as original seems to be no obstructions nor bent.

[RobPearce]

Are the door channels correctly aligned? They are independently adjustable, and if the shorter rear one isn't aligned with the corresponding part of the longer front one then the window will get very stiff as you wind it down. Mind you, I see you say it's stiffer at the top, which is unusual.

If you disconnect the lift mechanism from the glass, does the winder then free up? Does the glass drop freely?

[Jason C]

Thanks Rob,

I'm pretty sure the glass drops freely, as when I reinstalled the glass it flew quickly to the bottom leaving me a little concerned it may break. Before I disconnect those circlips from the lift mechanism to confirm, can you recommend the best way to align the door channels? I followed the procedure outlined in the handbook, loosened bolts, fixing quarter light first, winding up then fixing small channel (wire hooked behind it), but perhaps I'm overlooking something.

With the noticeable rubbing on the window regular large cog, could it be something with this? Although seemed like it was non serviceable and maybe nothing out of the ordinary, and assuming it would maybe cause a little friction, but seems really stiff.

The driver side winder is quite easy to wind, should it be silky smooth? Well as effortless as hand winding can be?

[JohnD]

Just occurred to me!
I'm pretty sure I still have the winder mechs I took out.
If you want to replace, let me know.
I'm in NorthWest region.

JOhn

[Jason C]

Thanks John!

Thank you for the kind offer, the option could be on the cards if I can't resolve it. I'm in New Zealand, would this be an issue? I could try sourcing the part locally first if it's a pain.

Brings me to another question, who would know if there are any second hand Triumph car wreckers still around in NZ? On-line searching doesn't result in much...

Sorry new to the game!

[RobPearce]

If the glass drops freely then it shouldn't be the door channels that are the problem. If the mechanism is also free when not lifting anything, then it could be the slots in the glass support frame binding. It's not uncommon to have this not centered right, but normally that either makes it bind in the middle only, or prevents you reaching the top of travel. Of course, if the mechanism binds without the glass then you need to look for problems in one of the trapzoidal joints (I think that's the right way round - I know Spitfires/GT6s and Heralds/Vitesses have different mechanisms but forget which is which).

[Jason C]

Thanks Rob!

Appreciate the detailed advice, most helpful — planing to have a go over the weekend.

Thanks again