Window lifting wires

[JonB]

Hi

I fitted the window back in the driver's side frame, all good. Now I'm onto the passenger side, and I can see that the wires that move the window up/down are touching by the spool, where they cross over. On the driver's door they are correct (wires leading to the spool are above the wires going round the pulleys and do not touch).

This diagram might help.

So, the wire to the left of the spool (14) is clearly seen passing over the other wire at the point they cross.

For some reason I cannot seem to work out how to assemble my passenger window wires so they follow this path. I can't simply lift the spool over the other loop of wire becasue it then twists round the return loop. Hard to explain! But the wires don't look to have been removed from the glass since the car left Hethel. So, I am a bit stumped as to how this situation arose!

Try this:

You can see the wire I'm holding is passing over the wire leading to the spool. How can this be? I'm really scratching my head trying to work out what I have done wrong (if at all - maybe it was fitted wrong originally?).

[ericbushby]

Hi Jon,
I have only done that job once and quite recently.
Are you following the drawing in the workshop manual and in Brian Buckland`s book. As a first timer I found no real difficulty. It was awkward and I needed a spare pair of hands to pull the cable tight with two Mole grips when tightening the clamp screw, but it did work.

Also, I trust you are using my clamp screws to clamp the cable where it fastens to the glass. They make the job easier and less risky. (Available from Sue Miller). Sorry, but you know, I have to get a plug in where I can.
I wish I had fixed my motor like that, I just used packing to the inner skin.
Best of luck.
Eric in Burnley
1967 S3SE DHC

[ericbushby]

Hi Jon,
Just a thought, I realised that you may be attempting to refit the original cable. I cannot see that that would be practical because the cable is very tight when fitted correctly and would be too difficult a task.
I would suggest that you go for a new cable if you have not done so.
Regards,
Eric

[JonB]

Hi Eric

Well, it turned out that some PO (and there are only two) has replaced the cables or something like that. There are witness marks on the cable clamp bolt's screwdriver slot, only visible after a clean. So, I concluded that when the PO did this he didn't route the passenger door loop correctly. The solution being, to undo the cable and reset it, so that the part of it that doesn't go round the spool is nearest the door frame bottom rail. Hence, when they cross they shouldn't touch..

I've put it back together and the wires are in the correct position relative to each other but they still rub. I looked again at the driver door, and can see the spool is wound in a particular way so as to hold the cables away from each other. The passenger door spool would need to be flipped over, but that means the wire has to be unthreaded again, this time fully, so it can be turned round on the spool. I decided not to do this because the cable that I pulled out of a pinch bolt had to be cut short so as to get a clean twisted end to re-thread into the pinch bolt. I don't wish to do that again as the cable may be too short on reassembly.

Eric, you are correct in that I am reusing the original parts, including the cable clamp bolts. I had little trouble refitting them. The cables are just loose enough to be able to get each loop over the pulleys with a bit of help and it seems to be working for now. Famous last words...

So that's done... what next...?

[ericbushby]

Hi Jon,
That sounds to be not so bad now, however the pessimist in me suggests that if the crossing wires are only touching lightly you may have introduced a rattle. Brian Buckland gives a figure for tightness measuring deflection of the cable but I did not manage to achieve it. It was a rattle that lead to the strip down on mine and although the cable was much too slack it turned out that the rattle was caused by a missing anti-rattle pad.
For others who read this, the screws which I make reduce the risk of breaking the window to almost zero and are easier to tighten on to the cable. All proceeds go to Cancer Research UK. See what I did there?, I got another plug in.
Cheers
Eric

[512BB]

You want to glue in quite a few more anti rattle dense foam bits Jonboy. Stopped all the rattles coming from my doors, and they don't add much weight. Also where the steel rods run. Put up with rattles for 25 years from them on one car. Would'nt leave it another 25, had enough of them.

Leslie

[JonB]

You want to glue in quite a few more anti rattle dense foam bits Jonboy. Stopped all the rattles coming from my doors, and they don't add much weight. Also where the steel rods run. Put up with rattles for 25 years from them on one car. Would'nt leave it another 25, had enough of them.

Leslie

Agreed, and I'll do that, definitely. Actually, the rattle pads on mine, being 54 years old, are ruined and need replacing anyway.