When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
If it was working well until two months ago, then I don't think the factory wiring configuration (which has been in place for 2+ decades) is the answer here. Could be that the track is still gummed up and it needs some cleaning before additional lube would bring it back to previous operational speed.
The AutoTrix kit was once a popular thing to do, but I find it's value to be questionable.
Thanks for the reply, that makes sense. As for the tracks, they seemed a little dry, but not overly dirty (car has been garaged or covered it's entire life, almost never driven in the rain or snow).
Anyone know if how hard I tightened the bolts for the motor to regulator connections might have something to do with it? I noticed after the replacement that on the old motor that it looks like the part of the regulator with the gear teeth was rubbing on the housing of the motor as it spins, so am thinking if I tightened the bolts too tight, the part of the regulator might have too much contact against the motor housing?
I would guess something like this is your problem. Any slight bind will slow the travel down. Improperly adjusting the tracks or window hardware can do the same.
Yes it is. But thats coming from a guy who doesnt like drilling the fiberglass out of my "alreadyweakfromthefactory" door. I do them in less than an hour minus removing the door panel. 1 10mm bolt, 3 10mm nuts, 2 13mm nuts and 4 large rivets. Versus drilling into the door and risking that finger-lovin whoop *** spring coming loose. Then either way your pulling out the regulator...
~The Troll~
I just did the regulator on my 35th SS. I honestly couldn't bring myself to drilling into the door, so did the entire regulator/motor swap with a new one. I read and watched videos on how to do the replacement.
It was easy. I'm glad I decided to do the entire regulator. It probably took me a minute to pull the thing out after drilling the rivets.
I scrapped the rivet method with 1/4" stainless bolts and went with stainless washers to give the fiberglass the backing it needs.
I scrapped the rivet method with 1/4" stainless bolts and went with stainless washers to give the fiberglass the backing it needs.
I would never consider regulator replacement without using the proper special-jacketed rivet. Anything else is just asking for trouble in the long term, IMO. Better to drill the door and just replace the motor-only if that's all that is needed. If you need to replace the regulator, use the correct rivet.
I would never consider regulator replacement without using the proper special-jacketed rivet. Anything else is just asking for trouble in the long term, IMO. Better to drill the door and just replace the motor-only if that's all that is needed. If you need to replace the regulator, use the correct rivet.
One of the reasons that I decided to switch over to bolts is because when I took the door panel off to start the replacement, I had to power the window up (which took longer than replacing the regulator because it only worked in 1-2 second bursts) and noticed that the entire regulator (the rivets were sliding within the holes) was moving when power was sent to it.
So, my thought was that the rivets don't get the regulator tight enough in place and allow it to "float". This is coming from a new, never replaced factory riveted regulator on a 35th with less than 8k miles on it, so it's not like it had 100k miles to loosen up.
One of the reasons that I decided to switch over to bolts is because when I took the door panel off to start the replacement, I had to power the window up (which took longer than replacing the regulator because it only worked in 1-2 second bursts) and noticed that the entire regulator (the rivets were sliding within the holes) was moving when power was sent to it.
So, my thought was that the rivets don't get the regulator tight enough in place and allow it to "float". This is coming from a new, never replaced factory riveted regulator on a 35th with less than 8k miles on it, so it's not like it had 100k miles to loosen up.
This is not a typical problem with the proper factory rivets, but it represents exactly what will eventually happen when something other than the correct rivet is used and the holes become enlarged. For reference, there is no sliding or float to the assembly on my '98 Z28 with just 19k miles and the original factory rivets. Similarly, there was also no slide/float to the original assembly on my '02 Z28 when I had to replace the driver's side motor at ~100k miles - again, still had the original factory rivets.
I'm surprised yours would be loose at just 8k miles.
This is not a typical problem with the proper factory rivets, but it represents exactly what will eventually happen when something other than the correct rivet is used and the holes become enlarged. For reference, there is no sliding or float to the assembly on my '98 Z28 with just 19k miles and the original factory rivets. Similarly, there was also no slide/float to the original assembly on my '02 Z28 when I had to replace the driver's side motor at ~100k miles - again, still had the original factory rivets.
I'm surprised yours would be loose at just 8k miles.
The rivets for the original regulator that I replaced had shear travel and depth travel. Not sure why or how they were able to get to that point or if it was like that from the factory, but it was obviously an issue that needed to be addressed and that was the only remedy that I could think of.
I did check for any sort of travel after the install and it was solid with no movement. I also used blue loc-tite. Hopefully it works out for me and given the information that you've provided in your response, I will pull the door panel in the future to check for any sort of issues.
The plate is the way to solve this. Once the rivets are moving in the holes, the composite is gone and needs to be reinforced. The Photobucket images from this original thread are gone, but here is another thread showing the fix and some additional images from Google:
The plate is the way to solve this. Once the rivets are moving in the holes, the composite is gone and needs to be reinforced. The Photobucket images from this original thread are gone, but here is another thread showing the fix and some additional images from Google:
That's nice. I did the exact same thing but without the plate. I can see how the plate would help to transfer the load, but I wonder if it would help even more to actually adhere the plate to the fiberglass?
04-25-2016, 07:02 PM
