Restarting My '70 Nova Project

[MossRoad]

I know it's been a while, but I had a little derailment in my recovery from the back surgery, on the eve of Easter, my gallbladder decided to get extremely angry, so I spent Easter Sunday in the hospital getting it removed. For about five weeks after that, I just felt like crap, pains from the muscles where they poked four holes in my abdomen, a constant feeling of being bloated and frequent heartburn.
But, I'm much better now, back to concentrating on back surgery recovery, which according to the doc when I saw him Monday, is going better than he expected, the fusion looks very good for the point of recovery I am in. That was great news.
So, I have been working on the vent window assemblies, getting the new seals installed, mounting the windows in the frames, assembling the friction washers in the correct order, and installing the stainless trim on the inside and outside of the vertical tracks.
As usual, tracking down the parts takes 10 times as long, or more, as it does to install the parts. This was the case of the stainless trim pieces. After searching through every likely storage box, I finally found them wrapped in paper towels secured with rubber bands. I unwrapped them and got the ones for the passenger side installed, and the onside piece for the drivers side installed too. But, I couldn't find the one for the outside of the driver's side. Back to searching through boxes and anywhere I might have stashed it. Another search for the channel the door glass slides in came up empty too. Apparently I never ordered those, so I ordered those this evening from ChevIIOnly, should have them in a couple of days, then I can get the door glass in and get the doors fully assembled.
Once I get them done, I'll pull them off and roll the body upside down and get to work on the headliner.
It might end up taking me two years to get this thing back together, you never know.
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Nice to hear your back is healing well!

I miss those wing windows. Our Outback has little triangular pieces of non-opening glass. Last week one of our kids said "Hey, wouldn't it be neat if you could open just those?" Wife and I had to laugh!

 

[BravoXray]

Still working on getting the doors reassembled, and it's not going smoothly, but it is going.
I have both vent window assemblies in the doors, after some head scratching as to why the rubber seal at the bottom had notches cut in it where it laid on the outside of the door. Well, the seal goes inside, and the notches clear the vent window friction assembly.
As I am still waiting on the runs that the windows slide up and down in, I decided to put the inside door latch assemblies in, as they really won't be in the way to install the glass. found all the parts after only a 15 minute hunting expedition. Got everything cleaned up, put the actuator and rod in, but the rod wouldn't go in the hole in the arm on the latch. Pulled out one of the old ones, and the rod fit fine, and discovered there is a clip that holds the rod in the arm that was still on both old latches. Got them off, then cogitated on how the enlarge the hole without taking the latch assemblies out (again, don't ask). After some measuring, I discovered the required hole is the size of a #19 letter drill, but how was I going to get a drill in there to drill it out?
I have and old 1/4" drill chuck with a 3/8" bolt shank that I have used as an extension to get into deep places, so I took the bolt shank off, chucked the bit in it and was able to get it in and turn it by hand to ream out the holes. Put the retainer clips on and the rods snapped into place. Now everything on the door latches works as it should.
Now it I can just get the window runs so I can get the glass installed in the doors. I think I have everything I need to install the quarter windows. If I remember right, those were SOBs to get apart, so I doubt they'll go back together really easy. New adventures await those who decide to completely dismantle a car and then put it back together 10 years later.

 

[MossRoad]

....New adventures await those who decide to completely dismantle a car and then put it back together 10 years later.

Thanks for the warning... I took a '71 Toyota FJ40 completely apart in 1985. It sits in pieces in 3 garages/sheds waiting for me to retire.

 

[MossRoad]

Still working on getting the doors reassembled, and it's not going smoothly, but it is going.
I have both vent window assemblies in the doors, after some head scratching as to why the rubber seal at the bottom had notches cut in it where it laid on the outside of the door. Well, the seal goes inside, and the notches clear the vent window friction assembly.
As I am still waiting on the runs that the windows slide up and down in, I decided to put the inside door latch assemblies in, as they really won't be in the way to install the glass. found all the parts after only a 15 minute hunting expedition. Got everything cleaned up, put the actuator and rod in, but the rod wouldn't go in the hole in the arm on the latch. Pulled out one of the old ones, and the rod fit fine, and discovered there is a clip that holds the rod in the arm that was still on both old latches. Got them off, then cogitated on how the enlarge the hole without taking the latch assemblies out (again, don't ask). After some measuring, I discovered the required hole is the size of a #19 letter drill, but how was I going to get a drill in there to drill it out?
I have and old 1/4" drill chuck with a 3/8" bolt shank that I have used as an extension to get into deep places, so I took the bolt shank off, chucked the bit in it and was able to get it in and turn it by hand to ream out the holes. Put the retainer clips on and the rods snapped into place. Now everything on the door latches works as it should.
Now it I can just get the window runs so I can get the glass installed in the doors. I think I have everything I need to install the quarter windows. If I remember right, those were SOBs to get apart, so I doubt they'll go back together really easy. New adventures await those who decide to completely dismantle a car and then put it back together 10 years later.

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That last photo reminds me of when I had norovirus.

Last thing I remember is looking at volunteer firemen in my bathroom through a tunnel before waking up in the ER.

Nice job on getting that drill bit in there.

 

[BravoXray]

Thanks for the warning... I took a '71 Toyota FJ40 completely apart in 1985. It sits in pieces in 3 garages/sheds waiting for me to retire.

You have my condolences, and sympathy.

 

[Jstpssng]

Thanks for the warning... I took a '71 Toyota FJ40 completely apart in 1985. It sits in pieces in 3 garages/sheds waiting for me to retire.

I hope that you took pictures... and still know where those are.

 

[MossRoad]

I hope that you took pictures... and still know where those are.

Who needs pictures?

I have the gift of recall.

(have you seen my car keys? )

In all seriousness, those things aren't that complicated. No electronics. The hardest part will be doing things in the proper order.

 

[BravoXray]

I finally got the window runs for the door glass last Friday, and attacked it on Saturday afternoon. The first side (right) was the typical learning experience on getting the lengths cut just right and getting it seated in the channel all the way. The run for the front track by the vent window is different from the top and rear tracks, as it is not symmetrical, and has to be installed with a little ridge to the outside of the track. Once those were in, it was time to put the glass in, and it was a bit of a struggle, but finally got it in and in the tracks. I fits really snugly but not that bad. Got the regulator in and all the rollers in their channels and everything tightened down, put the window crank on and viola!, it goes up and down. Found the fuzzy seal that goes on the inside top of the outer door skin and had to trim it to get a good fit at the rear, but it looks good.
This morning, I picked up a can of spray silicone lube and applied some of it the the runs, and the window moves much easier now.
This afternoon I did the driver's side door, and it went much faster, only about an hour including drilling a new hole for the upper forward regulator bolt. The door is a NOS door for a '68 Nova, and there are a couple of minor differences. including the mounting holes for the regulator. The window moves a lot more freely in this door, but I still lubed the runs with the silicone. Next, I need to put the door seals on and see how those fit.
Now I'm waiting on the runs for the rear quarter windows, and according to a USPS notification, they should be here on Monday.

 

[MossRoad]

Nice! I used to really like those rear roll down windows. Don't know why. But I recall sitting in the back seat of my dad's '70 and having the ability to roll down my own window if I wanted to.

 

[BravoXray]

Tuesday and today I managed to get both quarter windows and their tracks installed. The replacement tracks that go in the B-pillar leave a lot to be desired, the channel is fairly soft aluminum, where the originals are steel, and making the detents for the mounting screws is real iffy, and doesn't work that well. The window has a plastic guide on the upper forward corner that keeps it captive in the forward track. The original track has depressions that the mounting screws set in, so the guide slides past the screws, after a couple of tries with the new tracks, I gave up trying to get the screw heads properly recessed. I'm mulling over making a thin, .020" or so, strip to slide into and glue to the bottom of the track so the guide will ride up over the screws. I'm going to cogitate on that for a while....
The aluminum trim that runs up and over the windows was a bit of a challenge to get to fit properly also, I had to do a little gentle work with a small hammer to get them the fit back far enough that the front end doesn't interfere with the back edge of the door frame. As the pictures show, there are pretty close. I still have to put the vertical pieces on the B-pillars, the rear door frames and the tops of the doors. Hopefully those will not be a huge challenge.
But, after a few adjustments, both windows work pretty well, so I'm pretty pleased.