- Joined
- Jul 18, 2020
- Points
- 123
- Location
- Portchester, Fareham
- Model of Z
- 1998 BMW Z3 Individual 1.9 M44 B19
Afternoon all !... so today I tried dodging the showers in order to fit a replacement driver window regulator... all good but made a couple of cock ups on the way which cost me a bit of time.... and I also fitted my patent pending metal putty repair door handle !
Standard fare in removing trim...... when removing the glass, I DIDN'T follow one bloke on youtube who suggested you just pop the clips on the runners and lift it out. I listened to someone else who removed the quarter light first and then SLID the glass off the runners... SOSO much easier..... then closed the scissors to ease it out of the aperture....
I knew that one of the door studs had broken off, and the bolt hole of the regulator had sheered off, which was a bit of a pain ! Evidently that one fails a lot, as when the window reaches the top, the regulator actually pushes down on that bracket
the Stud actually has a square recess and it looks like it's almost riveted into the bracket rather than welded.
so it was out with my new best friend METAL PUTTY. which I used for the door handle repair...slid the stud back into the square groove and basically covered the whole thing with metal putty, and let it set for an hour... it actually does go rock hard.
I know it seems obvious but.... I found when putting in the window slider clips...turn them 90 degrees and it makes it SO much easier to clip them in...then just turn them back round afterwards
So the replacement regulator went in.... up and down as smooth as silk.... and the putty laden stud held up
I might need to get new door seals because as soon as I put everything back, the glass was dragging on the seals and I could hear the motor struggling to overcome it... managed to widen the seals with a wide blade screwdriver to ease the drag but it's still not perfect.
I managed to cock up a little by fitting the quarterlight before the glass.... idiot !!.... so after faffing with that, I took it back out again so I could get the window in and SLIDE it back into the plastic runners.... then fitted the quarter light AGAIN... then fettled with the door card......but we're there ...all done...I'll let you know how the handle holds up !
Standard fare in removing trim...... when removing the glass, I DIDN'T follow one bloke on youtube who suggested you just pop the clips on the runners and lift it out. I listened to someone else who removed the quarter light first and then SLID the glass off the runners... SOSO much easier..... then closed the scissors to ease it out of the aperture....
I knew that one of the door studs had broken off, and the bolt hole of the regulator had sheered off, which was a bit of a pain ! Evidently that one fails a lot, as when the window reaches the top, the regulator actually pushes down on that bracket
the Stud actually has a square recess and it looks like it's almost riveted into the bracket rather than welded.
so it was out with my new best friend METAL PUTTY. which I used for the door handle repair...slid the stud back into the square groove and basically covered the whole thing with metal putty, and let it set for an hour... it actually does go rock hard.
I know it seems obvious but.... I found when putting in the window slider clips...turn them 90 degrees and it makes it SO much easier to clip them in...then just turn them back round afterwards
So the replacement regulator went in.... up and down as smooth as silk.... and the putty laden stud held up
I might need to get new door seals because as soon as I put everything back, the glass was dragging on the seals and I could hear the motor struggling to overcome it... managed to widen the seals with a wide blade screwdriver to ease the drag but it's still not perfect.
I managed to cock up a little by fitting the quarterlight before the glass.... idiot !!.... so after faffing with that, I took it back out again so I could get the window in and SLIDE it back into the plastic runners.... then fitted the quarter light AGAIN... then fettled with the door card......but we're there ...all done...I'll let you know how the handle holds up !
