Spitfire 1500 Door Glass Installation.

[Black Cat]

Hi Ladies & Gentlemen,

I’m about to fit my door glass into my 1500 Spitfire, have all the mechanism in place but what is the sequence?

1.       Should I fit the glass first?

2.      Or perhaps it’s the inside trim?

3.      Or maybe the external trim?

I’m sure someone has had this dilemma before and will be able to give me some guidance before I start on this task.

Many thanks in advance.

[NonMember]

The book sequence is glass into the lifter channel first, then insert that into the door to mate up with the winder mechanism and runners. After that, fit the inner and outer weather seals, then the trim panel and handles.

[Black Cat]

I’ll give that a go.

i did try to fit  the trim first by fitting the clips to the trim and trying to pull them onto the door panel but that didn’t work. Having looked on YouTube it seems the way to do it is to fit the clips to the door panel first and using the special tool, which I have made, hold the clips in place and push the trim onto the clips. Going to give this a try after fitting the glass.

[Dick Twitchen]

1 hour ago, Black Cat said:

push the trim onto the clips

I found that a strip of wood on the trim and a gentle tap with a mallet worked with a third hand to hold the home made tool.

Dick

[Colin Lindsay]

One hand holding the trim down into the door and one hand pushing the clips up from below. If you fit the clips you can reach, the others will be easier as the trim will be held in place already. Obviously this is with the glass out; it may make the glass harder to fit into the door, but with the glass already in place fitting the trims becomes more difficult. You may find that a few small dabs of sealer will also help keep the trims in place, if you let it set for a good period before trying the more difficult clips.

[Pete Lewis]

yes 6 pairs of hands , always tie 12" of cotton to the clip to retrieve it when it flies off somewhere lost forever .

as Dick says bit of wood , small hammer, clip tool   and helpers 

so when pulling the clip tool upwards tap the seal downwards at the same time . 

next ...........go find where the clip went and repeat a few times , .............hence the cotton is important  

bear in mind some seals sold are far too thick and clips can be far too small  and you may help by opening a clip up

this is then useful to have the sticky plasters handy 

let us know how you get on 

if youve mastered the spitty  door release rods and the locking rods the dust seals are easy 

when done cover all carcass opening with either proper stuff or poly sheet , gaffer tape 

so any rain lands /deflected inside the carcass and does not run onto the door card and then into the inside 

Pete

 

 

 

[Black Cat]

Finally got round to having another go at fitting the door glass and trim on to the Spitfire today, what a pain they are to fit, managed to get one door done will have ago with the other one next year.  

Anyway, got the seals fitted after a bit of swearing and dropping a lot of the fixing clips in the door, fortunately I have one of those magnets on a telescopic rod so wasn't to difficult in getting them out. However, I'm having problems in getting the door glass and rubbers into the channel, they just don't seem to want to go in. 

Can anyone give me some advise on the best way to fit these or is there an alternative product that can be used, like Tiger Seal perhaps?

Many thanks

[Badwolf]

I also advise heavy duty marigold type gloves to ease the pain of chaffed skin when working inside the door. You will probably need several pairs or a roll of tape to repair them as you go along.

[Black Cat]

Think I may not have fitted the first door glass in the correct sequence and may have to remove it and start again as I’m still having trouble getting the glass into the channel. Should have paid a bit more attention to one of the earlier post.

As I have all the internal door glass mechanism out at the moment on the second door the sequence I think should be as follows: -

1.      Remove the glass channel form the mechanism by unclipping the two round clips which hold it in place.

2.      Remove the two nylon guides which are bolted on the end of the channel. These need to be removed to allow the glass and the channel to be dropped into the door from the top.

3.      With the channel out, partly insert the rubber seal into the channel and place the glass into the seal and push it in as far as you can with your hands. I then turned the door glass upside down on the bench with the channel now uppermost and with a little gentle persuasion with a rubber mallet taped the channel until the glass was fully home.

4.      Fit the other part of the door glass mechanism into the door with the seven bolts.

5.      Haven’t done these next parts yet on the second door but I think I will fit the inner seal first.

6.      Next insert the glass with the channel into the door and refit it too the window mechanism with the two round clips making sure the round seals are fitted either side of the sliding mechanism  and refit the two nylon guides on the ends of the channel. I think you should be able to do this OK as the apertures in the door seem to be correctly positioned for this.

7.      Lastly fit the outer rubber seal on the door.

Hopefully this is the sequence but if anybody has any other suggestion please feel free to comment.

 

[Pete Lewis]

i fear most spitty door stuff is like mending a typewriter in the hallway  through the letterbox 

Pete

[Badwolf]

At one point when doing my linkages, I nearly took a jigsaw to the interior metal door skin, working on the theory that all the work inside could be done more easily when not working through a 'letter box' and then, with suitable brackets, just re-attach the skin. The theory never got further than reaching for a fresh box of sticking plasters.

[Pete Lewis]

ive attacked a couple of door inner carcass with a big hole saw to allow sight and fingers in 

Pete

[PeteH]

HI. TBF. How much structural strength might be lost by removing metal in strategic places?. I doubt if it would be much?. if in doubt. Maybe re-attach or provide suitable stiffeners. Food for thought?.

Pete