removing door glass

[aspares]

Repainting the Europa and I need to remove the door glass. I have the manuals directions which are not great. Any tips on the removal?

[Lou Drozdowski]

Taking out the glass...

Remove the door panel, remove the window motor and extract it from door. You will have to rotate the motor for it to clear...brace or block the glass from dropping. Remove the window channel gasket to find pop rivets securing the frame to the door. There are four rivets...drill them out (two on top, two on the side)

Once the rivets are out the frame can be tilted to remove the 1/4 glass and gasket.
Note: if the frames have never been out, there is bonding material that has most likely dried like concrete on the mating surface of of the frame...I had to use a cutter to free up the frame from the door.

Take you time and go slowly...refitting is another adventure, I suggest a helper when you are ready.   

[Kendo]

Once you remove the door cover (?, the upholstered bit) you'll find a couple of rivets on horizontal tabs and probably a 4-40 bolt up front. They come out, too.

Yes, I had to cut that concrete (actually dried butyl rubber) around the edges to get the frames out. You are quite likely to destroy all of the rubber bits in the removeal. But they are all available new.

[1970EuropaGuy]

I just removed my glass a few weeks ago. Good advice above. Take your time, my biggest worry was breaking something while trying to remove the bonding material.

[Certified Lotus]

Getting it out is the easy part. Getting it back in without cracking or scratching new paint is the hard part. AND there are two locations that are impossible to re-rivet unless you have some special type of rivet gun (I didn’t). Had to use small bolts instead.

Now that it’s out replace the felts (can’t do this with the window frame in the car) along with the metal clips that hold them in (four per door, not three). And new rubber seal inside the window frames.

I spent hours cleaning and polishing the frames. I’m glad I did because it really turned out nice.