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jstricker
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FEB 09, 11:23 PM
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The subject of dew wipe replacement comes up from time to time, mostly "How do I get those @#$@# two middle screws out?!?!"
Well, you can buy the special tool and that will work, but it's still a PITA to do. I do mine by taking the glass loose and lifting it, as others have said, but I haven't seen a summary or thread with pictures on how to do it. Since I just did a set last weekend, I took pictures and I'll go through it step by step.
The first thing you have to do is take the inner door panel off. Take out the screws that hole the armrest on and the screws holding on the plastic trim plate around the door opener. If you have manual windows, you'll also have to take the window crank off. There's s special tool that only costs a couple of bucks that you can buy from Autozone/Pepboys, O'Reilley's, etc., but you can also get the little clip out of there with a small screwdrive if you're patient. Once you get the inner panel off, this is what you'll see.
I've marked with red the various screws and bolts you're going to be dealing with. All of them are either phillips head screws or need a 10mm socket.
The first thing I like to do is take both the front and back rubber end caps off to gain access to everything and allow the glass to move front and back. I'm not sure the front removal is absolutely necessary (I had mine off already) but IIRC it makes access to the bolts holding the mirror on easier (if not the only way possible). So go ahead and take the screws out and remove the end caps (rear cap is in the picture)
Next I like to take the mirrors off. The mirror mounting studs go through the dew wipe so they need to be removed. Take off the two nuts inside the door panel. I like to tie the mirrors up so they aren't hanging by the wires or manual control cable in the case of the driver's side manual mirror. Since this was on the Finale Roadster, and it doesn't mount the mirrors like the stock Fiero, they were already off and aren't shown, but I've highlighted their approximate location in red on the picture of the door panel.
With the window completely down, you can get to the rear and the front two screws on the dew wipe with your phillips screwdriver. These are the easy ones. Go ahead and take them out now. Next you need to remove the upper window stops. These keep the window from going up too high. Before you take any of the 10mm bolts out of the door, mark around them with a Sharpie so you can put them back where they were. Take out both the front and the rear upper window stops.
Front:
Rear:
At this point you can roll the window up. Don't go WAY up at this tie, just to where it would about normally be. Now take the four bolts out that hold the guide track to the door. There are two at the top and two at the bottom. Again, mark them before you remove them so the track can go back in the same location it was.
Upper:
Lower:
With the guide track loose, you can go ahead and roll the window up as high as it can possibly go. You'll notice it goes up significantly higher than it did before. I like to take the track off at this point and lay it in the bottom of the door. It will usually fall off sooner or later anyway, so I just take it off right away. You can take it out if you want and clean it up, lubing it with your favorite grease. Opinions vary on that, but I use a graphite lube on mine.
(Continued in the next post due to number of image constraints)
John Stricker[This message has been edited by jstricker (edited 05-21-2006).]
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jstricker
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FEB 09, 11:26 PM
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So we continue....................
With the window all the way up, the glass will just be high enough (normally) to be able to get to the middle screw in the dew wipe. You MIGHT have to GENTLY lift up a bit with a flat screwdriver to get enough clearance to get the screw out. Usually not, but some go higher than others.
You can see the clearance is tight here, but it will fit. I did have to lift on the glass on this one. If you do, BE CAREFUL AND BE GENTLE. The glass is tempered safety glass and when it breaks, it's usually into a million little pieces that ruins your whole day, so put away the gorilla arms and use a little finesse.
When you have the middle screw out, you can move to the PITA screw to the rear, that is the second one from the back. For this one, you have to slide the window BACK on the regulator arms. There is a point at which you will gain access to the screw, again you might have to help lift a little bit with a screwdriver on the glass, but you should have enough clearance.
In the picture you can see how the glass is sloped just giving you enough room to get to the screw and showing why you have to move the glass to the rear.
Reassembly is the reverse of assembly. I do like to change the screws to a conventional, self tapping hex screw. They are small enough they will clear everything and the hex head is much easier to deal with if you have a magnetic nut driver or socket when you put them back in. These are the screws I'm talking about.
If you're worried about how they look, they are stainless so they won't rust and you can't see them for the most part anyway with the inner dew wipe on.
I like to start by slipping the mirror back on and just putting the nuts on finger tight, then I use a pick or very small phillips screwdriver to line up the middle screw with the hole and start the second to the back one. Put the middle screw in once you get the first one started and tighten them up. Now roll the window back down just a little, slip your cleaned and lubed track back in the guide and put it back in place. Roll your window down and tighten your mirror up, put the front two and back screw in, replace the window up stops, and put your inner door panel back on. All done.
Once the inner door panel is off, I can replace a dew wipe in less than 15 minutes normally, unless some screws have trashed heads or one twists off, but that's pretty rare as the screws from GM are usually stainless (but I've seen some rusted so they must not all be stainless).
Hope this helps someone out.
John Stricker[This message has been edited by jstricker (edited 05-21-2006).]
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2000RagTop
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FEB 09, 11:56 PM
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StuGood
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FEB 10, 03:11 AM
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John, great writeup & photos... I learned a lot, in dew course. Thanks!
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pollock
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FEB 10, 09:16 AM
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| quote | | Originally posted by StuGood: John, great writeup & photos... I learned a lot, in dew course. Thanks! |
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BA-BOOM-SSSSsssss... good one
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Lambo nut
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FEB 10, 09:54 AM
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Funny you should post this Mr. Stricker. I just did the passenger dew wipe on my Indy, last Saturday, and was planning to take pictures, as I did the driver side in the near future. Kind of saves me the trouble, as I did it pretty much exactly as you did here. It took me a little longer, as I was looking at options as I went, but this process, turned out to be the easiest/fastest.
If you guys don't have a magnetic tipped phillips screwdriver to put the factory screws back in, may I suggest a little grease, peanut butter, or even silicon, to hold the screw to the driver as you reinstall. You will not be able to get your fingers in there to hold it. At least I wouldn't come close to getting mine in there.
Mine still had the vapor barrier paper on it also. I cut it close to the brackets for the handle. I put it back on, and there was enought of the sticky stuff to hold it in place, but I put a couple pieces of tape on, for good measure.
One more thing, when the outer dew wipe is off, that is the time to replace either of the felt covered window guides, that rest on the inside of the glass, under the inner dew wipe. You have JUST enough room, with the outer wipe out of the way, to push the glass out far enough, to fish them out. I only replced the front one, as the rear one looked fine. Just a note to pass along.Kevin
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jstricker
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FEB 10, 11:39 AM
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Kevin, I forgot to mention the vapor barrier. As you can see, I took mine completely out and am going to replace it with dynamat as I think that gives the door a more solid sound when it closes. The Finale door panels have a much larger air volume and sound pretty "cheap" due to the resonance when you shut the doors because of that unless you use the dynamat. Anything that will hold the screws on the end of the drive is not nice, it's a necessity because as you pointed out, you aren't getting your hands up in there. That's why I prefer the self tapping screws with a hex head because they are much more secure going back in place in the driver. They are a very tight fit under the glass, though, and in fact may not actually have enough room to get them in a few doors. The amount the glass goes up varies from car to car. Some give you all kinds of room, others like the one pictured, have just barely enough. John Stricker
| quote | | Originally posted by Lambo nut: Funny you should post this Mr. Stricker. I just did the passenger dew wipe on my Indy, last Saturday, and was planning to take pictures, as I did the driver side in the near future. Kind of saves me the trouble, as I did it pretty much exactly as you did here. It took me a little longer, as I was looking at options as I went, but this process, turned out to be the easiest/fastest.
If you guys don't have a magnetic tipped phillips screwdriver to put the factory screws back in, may I suggest a little grease, peanut butter, or even silicon, to hold the screw to the driver as you reinstall. You will not be able to get your fingers in there to hold it. At least I wouldn't come close to getting mine in there.
Mine still had the vapor barrier paper on it also. I cut it close to the brackets for the handle. I put it back on, and there was enought of the sticky stuff to hold it in place, but I put a couple pieces of tape on, for good measure.
One more thing, when the outer dew wipe is off, that is the time to replace either of the felt covered window guides, that rest on the inside of the glass, under the inner dew wipe. You have JUST enough room, with the outer wipe out of the way, to push the glass out far enough, to fish them out. I only replced the front one, as the rear one looked fine. Just a note to pass along. Kevin |
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sanderson
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FEB 10, 11:46 AM
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Amen, I've done it this way and I've done it with the special tool. This way is so much easier. One of the Fiero clubs does have instructions for this on their website but you did a better job of explaining it. Thanks for taking the effort. [This message has been edited by sanderson (edited 02-12-2006).]
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Lambo nut
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FEB 10, 12:55 PM
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| quote | | Originally posted by jstricker: Kevin, Anything that will hold the screws on the end of the drive is not nice, it's a necessity because as you pointed out, you aren't getting your hands up in there. That's why I prefer the self tapping screws with a hex head because they are much more secure going back in place in the driver. They are a very tight fit under the glass, though, and in fact may not actually have enough room to get them in a few doors. The amount the glass goes up varies from car to car. Some give you all kinds of room, others like the one pictured, have just barely enough. John Stricker |
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Yes, clearance was darn tight. I had to tilt the screwdriver, with the srew on it, up a little, under the glass, then when I straightned it out to drive it home, the #2 screwdriver shank was up against the bottom of the glass. I might have had more fun trying the hex driver, and screws! Kevin
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Paul Prince
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FEB 10, 01:52 PM
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Thanks for the write-up, John..................Paul
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