<August 29, 1999>
Well, I was hoping I could give you guys some hints on removing your windows, but I'm not sure what to say. When I removed the driver's side, it was a complete pain in the butt, but I thought I learned something. Then I went to remove the passenger side and it took another two days! So I can give you maybe some vague tips, but generally you're just going to have to pick up a Ford Shop Manual for your car and wing it like I did.
Here is the driver's side window laid out. The vent window/front track assembly is a seperate piece, as is the rear track assembly. The door window rolls up and down, riding on rollers that fit into the rear track, and sliding in the felt channel of the vent window.
There is also a regulator, not pictured, which is the part that lets you roll the window up and down. It has two long arms that ride in a horizontal track attached to the bottom of the window. I drilled out the screws that hold the track on the driver's side window to get the window out, because the shop manual says you have to remove the screws. Then Charles (on the newsgroup) told me I didn't have to do that, and I saved the passenger window track from the same fate, as I will explain later.
Looking at the bare door, you can see there are a lot of strategically placed cut-outs
that allow you to reach all the necessary bolts. You may have to crank the window up and
down to reach them all, or you may need an assistant to help hold the window up. This door
is now bare except for the door latch/lock mechanism.
NOTE: You can see a beam running across the inside of the door. That seems to be a thin structural member. It doesn't come out. Mine was bent in on the passenger side, telling me Bloo's been hit on that side and had her doorskin replaced. There was also a sticker that says 'inspected at Francis Ford, Portland' so I guess that happened while she lived in Portland, Oregon. when I bought her she had a sticker on the air cleaner for a mechanic in Lake Oswego, Oregon. You never know where you'll find clues about your car's past.
Some of the bolts have a built in washer with a hex nut, and the bolt itself has a hex
hole in the end, so you can turn it with an allen key. I was really stuck getting one bolt
out until I noticed that. Since (in my doors anyway) many of these bolts were very rusty
and dirty, it was hard to turn them or to turn the hex nuts on them.
The first thing I did on both doors was to remove the weatherstripping along the top edge
of the door. These metal backed felts pry off with a screwdriver or other thin tool.
Before you can do that, you have to crank the window all the way up and pull out a thick
rubber bumper in the bottom of the door. I had to use pliers to get a good hold of it and
pull it out. Then the window can be lowered down all the way into the door. Now you can
access the weatherstripping.
Also, on the passenger door, I found it easier to pull out the vent window assembly first. Then I had more room inside the door to wiggle the other pieces around. I ended up disconnecting everything and letting it all lay loose inside the door. Then I could pull out the rear track, move the regulator around until it came off the window track, and then pull out the big window (with the track still attached). Then I got the regulator out through the big cutout in the door.
In the process I mixed up many of my bolts and am not looking forward to putting this all back together. If I did it again I would start with a diagram, and mark every bolt as I removed it. I ended up with a pile o'bolts, and some bolts were missing, and I'm sure that's not going to be a fun re-install.