My roll-down 1992 window stuck yesterday. I opened the door and removed the regulator, only to have the frontmost drop frame fall off in a shower of rust:

http://www.minimania.com/web/Item/AL.../InvDetail.cfm

I've tried to affect a repair by wire-brushing off all the rust and re-attaching the frame using silicone goop as a sealent (it's curing now)., but I've been edoing this long enough to realize that such a fix will be temporary at best, if it works at all. Personally I think it will just pull off the first time I put it under load. Grrrrrrrrrrr....

First of all - why is one rail $10 more expensive then the other? The rear rail is less...That seems weird.

http://www.minimania.com/web/Item/AL.../InvDetail.cfm

Second, I assume that the replacement rail must be crimped onto the window glass, but using what tool? I have a big set of pliers, but they're not long enough to grip the top edge of the glass channel past the place where the regulator channels are. Are the new units pre-bent so that all you need to do is crimp them from the bottomm edge or something?

Last, $60 for a peice of steel (+ another $10 for the rubber insert) is quite a bit of money - can someone recommend a decent salvage or refurbish supplier? Or is this one of those parts that, once installed, cannot be REinstalled? I'm hosed until I can affect a repair... well, that or just drive on sunny days, which I generally do, but I hate leaving the car unsecured.

 

GBCarParts has them slightly cheaper than MiniMania
MiniMania will always be more expensive than other suppliers (except for their occasional sales)
Also, check MiniSpares - sometimes for smaller parts they are cheaper because the prices are less and you dont have to pay VAT - Just make sure you email them first to confirm shipping prices. Although the prices are usually cheaper make sure you factor in shipping because sometimes it can be expensive (large, bulky or heavy items)

oh yea - MiniSpares ships pretty quick too

 

It's just as expensive to ship from the UK... the part itself is half the price, but the shipping is terrible. I'll check GBCarparts...

 

Matt, can't say for sure since I've never replaced a side glass in a Mini before, but if it's like other "older cars" the rubber insert is what hold the glass in. No need to crimp the channel, also souldn't be any need to buy a new rubber, the old one should be reusable.

Good luck with the goo repair, the previous owner of my car used the same method for a hinge mount repair one the bonnet. Although they used windshield butel, which was a real pain to remove.

 

I felt the same way when i failed to check behind the seat for rust.

 

The rubber peice is less at GBcarparts so I'll just order one with a new rail if I need to. So... sounds like there are little grippies inside the steel channel that friction-grip the rubber? If so, a rubber mallet would be the installation tool it sounds like. Should I put some sort of contact cement on the rubber peice do you think?

 

When I reassembled my passenger-side (left!) window, it was a friction fit. your I dea of a rubber mallet (or dead blow hammer) should do the trick. A gentle crimp would not hurt, maybe even before inserting the glass, just to tighten up the channel. Good luck getting it all back in though. I used up a fair amount of profanity until I got it right. But I confess I was using a driver's-side track on the passenger side so a little trial and error was necessary.

 

Well the rails are set up so that they work on both sides - a rail is either a right side front or left side rear or vice versa... What did you have to do to "get it right"? Is there a trick?

With any luck my silicone fix will hold making this all a moot point, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

Oh yeah... this is the part of *real* British car ownership that I remember.

It's all part of the "experience."

 

Well, the cured silicone held GREAT...

...unfortunately I put the rail on too far back somehow and the regulator didn't work right. Took me 30 minutes to cut the silicone off and re-goo it. Grrr... The good news though is that when it curse it holds on very well as far as I can tell... We'll try again in the morning.

 

Don't forget there's also Seven Enterprises (www.7ent.com) and Heritage Garage (www.heritagegarage). When Minimania and Minispares were still partners I used to take the MM part numbers and plug 'em into the MS website. I'd say more than 90% of the time the MM price was TWICE what MS charged when you converted £ to $. I used to order my parts through MiniSport and only used MM when it was a handfull of small things. ...this was before the US Dollar was 2:1 on the GB Pound though. Last night was a good example - I needed an air filter, so I checked the MM site. $89 and change. Same part number at Checker Auto Parts? $39. What's that, a 228% markup? (sigh) Needless to say I have the filter comin' in the mail from Checker.

 

"..unfortunately I put the rail on too far back somehow and the regulator didn't work right. Took me 30 minutes to cut the silicone off and re-goo it. Grrr..."

That's what I mean by getting it right. Same thing happened to me but I fortunately had not used any goo.

 

Do they ship form the US or the UK? Usually items are half price in the UK but the shipping makes up the difference.

Guess you're supposed to put it all the way forward. I left just enough room for the felt channel. Hope I got it this time.

 

Seven and Heritage Garage are both in California. MiniSport is indeed in the UK. The curious bit (a few years ago) was that even *with* shipping from the UK to Hawaii I was able to undercut Minimania's prices - BEFORE shipping. They nailed us a few times with ridiculous shipping charges, so my purchases there are few and far between.

 

Good to know - I'll add them both to my Bookmarks.

Looks like the silicone is working for the time being... It seems very strong (ATM anyway). At least now I know how to get the door apart and the glass out in about 3 1/2 minutes now, right?

 

There's nothing like having to do something 2 or 3 times to figure it out. I thought taking the dash out of my car was going to be a pain in the butt - and then I did it! Now I've gotta adjust those hi-los...

 

Oooooh... Let me know how that goes. I'm VERY interested in fitting a set of those in my car. I'm thinking of going with the optional spring upgrade to the rubber cones as well...

 

Imago, another good and reasonably priced parts place is Great British Parts at http://www.gbcarparts.com/
When I replaced my rear subframe, I got the subframe and an entire exhaust from 7 Enterprises, they shipped ground and it cost me $40.
I wanted 2 new rubber cones and a couple of rear trailing arm rebuild kits. Cones run $70 - 90 from the US parts sites. MiniSpares has them for 24 pounds. The rebuild kits are around $35 here, 8 pounds from MiniSpares. I picked up 2 cones, 2 rebuild kits, a new boot handle and a couple of other small bits, shipped to Las Vegas for about the cost of 1 cone and 1 rebuild kist from the best priced US site I could find.
Sometimes it's certainly worth paying international shipping. Also remember that if you're having stuff shipped from the UK, you don't pay VAT on your purchase.