From: RLIRELAND@aol.com
Hi Wagonvillers,
As promised, here is a description of the reinstallation of my
rear door
windows.
I ordered a 4 door sedan glass run channel kit from T-Bird
products. I figured that the rear doors of the wagon were close
enough to the sedan to work. The kit contained both the moveable
window glass run channel and the division bar channel. I compared
the new runs to the old parts and they were pretty close. I had
to trim about an inch
off both the division bar run and the other run to make them fit.
Better too long than too short, though. Most of the effort
involved drilling off the rivets holding the brackets on the old
division bar runs and riveting the brackets back on the new runs.
I used 1/8 inch by short aluminum pop rivets. They fit and worked
perfectly. I had to reuse the rubber seal around the fixed window
in the rear door since I was unable find a reproduction or NOS
replacement. I soaked the old seal in Armor All for a couple of
days to restore some pliability. I also let the gasket sit in the
sun for an hour or so before reinstalling to make it more
flexible. They're not too bad but I may have to squirt some
windshield sealer around the glass to make sure it seals.
I also replaced the window mechanism arm rollers with new
replacements from T-Bird. Larry Belnap was asking about how to
install the regulator about a month ago. I didn't have too much
of a problem following the instructions in my Ford Body Assembly
Manual, which has a good section on windows. I put the division
bar in place but not bolted down. I slipped a new roller into
each roller track. There are two on the window and one on the
inside of the door. Then I loosely bolted the regulator assembly
in place. Next, I dropped the window glass down inside the door
from the outside. I set the regulator at about 3/4 down and just
set the window on the arms inside the door. Once I had the window
positioned in the channel, I reached inside the door through the
access hole and positioned the arms and rollers so I could snap
them on. The rollers have retaining clips that allow the pins on
the arms to be pushed on and snap in place. Then I set the fixed
window and gasket in place on the division bar and bolted it in
place. Once I had done the left side, the right side took me less
than an hour to do. It looks pretty nice although I noticed my
left side windows appear to have some pits in them. Looks like
that side of the car sat facing a sand storm. I might try to
polish the glass a little to see if I can get some of them out.
Next weekend, I'm going to attempt to do the front door glass.
I'm taking my vent windows to an auto glass shop this week to
have them replaced. They're pretty badly bubbled around the
edges. I've already replaced the vent window rubber gasket and
installed the glass run in the front doors so it should go pretty
fast. I'll put some pictures up on my Photopoint album on Monday.
Hope this description is of help to some of you. If you have any
questions, feel free to email me.
Howdy Wagonvillers,
Well, I must be on a roll. Last weekend I put in the rear door
windows and today I did the front door windows. I used
replacement rubber parts and glass run channels from T-Bird
Products for the '56 four door sedan. They worked fine. I did
have to trim about a half an inch off the end of the glass run
channel on each side. Installation was fairly quick. The hardest
part is figuring out how to get the window glass in to both the
division bar and the glass run channel. Thanks to my Ford Body
Assembly Manual, I got it done with a minimum of effort.
I had new glass cut for my vent windows since the originals were
pretty badly bubbled. Replacing the vent window in the frame was
suprisingly easy. I just positioned the bottom threaded pivot
shaft in the mounting bracket and tightened it down with a nut. A
tech tip here for replacing the rubber vent window gasket: apply
some silicone grease or spray silicone to the rubber. It makes
pressing it into the groove in the frame much easier. Also, if
you are replacing the seal on the division bar side of the vent
window, here's a tip on that too. It comes with brass rivets to
install the seal strip. Unless you have a tool of some sort to
tightly fasten the rivets, the seal will have a gap between it
and the division bar. I solved this by applying some 3M black
weatherstrip adhesive before setting the rivets with a nail set.
This provided a nice seal and also glued the strip firmly in
place. Check my Photopoint gallery for new pictures on Monday. I
think I've figured out how to do the rear side windows. I'm
waiting on some seals for the fixed windows that I ordered from
Concourse Parts to see if they'll fit. Probably won't get to this
until after the Holidays though.
This weekend, I replaced the rear quarter windows in my '56
Country Sedan. Since there are no prefabricated kits available to
install these windows, I had to try to match the original
weatherstripping and channel as closely as I could. I used parts
from both Metro Moulded Products and Reproduction Parts, Inc. The
rear quarter windows on a Ranchwagon are similar but larger since
there is no rear door.
There are two pieces to the rear quarters; the fixed glass and
the slider glass. I replaced the rubber moulding around the fixed
glass with p/n 4588 from Reproduction Parts. It's a pretty close
match to the original. The fixed glass also has a sweeper that is
spot welded to the chrome edge on the glass. I carefully pried
the old sweeper off the chrome edge and used a dremel tool to
grind the welds off smooth. I used sweeper p/n WC 7-32 from
Metro. I cut the sweeper to length using the old piece as a
pattern. Then I used some "GOOP", the all-purpose
adhesive, to glue the sweeper to the chrome edge.
For the slider glass, I used flexible channel p/n WC 11-72 from
Metro. I needed 6' pieces on each side. Ranch wagons will need
longer channel. I believe it comes in up to 96" lengths.
I installed the channel and slider glass using the procedure in
my Ford Body Assembly Manual. Then, the fixed glass was set in
place and sealed with black silicone adhesive. The inside window
trim holds the fixed glass in place.
It turned out quite nice. If anyone needs more information about
parts or installation, contact me.
Both vendors are listed on the Ranchwagon Vendors page.
Roy Ireland
‘56 Country Sedan
Tucson, AZ
rlireland@aol.com