TAC Tech => Exterior => Topic started by: Wallington on April 09, 2021, 05:42:18 AM
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The previous TAC had a few posts on using the original Kent Moore door glass alignment blocks, as well as a 3D printing guide. Did anyone save photos or take any since of either of these in use, how they install? The original B+W Fisher manual pics are rubbish to make out details. My doors and car are in pieces, hard to make sense of how these things install or help in any way.
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Attached are some of the photos from the earlier post.
To install the hard plastic 3D printed gauge blocks, insert the leading edge first onto the ridge in the weather strip channel, then push down on the rear edge (nearest the handle) into the track. Remove in reverse. The smaller top blocks (blue) are aligned outboard and the larger front block (red) is aligned inboard. I don't think exact placement is critical. They should snap in place if installed correctly.
The actual steps outlined in the service manual are pretty clear once you've walked through them so I won't repeat them here, but the overall goal is to get the windows flush to the guides along the front and top edges.
Once the window is aligned, be careful closing the door with the window up before the weather stripping is in place otherwise you may inadvertently contact the blow out clip. IIRC, this gets better once the weather stripping is in place. Even after, you'll want to keep checking this to make sure there isn't any interference. I found that with today's less flexible weather stripping and how tight everything fits, I needed to adjust the top of the window slightly inward after aligning with the gauge blocks as this seemed to help the fitment. This also creates more clearance with the blow-out clip and makes the window tuck under the clip better. Softer weather stripping would probably negate the need for this.
The largest issue I encountered while adjusting was when I would set the window parallel to the top edge, then roll the window down and back up, it would not be parallel anymore. I attribute this to the play in the 40+ year old window regulator mechanism. The last step of tightening the up-travel stops takes care of this so don't worry about it too much before that step.
Good luck and let us know how it works for you.
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Excellent, thanks for that.
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Im assuming that with T-Tops its basically the same? Remove the weather strip out of the t-top and the channel is the same as hardtop cars?
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Had a play around with a set on a spare channel, fairly snug. Might have to sand a little of the paint off the leading edge of the tools to help slip into place. That was an afterthought. Some print theirs in red or blue resin, I painted mine. Mask off the ribbed channel end, only paint the handles or end up removing it like me.
Yes, T-Tops should install the same with them either side of roof cut.
Gene, was it your post that had these on Thingiverse on previous forum? I saved the link before it crashed and got a local to print them for me. Thanks for that. Anything to do with Flow State with their tools and mirror gaskets?
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Gene, was it your post that had these on Thingiverse on previous forum? I saved the link before it crashed and got a local to print them for me. Thanks for that. Anything to do with Flow State with their tools and mirror gaskets?
Yes, the gauge blocks are my designs on Thingiverse - https://www.thingiverse.com/grcvisuals/designs (https://www.thingiverse.com/grcvisuals/designs)
What/who is "Flow State"? I don't understand the question.
The blocks will be easier to install into a channel that is mounted on the car as they will be a tight fit. I went through several prototype iterations to get the fitment just right. Given the tight fit, I'm sure any paint that is applied to the blocks would get scraped off on installation. Better to print in red or blue filament color, or maybe use stickers.
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Yes, the stickers are a better idea. Even test fitting on spare channel was wearing paint off in spots but leaving red and blue flakes on channel, and that's not original...
They were selling 3D printed items on ebay and have a fbook page, but included these window blocks and mirror gaskets only recently, perhaps someone here used them to print some and they decided to market them.
Some quick pics when I was playing around, and modified paint with buffed contact edges.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51109543380_d71c31c8e0_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kSnLBN)Firebird Kent Moore 3D print door glass blocks (5) (https://flic.kr/p/2kSnLBN) by Aus78Formula (https://www.flickr.com/photos/53057445@N08/), on Flickr
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51108194472_a0284fb7e0_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kSfRCL)Firebird Kent Moore 3D print door glass blocks (1) (https://flic.kr/p/2kSfRCL) by Aus78Formula (https://www.flickr.com/photos/53057445@N08/), on Flickr
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51108667218_60ca5a0cfc_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kSihay)Firebird Kent Moore 3D print door glass blocks (7) (https://flic.kr/p/2kSihay) by Aus78Formula (https://www.flickr.com/photos/53057445@N08/), on Flickr
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51108768116_fb50b7a344_b.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2kSiNab)Firebird Kent Moore glass guides buffed contact edges (https://flic.kr/p/2kSiNab) by Aus78Formula (https://www.flickr.com/photos/53057445@N08/), on Flickr
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They were selling 3D printed items on ebay and have a fbook page, but included these window blocks and mirror gaskets only recently, perhaps someone here used them to print some and they decided to market them.
No association. It wouldn't be the first time someone scraped a design from Thingiverse then printed and sold on eBay. In this case it's perfectly legal given the type of license I chose to post it under, but not legal if the designer assigned a "Creative Commons - Non Commercial" license to the model.
I have no interest in producing and selling these as it's not worth my time, so I have no problem with people using it this way. For people who don't own a 3D printer there is not much difference between buying from this eBay seller vs downloading yourself and using an online 3D printing service. Looks like it might even be a cheaper option, so it benefits everyone.
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Looks like the seller moved from eBay to Etsy. Here's the latest link in case anyone is interested in buying from them - https://www.etsy.com/listing/887977305/side-window-alignment-blocks-for-1970 (https://www.etsy.com/listing/887977305/side-window-alignment-blocks-for-1970)
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Im assuming that with T-Tops its basically the same? Remove the weather strip out of the t-top and the channel is the same as hardtop cars?
I assume that is the hope. The t-top has a little bit of adjustment in it to try to get a competent beam weatherstrip presented to the window. The t-top weatherstripping is unique, but I don't think they ever intended it to have a different cross section.