TheSamba.com :: View topic

Tue Sep 16, 2014 6:36 pm

I am removing some Hehr windows from a pair of nice cargo doors, and have run into a bit of a puzzle. Being that this is my first split bus project and first camper window, I'm hesitant to start hacking at it without some clear idea of what lies under all of this. Here's what I see after removing the screws and aluminum frame from the door

there appears to be a frame added to the window opening, to bring the mounting flange flush with the door skin. It looks to be glazed in with some sort of seam sealer, or body filler. So, my thoughts are to try a heat gun, and if not that maybe a thin cutting disc along the edge of the real window flange to start to release the filler..

Even if I was keeping the windows, the frames would have to come out as there's a bit of rust bubbling through where these are blended to the door skins. Is this mounting frame welded/ screwed/ riveted in, and is there any hope of saving it for the guy that's taking the windows? I'd like to save it, but my main concern is the door. My goal is to convert it back to pop out windows.
Any insight is appreciated, SD

Tue Sep 16, 2014 7:17 pm

That doesn't appear to be a standard Hehr window used for stock window openings. It may have been a window that is used when cutting a window opening in a panel but it's hard to tell from the pictures.

A standard Hehr window for stock window openings uses an inner space frame (which is screwed in to the window opening) that the Hehr window attaches to:

Tue Sep 16, 2014 7:30 pm

I'll post a few pics of what I find when some of the filler is removed. It's been tooled into the gap with a big radius, so the shape is not well defined in my pictures. These doors do have window openings, the size matches a pop out window, and the mount for the latch is there. Both cargo doors, and front doors I picked up for this project are in exceptional shape, with factory paint on the insides and door edges. It's the same color as I found under the window frames, so these may be the original installation.

Wed Sep 17, 2014 9:13 am

It looks as if someone used jalousies normally placed externally onto a Panel with cutouts. They are dimensionally different than jalousies used for popout openings. The Panel Bus conversion windows are longer and not as tall. Are your jalousies with square corners or rounded to the shape of a popout?

It appears someone made adapters so the bottoms of the frame could attach and there'd be some hiding inside without wood grain trim. They look a lot like the top water shield that goes over Panel Van jalousies.

Sheesh, who knows how they are attached as I don't see screws unless they go perpendicular to the lip. Post up what is the material holding them and how they are attached once you find out.

If you can't save them then it's probably just as well as you don't use those on a Panel Bus conversion if, in fact, they are not the popout style version.

Wed Sep 17, 2014 4:39 pm

So, after some digging it seems the doors were modified to accept windows that were originally designed for a panel door. There is an additional lip brazed into the window opening, to allow the window to mount flush with the outside. Then the channel between the lips is filled with putty. This will be a ton of fun to remove; heat helps but it smells like death. Anyway, pics as requested:

SD

Wed Sep 17, 2014 6:06 pm

Resist the urge to start grinding on the filler with out at least a respirator. The old Bondo was laced with asbestos which is not a good thing to breathe in. Like you have suggested, using heat works well but stinks. Ventilation is your friend.

At least the original work was done with some forethought and skill.

Thu Sep 18, 2014 4:57 am

Surfndoc and Barryl have it I think :)

Your last set of pics looks like the windows I have on my EZ camper - which was made from a panel bus cut out square and screwed into the panel with thick rubber gaskets and a rain guard across the top hinge.

That adapter piece on the door looks like an attempt to "flush mount" that original design into a windowed bus.

The windowed bus took a different louvered window than the cut panel bus.

These are the window for the windowed bus.

And these square windows go to the cutouts on a panel.

[img][/img]