Removing Door Glass / Door Window

[Marcdeb]

I recently had to remove the door glass / window on my Karmann ghia. It turned out to be quite complicated. I found some step by step directions in the VW Service Manuals and spent several hours searching for information on TheSamba, but I really didn't find a clear step by step method. I also had some help from other members here on TheSamba, but even with all this information, I still had a very difficult time. I spent several hours trying lots of different ideas of which most were not helpful.

I wanted to document the method I used to remove the door glass/windows on a Karmann Ghia. I'm sure there's more than one way to do this but I hope documenting this will be helpful, and maybe other can add to the thread with corrections or additional tips.

Here is a step by step description of what worked for me. I am not saying that this is the best way or even a correct way. But it got the job done and I did not do any damage to any parts. The doors I worked on are 1970 / 1971 style. These instructions may not apply 100% to all years.

The 70 / 71 doors have 2 window felts, one on each side of the glass. 73 /74 doors do not have the same set up but this may still be helpful. Prior to 1970, I read that the doors have a Felt Strip on the inside only and anti-rattle plugs on the outside of the glass. Either way, I think how I removed my glass should still work.

The doors I worked on are in very good condition. There is a metal strip that is spot welded to the inside outer edge of the window opening. This metal strip holds the rubber window scraper in place against the glass.

This metal strip narrows the window opening and makes pulling the glass up & out of the door very difficult. My original set of doors were rusted at the top opening and these metal strips were completely gone. On these original doors, I was able to pull the glass up through the opening with no problem.

Start by lowering or raising the glass to get access to the 4 mounting bolts on the metal clamp that holds the glass to the Window Regulator. The lower bolts are shorter. The upper 2 bolts have separate nuts and go through the glass, clamp, and regulator bracket.

Gently lower the glass to the bottom of the door.

Remove all hardware from the window opening at the top of the door. In my case it was 2 felt strips, chrome trim on outside of window opening that holds the rubber window scraper. If you have any Anti Rattle plugs, remove them as well.

Unbolt the window regulator and window track and remove from the door shell.

At this point, having an extra helper will make things much easier.

At this point, the glass can be carefully raised up through the opening, however the areas where the bolts go through the clamp are raised and are the widest part that has to come up through the opening and they will not come through easily. The VW Service Manual seems to imply that the window can be turned upright and lifted but this would not work for me. The glass is curved and when it's standing up, it needs a much wider opening.

When I would raise the glass up through the opening, all seemed ok until the edge of the metal clamp on the door came to the inner lip of the opening. The edge of the clamp was always catching on the outer lip of the door. To overcome this, I put a plastic "For Sale" sign down inside the opening against the outside (back side from where you are working) of the door. I taped it to the outer door skin. The plastic sign guides the glass and clamp past the inner lip of the door.

I lifted the glass up at an angle. Being right handed, I lifted the right side of the glass out first. The bottom edge of the glass is angled so as the left side of the glass rises above the opening, slide the glass back to the left so the nuts will come up as close to the center of the door as possible. This will allow for greater flexibility when prying the opening apart. At the point that the first nut is below the opening, have one person hold and maneuver the glass. The 2nd person can then use a piece of hardwood as a fulcrum to push the edges of the opening away from each other as in the photo. The wood I used was 1/2 inch thick, 1 inch wide and 10 inches long. This worked perfectly and was very easy. The opening can be pulled apart enough to allow the glass to come through without any damage. Once the pressure is released, the opening springs back to it's original width.

_________________
Marc
68 Karmann Ghia Cabrio Autostick
71 Karmann Ghia Cabrio

Previously Owned:
2011 VW EOS Hard Top Conv
2008 Saab 9-3 2.0T Conv
2003 Saab 9-3 SE Conv
2001 Saab 9-3 Conv
1998 BMW 3 Series Conv
1997 Saab 900 Conv
1997 Mazda Miata

68 Ghia Vert Survivor with 22,350 miles: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=768107&highlight=
71 Ghia Vert Restoration: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=726710&postorder=asc

[John Moxon]

Thanks Marc, now added to the "How To" stickies.
_________________
John.
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My 1958 Shorrock Supercharged Karmann Ghia
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[Trylon]

More magic from a real craftsman!
_________________
1973 Porsche 914 2.0
1959 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia
1979 Volkswagen Rabbit
1973 Volkswagen Bus
1970 MGB-GT
1962 Oldsmobile Jetfire

More tomfoolery on
The Karmann Ghia Fever YouTube Channel!

[Marcdeb]

[Trylon]

[jeffrey8164]

Nice write up.
I used one of those rubber door stop wedges to open things up when I removed mine.
_________________
Volkswagen!
Turning owners into mechanics since 1938.

“Let he that is without oil throw the first rod”
(Compression 8.7:1)

[Marcdeb]

[jarnarcos]

Having trouble mounting the window scrapers on a 1971 KG. Clips keep shifting and then scratching the door glass. Anybody tried mounting the scrapers using 3M VHB (double-sided) tape?

https://www.uline.com/Grp_240/3M-VHB-Tape

Is used on RV's to hold solar panels to the roof.

[Marcdeb]

[jarnarcos]

There are metal backed felt strips, sometimes also called window scrapers, that go into the window slot, one strip on each side of the window. They are held in with metal clips. The clips can ride over the strip and scrape/scratch the window. Apparently VW only used this design for 70,71 and then went on to other approaches in later years.

[Marcdeb]

[jarnarcos]

I went ahead and used the tape.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007Y7F8TU/

Seems to work fine. Thinking about it...the part of the clip that grips the felt looked far too "open" to properly grip. Are you supposed to install the felt to the clip and THEN squeeze the clip to crimp the felt in place? Or do you just push the felt down into the clip?

[Marcdeb]

[Michaellatini]

Marcdeb, thanks for posting your trick for removing the glass. It worked well. Unfortunately, I scratched the paint a bit and that made me think. Since this is a repaint it wasn't much to think about until it's time to put it back together.

On the second window I did it differently. See photos.

1) I sprayed a generous amount of PB Blaster, along the edge of the rubber.
WD 40 would be fine also. To get to the other side of the glass I raised the window to the top and sprayed from the outside.

2) I removed the two top bolts only as they go through the glass. The bottom two will hold down the bracket surrounding the glass.
Then, heated the metal bracket in front of the rubber and the back side of the metal in the middle only. (see photo)

(held heat gun pointing up and a little behind) The rear of the bracket is only half the length of the visible side in the photo so, don't heat all the way across the back or you might melt the rubber. I only used the heat gun for 2 or 3 mins. before I tried to lift the glass out of the bracket. It came out as if I was lifting 10 lbs of sand.

If you want to remove the rest of the regulator, first I took out the 4 bolts holding the crank in place and slid it to the rear of the door.

3) The vertical support has a large philips head screw at the top that wouldn't budge. I didn't want to start banging on it with an impact so, I removed the bottom nut, after taking a photo of the location of the nut on the adjuster! I pushed the bottom into the door, held the screw with a screw driver and pushed the regulator toward the front on the passenger side, rear on the drivers side. The screw as loose!

I hope this helps also.

Thank you for reading.

Michael

[Marcdeb]

[rbsurfguy]

I too banged up the paint on one door when replacing my windows, they were out while body and paint were done, stuck them in before Marc wrote his thread. I put a bunch of tape down, but clearly wasn't enough, some is hidden by the felt strips, but will have to touch up a couple spots.. When I did the other side, I removed the lift piece, can't remember the name, slipped the glass in from the top, and then wedged it back into the lift piece, while lining it up to slide in and match the holes in the glass. I had to use a rubber mallet to lightly tap on top of the glass to get it to slip into the rubber pad, and the gently used a taped up screwdriver to align the holes in place. It worked for me and didn't chip the paint. Remember to put a small piece of rubber into the glass holes, I used a small slice of fuel hose, just make sure your bolts go through it.

If you spread the lift piece (channel?) a little and perhaps use your heat gun slightly on the rubber, the glass may wedge in a bit easier, then you need to get some bolts to close the metal to the glass. Whatever method you use, it takes time and finesse!
Jeff
_________________
1971 Ghia convertible (Body off rebuild)
2019 VW Atlas 4Motion
2012 Passat-Sold


See my build on The Samba at:
Jeff's 71 Vert Restoration/Reassembly http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6...highlight=

[Michaellatini]

I put the rubber on the glass and wet the outside of the rubber and the inside of the steel bracket, with soapy water and it made it slip right in.

[ron3865]

[rbsurfguy]

Ron, I just went through this with my convertible, so not only did I have to cut all the angles for the weather strip, but then I had to adjust all the glass to match up, which it didn't. Not only did I have to play back and forth with the window lift (sash?) #2 in the pics above, but I also had to loosen the nut at point #3 in the pic.

That got the glass positioned in the zone, after rolling up and down several times. When you roll all the way up and get it close to position, lock that nut down. You will see the lift channel move back and forth in the slot, but when I had it all the way up I tightened that nut down. The window went up and down smoothly.

The main problem I had was the gap distance I had in some spots between the glass and the rubber. To fix that, I had to reposition the rubber, re-drill some new holes for the screws, and move the rubber in place. In other locations I had to use rubber shims to bring the rubber closer to the glass. Luckily I had some of the original broken rubber that had some factory original shims, just strips of rubber. I cut the proper length and thickness, loosened the screws, slipped the rubber in, and tightened down. This not only brought the rubber to the glass, but the glass closer to the rubber, no gaps now.

See the last page or so of my build thread, I documented some of this as described. Not sure if this will fix your situation, but it worked for my problem.
Jeff
_________________
1971 Ghia convertible (Body off rebuild)
2019 VW Atlas 4Motion
2012 Passat-Sold


See my build on The Samba at:
Jeff's 71 Vert Restoration/Reassembly http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6...highlight=

[ron3865]