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sixty2vdub Samba Member
Joined: May 16, 2015 Posts: 26 Location: Hawaii
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Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2015 10:46 pm Post subject: HOW TO: Vent Window Lock Replacement Made Easy |
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I'm pretty new to the Samba, been lurking for a while though. I purchased a '62 Beetle earlier this year & I've gathered a ton of info from this site since, thanks to guys like Andy & others who've been here for a long time. This is my way of giving back, and I hope it helps someone eventually.
Here goes...
You've just enjoyed driving around in your Volkswagen and when you park it, your passenger forgets that a car that's 50+ years old is fragile. When he or she goes to lock the vent window after closing it...SNAP!!! There goes the latch! If the car were moving, you'd be tempted to give your passenger the boot out the door. Instead, you force yourself to smile, and you say "That's okay, I can fix it".
As my story goes, after numerous searches I decided that I wanted to re-use my original German glass, and I also felt that I could do this without removing the window & it's frame from the door itself. If I were going to re-chrome my frame, then by all means, I would have removed it.
Turns out that this project was really easy, and here's how....
Important tools for the job: Hook and pick set, razor cutter
First, slice & cut the window gasket between the glass and frame, inside and out. This will loosen it up some.
Next, use a pick to dig out some of the window gasket. The less gasket there is, the less resistance...It will be easier to pull the glass out of the frame. When you're finished using the pick, you can insert a pocket screwdriver into the top and bottom (either the top or bottom first) of the flat edge of the window at the end of the frame about a 1/4" inch, and pry it just a little. When you see the glass move a little, you can just pull it out.
Once the glass is removed from the frame, drill the rivets from the top (Inside the frame looking down) using a bit that's a little larger than the top of the rivet. Just don't drill all the way to the frame, all you need to do is drill away the flared end, then you can use a little punch to knock the rivet out through the bottom of the frame.
Attach your new lock with the rivets you purchased along with it. I flattened out the top of the rivets in the frame a little with a clamp so it wouldn't stick up too high.
Now the fun part, installing the window. It's easier than you think...Aha! The culprit (My son) who broke the lock is in the reflection...How appropriate!
Important: I used window to frame gasket from West Coast Metrics. After a search of this forum, a member here stated that their rubber is easy to use and you can push the window in by hand . And you know what? It is easy.
There is plenty of rubber to work with, so what I did was stretch the rubber around the edge of the glass to make it a little thinner and clamped it. Then I sprayed some silicone on the rubber, and when I went to push the glass into the frame it went right in. No fuss. No jig, no rubber mallet. All by hand, it was duck soup.
Finally, remove the clamps and trim the excess rubber away with a razor knife. Clean your glass with some Windex and you're finished!
As I said, I hope this can help someone. I've done a lot to my car in a short period of time thanks to members here who've contributed their knowledge. I thank you all.
- Walt - |
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panicman Samba Member

Joined: December 18, 2011 Posts: 2368 Location: Canby, OR
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Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2015 11:02 pm Post subject: |
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Nice write up, and it certainly may come in very handy! Thank you! |
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OLDveedubs Samba Member

Joined: February 10, 2003 Posts: 602
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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2015 9:55 am Post subject: |
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Great job Walt! Glad you kept the original one, worth the effort! _________________ -Ryan
Restoration Updates
www.my59bug.com
"Perfection through inspection." |
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Todd66 Samba Member
Joined: February 19, 2012 Posts: 461 Location: Utah
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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2015 3:58 pm Post subject: |
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Just my personal advice, but I would put some weatherstrip adhesive in the window channel before the weatherstrip and in between the weatherstrip and glass. Notice how easy the glass went in? It can come out too! Not as easy, but it can, trust me. Just my 2 cents, from experience. |
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Harris Samba Member

Joined: June 11, 2004 Posts: 1317 Location: Texas
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Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2015 6:16 pm Post subject: How To Vent Window |
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Thanks Walt.
Did not know about the sealer from West Coast. The last one I had done was at a shop to replace the latch. They did not do a good job on the window sealer so I later found a Sequrit orig vent wing and replace it. Nice to know I would now have other options. Good write up and good info |
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itskyle Samba Member

Joined: October 04, 2013 Posts: 634 Location: Plainfield, IN
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Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2015 5:34 am Post subject: Hey moderators... |
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Should this be a sticky, or do we have a HOWTO part of SAMBA I haven't run across yet?
Kyle  _________________ --
69 or 72 Autostick Bug current
66 Bug (We both miss it)
74 SuperBeetle Auto Stick (I miss that car)
73 SquareBack, Straight Stick (Wife misses this one.) |
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fla2smoker Samba Member
Joined: December 31, 2011 Posts: 574 Location: Parrish, Florida
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EverettB  Administrator

Joined: April 11, 2000 Posts: 70937 Location: Phoenix 602
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sixty2vdub Samba Member
Joined: May 16, 2015 Posts: 26 Location: Hawaii
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Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2015 10:44 pm Post subject: Re: Hey moderators... |
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EverettB wrote: |
Yes, it's already in there.
Thanks to the OP for doing this tutorial |
It was my pleasure to contribute, and thanks for moving it to where it won't fade away into oblivion. This site is truly the best and has helped me out a lot
@ Todd66 - Thank you for your input.
- For those who wish to use some adhesive as Todd suggested, I personally would would use it sparingly, and only in a few sections along the sides. Putting adhesive on the bottom of the gasket & the bottom of the glass could lead to a real hassle if you have to remove it again in the future for whatever reason.
To everyone, this took me maybe 30 minutes of labor from start to finish. It took me longer to remove and install the old latch than anything else - Only five minutes to remove the glass and five minutes to re-install it including trimming the rubber.
Have an awesome Volkswagen day everybody
- Walt - |
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Z00mie Samba Member
Joined: June 18, 2013 Posts: 131 Location: S. Carolina
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Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2015 2:04 pm Post subject: |
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Awesome write-up! As a suggestion: take 3M adhesive cleaner and squirt liberally around the seal and all acessible areas of the vent window rubber. Use it to flush the silicone spray off your freshly installed glass. It'll never attempt to squirm out of the frame. The 3M stuff removes oil/release agents, glue etc. Awesome stuff! |
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AZ66Bug Samba Member

Joined: February 17, 2014 Posts: 311 Location: Chandler, AZ
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Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2015 3:41 pm Post subject: |
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Great post - wish I had seen this when we were doing the vent windows on our 66 about 6 months ago. _________________ 66 Beetle Sedan, restored 2014
66 Mustang: Original Owner, restored 2008
66 Ford F250: 4th Owner, restored 2013 |
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