S1 electric windows and sagging doors

[Paul Coleman]

I have tried to get my S1 electric windows working without any success. I've got the frame, glass and door beam out of the car on the bench and I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do with it - other than throw it all away!

Both of my door frames have cracked at the back corner where the frame is secured to the door shell. This looks as though it's been caused by the profile of the glass not matching the profile of the door frame at the top back corner of the frame. When the glass goes up the glass is in line with the inner side of the aluminium frame and then jumps back into the felt channel at the end. This has obviously stressed the frame and caused it to crack. My problem is how to fix it, although I suspect it probably can't be fixed permanently.

My other problem is to do with the doors sagging. The aluminium tube on the end of the door beam has a bigger hole than the size of the bush. So consequently the bushes slop around in the tube and also the door pin is smaller than the hole in the bush. I've got a replacement pin which fits some replacement bronze bushes but these are still the same outer diameter as the plastic ones, so they're still sloppy in the door beam.

The doors seem to be the absolute worst bit of the whole car Has anybody managed to sort out their doors? I suspect I'm going to have to bend the frames but I'm concerned about damaging any of the glass!!

[Freemason]

Maybe you need the imperial bushes that are a different size?

[jcslocum]

You could have a bigger bushing made so the OD matches the ID of the tube. Maybe early cars had a different bush that an older car and that is why they might not fit?

 

 

[C43]

On ‎12‎/‎04‎/‎2016 at 19:17, Paul Coleman said:

I have tried to get my S1 electric windows working without any success. I've got the frame, glass and door beam out of the car on the bench and I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do with it - other than throw it all away!

Both of my door frames have cracked at the back corner where the frame is secured to the door shell. This looks as though it's been caused by the profile of the glass not matching the profile of the door frame at the top back corner of the frame. When the glass goes up the glass is in line with the inner side of the aluminium frame and then jumps back into the felt channel at the end. This has obviously stressed the frame and caused it to crack. My problem is how to fix it, although I suspect it probably can't be fixed permanently.

My other problem is to do with the doors sagging. The aluminium tube on the end of the door beam has a bigger hole than the size of the bush. So consequently the bushes slop around in the tube and also the door pin is smaller than the hole in the bush. I've got a replacement pin which fits some replacement bronze bushes but these are still the same outer diameter as the plastic ones, so they're still sloppy in the door beam.

The doors seem to be the absolute worst bit of the whole car Has anybody managed to sort out their doors? I suspect I'm going to have to bend the frames but I'm concerned about damaging any of the glass!!

does sound like the imperial to metric issue. I am doing my doors at the moment and my door pin is metric (15.97mm). The SJ web site describes it all.

C43

[Lotusfab]

Paul, is this an old post? Have you fixed the doors? The problem and solution is the bushes some are metric and some imperial, it's all on my blog. The Windows I have decided are worn pulleys and motors not providing enough to torque. Have got my passenger side working but it's not smooth because there's too much play in the pulley wheels. Am rebuilding them and will let you know the result.

[Paul Coleman]

I've sorted the sagging doors by fitting Matt's uprated stainless steel pins and phosphor bronze bushes. You could swing on them now!

My windows are still not working because the frames are cracked at the back. The problem with mine is due to the fact that the frame is a different profile to the glass and I know I'm not alone here as it's a common problem. I had mine re-welded but as soon as I started using them they both cracked again. Matt's looking at a strenghtening mod which hopefully I'm going to fit and try.

[GordonMasson]

My window frames were cracked as well Paul.  Ended up buying a set of new frames for a later car and doing a cut and shut job on them to match the originals. It meant that the stressed parts were replaced with brand new material which will hopefully last the next 40 years!