Tools Needed:
Phillips Screwdriver
Regular flat blade Screwdriver
Window Crank tool
Hammer
Wooden paint stirring stick or dowel
Note: These instructions apply to 1986-1989 Caprices. You will need to adjust them to fit your particular car if it is not such a model. Also, these are for informational purposes only. In short, you break it that is your fault not the author’s.
Let’s get started shall we? Let’s start with something simple. Roll the window all the way down.
Next you must remove the armrest and the window crank and anything that will keep the door panel from coming off. I’m not going to go into the details, as they will be make and model specific. Figure it out for yourself. It’s not that hard.
After you have all the extras off, remove the door panel. As you look into the door itself, look at where the channel runs on the front of the door. You should be able to grab hold of that and pull. The channel/felt should easily pull out. Do this all the around the front edge of the door. You might have a small clip that hold the channel in place about mid-way up the front edge of the door. Pinch the edges of the clip with your fingers to remove it from the channel. Set the clip aside, you’ll need it later.
Pull the channel out all the way to the top/back corner of the window. Now as you look inside the channel you will see a piece of chrome metal or stainless steel that is clipped to the channel. Take that small flat bladed screwdriver in your hand. Push the blade of the screwdriver between the channel and the window frame on the inside edge of the door. Do this at the upper edge of the metal in the channel. Pry gently on the channel while pull on the felt/rubber that you have already pulled out. You will bend the metal piece that’s inside the doorframe. But that’s OK; you’re throwing that away anyway. You will need to gently work your way down from the top to the bottom of the frame to get it all the way out. Once you get this piece out, the rest of the channel will pull out very easily.
Now for the reinstall. Look at the replacement part. You will need to position the pre-formed corner as close the corner as possible. Try and hold it up in place as close to the op as you can. Now you will need to try and work the new channel into place. Take the end piece of the new channel and push it down inside the door. No need to push it into place yet.
Next, I started by pushing the outside edge of the channel into place. This is the edge that will be on the outside of the door. It will not just drop into place given the new metal piece that’s attached to the channel. You will need to push it pretty good. Once you have that outside edge in, you will need the wooden paint stir stick and the hammer. Take the paint stick and place one edge of it down inside the new channel. Starting at the bottom, gently tap the hammer on the paint stick. This will drive the inside edge of the channel down into place without harming the new channel. As you get one section in place, move up the channel a couple of inches and repeat this until you have the whole thing in place.
Now as you’re standing there admiring your work, I know what you are thinking. I didn’t get that piece as close to the top as I should have. Don’t despair fellow B-body friend. Take the flat bladed screwdriver in one hand and the hammer in another. Look inside the window channel at the metal piece. See the little cutouts? There should be a nice flat edge on the cutout near the top. Stick the blade of your screwdriver in there to that the blade is perpendicular to the cutout. Now gently tap the screwdriver with the hammer and drive the piece upward toward the corner. GENTLY! Did I mention tap it GENTLY???
The rest is really easy. Just push it into place in the channel. When you get to the leading edge of the door, find that little clip we took off earlier and put it into place on the new channel and push it into the doorframe. Work your way all the way around. Once you have the new channel in place you will need to take the window itself and push it into place. There is a little clip on the window that snaps into the channel. You will have to push it pretty good to get it to snap into place.
Now roll the window up and down to make sure that all is well. If so, put the door panel back on and the armrest etc… Re-assemble things in the reverse order that you took them apart.
You’re done. Pretty easy wasn’t it?