Excaliburss, you won't like the answer.
🙂
You have to dismantle the door.
1. Remove the arm rest. Drop the aluminum cover, then remove the four bolts that hold it on.
2. Remove the inside
door panel. No screws, but 10 to 12 clips. Some of mine were rusted, so I ordered new ones from summitracing.com - they are available a lot of places.
3. Remove the glass - yes, you have to because it covers the screws holding the beltline. I found a Youtube video by West Coast Cougar documenting how to replace the door glass. There are minor differences between the Cougar and Thunderbird, but the principles apply. (you might be able to drop the glass down a bit - I will try this with the driver's side when I get to it.)
4. Eight small screws hold the
chrome to the door, and the outside beltline window fabric is stapled to the
chrome. One of the screws was unreachable until I drilled a hole in the tab that hold the
door panel.
5. The
door panel has the inside beltline fabric piece stapled to it. You will need to cut the staples and attach the replacement to it. I will be using pop rivets. The West Coast Cougar video says to reuse the old one if it is in good shape. Mine needs replaced.
6. Found
rust under the
chrome. Ground it down to bare metal, and rattle can painted the portion that will be covered by the
chrome. If I later paint the car the right way this will all be pulled anyway. If I go cheap, they can mask the
chrome and paint right up to it. Either way, the
rust is stopped for now.
The back seat window is very similar - pull the arm rest,
door panel, glass, etc. just to get to the beltline.
I did all this because my window was broken when I bought the car a couple of months ago. Plus the armrest was broken, and the
door panel is broken.
I dread doing the driver's side.
Now, working in reverse:
1. Install the
chrome beltline.
2. Drill small holes and screw the new outside beltline fabric into the
chrome. The new fabric has huge holes where the screws holding the
chrome go, and aren't useful for holding the fabric. (This is where I am with the project. Will upload pictures soon).
3. Replace the glass, or in my case install the replacement glass.
4. I will install sheetmetal behind the
door panel, between the panel and the fabric, and pop rivet it into place, strengthening the panel. Plus, I am experimenting with something regarding the panel. If it works, I will share what I learned.
🙂
5. Pop rivet the new inside window beltline felt to the
door panel and install it.
5. Using a '
plastic welding kit' I bought from Mac's, I will repair the armrest and reinstall it.
Then I will tackle the back seat windows on the right side, and replace the window seal while the back window is dismantled. Then I get to do it all again on the driver's side.
