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might as well bring this bitch back alive. so i was out trying to kill some rattles. on my drivers door, i traced a resonating rattle from that metal piece that is rivited onto the door that holds the arm rest. what i did was take like a square inch of paper towell and roll it up. than i took a screw driver and pried the top out a little bit and than jammed the rolled up paper towell piece into the gap, than i used a real small screw driver to push it a little deeper so you cant see it. i done this on both doors and oh man, what in improvement. and one other thing i had noticed was that the metal pieces for the door lock and door latch rattle. i already replaced the foam as described earlier but they still continue to rattle. in the pictures above, the rods have a sleeve on them, mine do not have this. the plan is to find something to put over the rods so they do not move as much while shutting the door.
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Recently, I discovered another possible source of noise: the A-pillar retainers and their clips. After being subjected to the sun for many years, the plastic of both the pillar and the clips can become brittle and, as a consequence, break.
The pillar, if my parts man is correct, is no longer available from GM. As I recall, it wasn't available from Year One either. As can be seen, I did attempt a fix to a retainer, one that probably would have worked, but I ended up harvesting the entire pillar from a bone yard for $5.00.
Here are the five clips, two Christmas tree type for the lower portion of the pillar and three for the upper. The three upper are more suspectible to breaking, I think. Once the center portion snaps there is nothing to keep them in place.
Sorry. The first version looks very similiar to the ones shown here, but the base, which is also suspectible to breaking as you see, is even more feeble (82 to 84 cars?). The newest version has a rubber insulator--again GM must have been aware of noise problems. That version can be seen on the following thread (thanks CC_HotRod for the pic and TomP for a good how-to reply):
In addition to TomP's instructions, I found the following helpful: Simply stick a piece of tape directly behind the retainer so that you'll know where to push to install the clips--otherwise you're shooting a bit blind.
Buy a coupla bucks worth of vacuum line---I don't know the exact size but you can eyeball it.
Probably 10 feet would do every linkage rod in both doors one and a half times.
Cut off a foot-long piece and slit it, then slide it onto the rods.
Also, there's a place about a foot or so from the rear of the door where two rods run right next to each other. Sorry, I finished this job last week and buttoned up the door, but I think the two rods are the one from the door lock slide and the one from the door latch handle. One of them was real loose and rattle-y. What I did was a little funky, but might work for you. I wrapped a nylon zip-tie loosely around both rods, just snug enough to stop the rattle, then I greased the snot out of the rods so the zip-tie can slide. Come to think of it, I greased about every d*mn thing in there except the glass.
My door sounds great now.
Oh yeah. One more thing. If your door has the nylon striker plates (later models, I think), make sure they are right up snug against each other when the door closes. Mine were like 1/8 inch apart. Factory uses thin spacer shims, you can make them out of anything. These do a really nice job of holding the door tight. The plates I'm talking about are a couple of inches below the top of the door and in the matching spot on the jamb. They're angled to slide up tight against each other when the door closes. If your car doesn't have them, grab a pair off a yard dog and put 'em on.
You'll love 'em.
You have any tips fro removing window rattling? I assume I need to take the door panel off and get in there and tighten it up? what all do I need to tighten and should I try to use some thread lock?
BTW Guys...Summit sells A-pillars for thirdgens, both T-Tops and Hard-tops, with those guage pods built in. They are like 30 or 40 bucks...just thought yall should know!
Where do the window rubber bump stops go? What are the broken brown plastic pieces I found at the bottom of my door? They almost look like they're melted. Found them on both side. 1984 Z28.
The bump stops are located on the window channel (the piece that holds the window itself). They're positioned on the bottom and at both ends of that channel. They're held in place with rivets which will, of course, still be there if the bump stops have fallen off. To replace, I simply used a Dremel to cut the rivets, then used a small bolt and nut to reattach new stops.
I'm unsure what purpose the red-brown "stuff" serves, but if you closely examine the long reinforcement piece in the door (skin side), you'll see the red/brown stuff. Glue? Sound buffer? I'm clueless, but the "stuff" breaks and falls to the bottom of the door. Most thirdgens probably have pieces of it floating around. Actually, you can look without removing the door panel, by opening the door and checking the drain holes--the stuff tends to settle there.
If I replace the bump stops does that usually stop the window from swaying side to side? I've replace the felts, sweeps, triangle, tightened everything I could find, adjusted the window stop... It all helped but now when it's about 7/8 of the way up it moves in and out about 1"-2".
The bump stops help the channel from bottoming out and they, perhaps, stabilize the window when it's down. I would suppose there's a bit of play in the windows. If they seal firmly against the weather stripping, there's no problem. There may be a tech article that provides info about window alignment.
I am in the process of painting my car right now and have already ordered all the new weatherstrip to completely redo the car. However, I can't find the one for the Apillar cover. Where did you find those??
This thread will be very helpful when I reaasemble my car. I am gonna incorporate these tips in the reassembly of the doors!
Thanks
__________________ 1989 RS, L03 305 +.030", 700R4, 16" '91 Z28 Rims, Dynomax cat and cat back exhaust, Hedman TEMS, Wonder bar, IROC stabilizer bar and steering box, Accel 8mm wires, injector pod spacer, 45k Volt coil, New Maui Blue Metallic paint. Soon to come: 3.23s, shift kit
As far as I know, the A-pillar stripping is unavailable. I searched the boneyards until I found something suitable, stripped them, and reglued. Most people neglect this piece when shooting the rest of their rubber with silicone, so it dries and cracks quickly.
I have a squeak, but its not in my door, its in my dashboard. Has anyone else had this problem? its over to the passenger side, right abouve the computer. I beleive it si the computer it self, but im not sure. any help is greatly appreciated.
Yeah, I've got that one too. Put foam down, sprayed the edges with silicon spray, tightened every bold I could find. Replaced the the two bumper stops but I can still hear it...
Is that stop bushing the same as G1195, Door Window Stop Bushing.... from Classic Industries?
This is the pic they have:
Is yours taken from the side and theirs the top? Im a little confused where they go... you drill out the rivit and screw it on to the metal piece at the bottom of the window that hits the door?
FYI, thats not the part. C.I. doesnt carry it, only the whole bottom track. But, I just used a round rubber furniture foot thing from Home Depot, makes a huge difference ($2 for 4). That rivet was a PITA though...
Also new outside door handles ($20 ebay) help since the old ones rattle quite a bit. And new door weatherstrip helps alot if yours is deteriorated like mine was. Pretty solid now!
I replaced my bump stop and still had rattles. I found another souce.
There were globs of what looked like molten plastic and have body-colored overspray on them in the bottom of my door(along with the remains of a bump stop).
When the window is all the way up there is a reinforcement that runs from front to back all the way along the top of the door. These globs were originally between the bracing and the door skin. They may have been soft or rubber at one point. They have since dried up and allowed that bracing to rattle against the door skin. This was a MAJOR rattle source in my door.
I took some strips of tire rubber and wedged them in wher the globs were and that cured my rattles!
When the window is all the way up there is a reinforcement that runs from front to back all the way along the top of the door. These globs were originally between the bracing and the door skin. They may have been soft or rubber at one point. They have since dried up and allowed that bracing to rattle against the door skin. This was a MAJOR rattle source in my door.
I took some strips of tire rubber and wedged them in wher the globs were and that cured my rattles!
I took my driver's panel off and drove for a week last Summer to hunt down the rattle and it turned out to be the above. Cut some heater hose into squares and anchored them into place with some plastic epoxy - designed to bond between plastic and metal. Any good bonding agent would probably work. The image is looking up towards the top, inside of the door near the rear (pass side). Did the pass side last weekend and took some photos this time.
Back from the dead, I know but maybe this will help someone.
