On the net, there are "hundreds of "how tos" on changing power window motors, the most common problem of all. But there is nothing, nada,"nilch", on manual regulators. Probably because there are so few, and don't "usually" have problems. (Except maybe stripped out hand cranks.) There are a couple here, on this site, but don't give any step by steps, or even any tips. There is one who refers viewers to check out a link, which is "spam", and I got bit...."almost twice". I hope the administrators take it down.

Anyway, I just battled this power window, to manual conversion the past couple days, and had to learn it on my own. It can be extremely ugly, when there is no guidance, or experience. I've taken some pics, and will post them when the job is completed, (and I can review how to post them here). Stay tuned, I hope some-one will benefit from it. It needn't be for "only" conversions. It will also help possibly with a window change, or just replacing worn out power regulators.

 

As I'm sure you found out, replacing the regular can be tedious. Back in the day, it was nothing out of the ordinary. The design was basically a leftover of 60's-70's engineering, so to anyone familiar with older cars, it's just basic stuff. But compared to a lot of modern designs, yep, it's difficult.

 

OK men, this is me getting used to posting. The pics are bigger than I thought, so we'll see how this works. These regulators are self explanatory, and of course the motor is off of the electric one. Just so you can see what the 2 different ones look like. Not sure how big a post is allowed here, so I think I'll break these up to reduce the size (?) To be continued.

 

When I attempted this job, I had no idea what to expect. The access ports are so small you can hardly see inside. Should the window be up or down? Where do I start? Rather than me telling you my tales of whoa, I'll cut to the end, and give you the condensed version of how "I" did it. There maybe other methods, and I don't know them. This is what worked for me. Below is a couple pics of the drivers door, "un-hacked,

 

Because I didn't know how the glass would respond, once I removed the 4 rivets, I cut a 19" 1 by, to hold up the mirror end of the door glass, and wedged it in the front. On the rear, I didn't want anything inside to impede removal, so I clamped the lower section of the glass above and outside of the door, so it would not drop inside. Then I began rivet removal. I couldn't see drilling out the cherry rivets, so I used a 4" cut-off wheel in my die-grinder, and a chisel to break them up. Not pretty, but got them out. Any cleaner methods would be appreciated for future endeavors.

 

I believe all this work was done with the window in the "up" position the whole time. Once the rivets were out, I was able to disengage the entire mechanism by sliding it towards the latch end.
Because I don't know the correct terminology, I'm gunna call the pieces on the scissor mechanism "button rollers", cause that's what they look like to me. There are 4 of them, and they slide back and forth in the track.
2 ride in the upper horizontal track, (channel(?) on the lower section of the glass. One rides in a track, (I didn't even know was there till after), that is bolted horizontally, and isn't very long. (picture below), and the 4th button roller is bolted to the lower section of the glass, towards the latch end. I 1st slid the assembly to the rear to disengage the top 2 rollers from the glass track, and had to open or close the scissors by moving the motor bracket up or down, to shorten the assy. Once those 2 were out of the upper track, I slid out the other 2 rollers, just by working things around. The vertical channel, (shaped like a "tee") has to be removed, to be able to get the regulator out. It's a pain, but must be done. 3 bolts hold it to the door, but there's a top bolt holding a "stop(?)" inside the track, that makes removal and installation easier. Also put a picture below. Then the regulator can be removed. (for some reason, the top pic went out of order...oh well)

moved.

 

The vertical "tee" channel, in the above post, is the track that the 4th button roller rides in. (the stationary roller attached to the rear bottom of the glass.)
Naturally the order is reversed for assembly, but now is a good time to lube all the wear points, and grease the tracks.

When installing the regulator, notice the shape of the mechanism. Of course there is a left and right, and it is determined by the shape of the way the actuator bracket, and solid arm with roller is attached. There's a slight fwd drop to the motor bracket end that tilts down. Also, the rotating arm has 2 roller buttons that face in opposite directions. Make sure when installing, the roller button on the top, faces the same direction as the solid arm button. They ride in the lower glass track, and is easy to put the regulator in wrong, if you're not paying attention. the very 1st picture in this thread, shows the correct orientation, the rollers, bracket, and arms need to be in. Sorry for this paragraph, cause it sounds confusing. But you'll understand it better, when all is in hand.
So here is the drivers regulator being loaded, with the arms positioned correctly.

 

Once inside the door, slide the top rollers into the long horizontal window channel 1st. And remember by opening and closing the scissors, you can lengthen and shorten the assy to ease the installation of the buttons. Once the 2 rollers are in the upper channel, you can slide the assy to get the lower arm roller into the horizontal track, that's bolted to the inside door frame. And lastly, the vertical Tee channel can be slid into place, with the stop being bolted back into the top, once the roller is in. And finally. bolt it all back in place.
Then comes the challenge of lining up the crank/motor bracket to the pre-drilled door holes. My drivers door, and passenger side ended up a bit off compared to each side. there are 2 sets of holes, and they only fit one way. At least that's how I see it.

 

Fortunately, both my mechanical regulators work fine, and I believe I purchased them from a member quite a few years ago. Wish I could remember who. When bolting the brackets to the door, make sure you use bolts short enuff not to contact the regulator mechanism inside. There are some close tolerances. I wanted to use 1/4" cherry rivets, but couldn't find them locally, so I just used some bolts with lock washers.
So all in all, the job went Ok, once I pulled off the opposite side door panel, and got a better understanding of how it was installed. Not a job I care to do again, if I can help it. Hope this thread helps some-one better, than what was/(wasn't) available to me. The photos below are of the drivers door, and the passenger side door.

 

Very nice write-up!

Getting the glass held up on it's own is a good idea. I've always relied on a helper, which has it's pros and cons.

The best way to remove the rivets is to drive the centers out with a hammer and punch. Due to the door shell's tendency to flex, quick and sharp blows are the key. A body hammer is better at that than a small sledge hammer. But anyway, after knocking the center out, just drill the head of the rivet with a 1/4" bit and it will pop right off. If the rivet happens to spin, just hold the drill at an angle and keep going, it will still get the job done.

 

Thanks for the comment, and tip for rivet removal. Next time I do this, I'll give that a try....in my next life.