How the goddamn hell do you tidy this up?

Fiatfiend

Fiatfiend

True Classic
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Installing different passenger door. Going well but I have just a giant snarl of window winding cable. Is there a step by step instructional to do this?
 
Dude!
I am sorry but you just made my day! I was thinking about finding something funny to watch on the tube today but I am good!
If I were doing that I would rig it on all the various pulleys it goes through then wind the excess on the spool then bolt the thing to the door then attach the cables to the window. After testing for proper function.
This is just a WAG but my mom always said I was spacial!
I would have to remove my door card to see but it might be even easier if there is an idler pulley you can adjust to take up slack. But before you try moving a window I would make sure everything winds on and off properly. Remember the thing winds opposite the way most mechanical lifts wind so keep that in mind when wind the reel.
Thanks and GL!
Hope this helps...
Regards
 
It is a completely totally maddening job.... I've done it a four times, and every time I've thought about removing the windows completely or leaving them permanently in the down position.

You'll want a bench vise to hold the regulator (gently - you aren't going to be using a lot of force, it's just that you need both hands free) and you'll need your window handle to turn the thing.

Pick a reasonably long loop from the birds-nest and pull it straight it out away from the regulator. Work the other loops to get more cable into the loop you're stretching out, and turn the crank as necessary to get even more cable into that loop. Keep a steady outward pull on your loop so that it won't snap back and go all birds-nest on you again. Your goal is to get to where, by a combination of turning the crank and untangling, you have a long loop of wire pulled out from the regulator with one end going straight into its attachment point, not wrapped around the shaft at all; the other end will disappear into an incredibly awful birds-nest but that's OK for now.

Once you have that, you turn the crank to start winding the good end of the loop onto the regulator. Go slowly, keep a steady outward pull on that loop so it wraps nicely onto the regulator instead of reverting to its natural birds-nest state (if it does, you have to start over). As you wind the clean side onto the regulator, the horrible birds nest on the other side will gradually unwind. Again, you'll have to work the loops in the birds-nest, maybe even turn the crank backwards (which will unwind some of the cable from the side you've already done - keep pulling on the loop or you'll get another birds-nest). Eventually you'll get to where the birds-nest is gone and you can start the cable winding back onto the regulator.

When you're done you'll have neat wrappings on both sides of the regulator. Wrap duct tape around it to hold it, and you can install the thing in the door, work the loop around the pulleys, and fasten the window to the cables.
 
cool for the description. I have two that I need to tackle on the wife's car but instead of doing that. I swapped a door from the parts car (looks horrible) but I am a bit intimidated by what I have heard of this cable system. So I want to have lots of time to work on it when I start on it. (hmm sounds like I need to get a vise as well..
 
Eric,

Words alone can't express my thanks. I figured it was something like that. As my Chicago-area and later Fargo-area girlfriend says, "Uff da!"

The only question I have is there a picture of how it looks when it's completely wound onto the regulator? When you said "wound on both sides of the regulator," I'm not sure what that means.

Finally, when you start running it over the pullys, what's to keep it from going sproing! all over the place again?

Yours in rueful regret,
Dave Hudson
 
You're right, it's hard to explain without a picture. The wire is wound around the regulator in such a way that as the shaft turns wire comes off at one end of the big loop and winds onto the other end so that the size of the loop remains the same even though the wire is moving to lift/lower the window. I'll see if I can dig up a picture....

And as for how you keep it from from resproinging back into a birds-nest during installation - you have to not allow slack to develop between the regulator and the part you're working with inside the door. Once you get the wire under the clamps on the window itself, you're OK, they'll hold it while you finish routing the cable and you can slide the clamps along the wire to get the window position right.

If you buy a new regulator, it comes with the loop taped down to prevent unwinding, as in this picture: http://www.midwest-bayless.com/p-21765-4462987-oe-window-regulator-left-fiat-x19-1977-82-oe-nos.aspx - but once that tape is off you have to be careful not to let it birds-nest before you even get it into the car. Ask me how I know.

(I have successfully replaced a frayed cable on an otherwise serviceable regulator, found wire close enough to the right diameter at a local Ace Hardware. The hardest thing about that is that you have to get the length of the cable just about exactly spot-on right because there's no length adjustment once it's on the regulator).
 
EricH said:
You're right, it's hard to explain without a picture. The wire is wound around the regulator in such a way that as the shaft turns wire comes off at one end of the big loop and winds onto the other end so that the size of the loop remains the same even though the wire is moving to lift/lower the window. I'll see if I can dig up a picture....

And as for how you keep it from from resproinging back into a birds-nest during installation - you have to not allow slack to develop between the regulator and the part you're working with inside the door. Once you get the wire under the clamps on the window itself, you're OK, they'll hold it while you finish routing the cable and you can slide the clamps along the wire to get the window position right.

If you buy a new regulator, it comes with the loop taped down to prevent unwinding, as in this picture: http://www.midwest-bayless.com/p-21765-4462987-oe-window-regulator-left-fiat-x19-1977-82-oe-nos.aspx - but once that tape is off you have to be careful not to let it birds-nest before you even get it into the car. Ask me how I know.

(I have successfully replaced a frayed cable on an otherwise serviceable regulator, found wire close enough to the right diameter at a local Ace Hardware. The hardest thing about that is that you have to get the length of the cable just about exactly spot-on right because there's no length adjustment once it's on the regulator).
Click to expand...

Thanks. Sheesh. The original door wasn't dented that badly from the deer. Behinning to think I shouldn't have purchased a replacement.
 
Another tip: Remove the door panel from the other side to see how the regulator is wound there, then just do the same on the affected side. That was very helpful to me when I had to replace the regulator on my 850 Spider.
 
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