Thursday, March 26, 2026

Spent time today working on the wing vent. I sanded the rust off (most of it); I removed the remnants of the fuzzy tracks on the vertical channel, scraped all the crap out of the channel and then applied some of that Eastwood’s Rust Encapsulator on all the bare metal. Two coats actually. After it dried for several hours, I went back out and shot some rattle can black on the track.

I removed the remnants of the tracks and test fit the single long fuzzy track, and it fits nicely. I need to install the rubber seal on the wing vent, but I may wait until the new chrome frame arrives. I don’t want to re-install the old frame.

I located the parts I’ll need for the driver’s door — the upright seal for the wing vent and the fuzzy things that mount on the garnish molding and the outer edge of the door shell. The only thing I didn’t locate was the wing vent glass.

I know I have that piece of glass, but I still have to locate it. I located the long window opening fuzzy track that goes over the top of the window and down the back edge.

I also found the windshield garnish moldings which I had painted months ago. I don’t know if they’re slick enough to use, so I will give them a once-over and may wind up reshooting them. If all else fails, I could wet sand them and then shoot some rattle-can clear on them.

PARTS ORDERED AND SHIPPED. So far, I have a number of parts on their way to my garage, including: a new window regulator; a new horizontal window track; an new idler track; new regulator screws; and a new wing vent frame. They’ll arrive Monday or a day or two later. I’m just thankful they’ll here soon.

The original regulator I removed was in seriously SAD shape. The spring was rusted and broken, and wasn’t doing anything to help raise or lower the regulator. The nylon wheels on the regulator arms had worn plumb away, leaving nothing but metal pieces that didn’t roll. Yeah, that explains a LOT about how hard that window was to raise and lower, LOL!

Tomorrow I think I’ll install the wing vent rubber seal. It shouldn’t take long. I also need to add the seal on the rear edge of the vertical track to seal the wing vent when it closes.

I still need to do a deep dive and find the missing wing vent glass. I know i have it … somewhere! If I can’t find it, I’m going to wind up buying one just to get this door project completed. I have the original complete wing vent, but I hate to install the old glass. Its not broken or cracked, just looks old.

TINTING THE WAGON WINDOWS. I would like to tint the windows on the wagon — the side windows behind the doors, the quarter windows and the tail gate window. I need to check YouTube for a how-to … the quarter windows, with their curves might be a pain to tint for the inexperienced (like me).

Gotta get ‘er ready for cruising!

Once the door is back together, I plan to shoot a video about my GPS speedometer and review it.

That’s all for tonight … I’ll be back again soon with an update.

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