1966 buick Skylark Vent Window removal

Joe, if you are talking about the typical "old" car vent windows, you simply pull like hell. On my '48 and '52 Pontiacs I was able to just pull, wiggle, pull some more, wiggle and they come free. Wasn't that difficult. If you're going to use new rubber anyway you might consider cutting off as much of the rubber that you can get to. Your glass is probably baked to the rubber after all these years.

Hope you get other answers also. Maybe there is a more professional way of doing this.

Ivan Vegvary

It's been a while, but I had to pull the glass from a 66 Mustang vent. If I remember I pulled and wiggled like Ivan said, but I also pried, ever so gently, between the glass and the frame at the "corners". That seemed to break the seal.

Carl Boyd

I don't think he is trying to get the actual glass out. The whole pivoting assembly is the way I figured the post.

On Thu, 17 Jan 2008 18:20:43 -0800 (PST), with neither quill nor qualm, Joe quickly quoth:

You don't. You ease the glass out of the frame (or pick out the pieces and the gasket) and put in new gasket material stuff. I don't recall what it's called, but it's a sticky tarpaper like substance which will hold the glass in. Press it in with canvas strapping twisted with a stick. At least that's the way we did it when I helped Joe (from Joe's Glass in Vista, CA) back in the early '80s.

Wait a minute, weatherstripping? Forget what I just said. You have to dismantle the entire door innards to do that on most old cars. Get a Mitchell manual for that year body style and go from there. The Buick parts computer might have good diagrams of all the parts which will help immensely, too.

--- Chaos, panic, and disorder--my work here is done.

Butyl rubber tape, aka but-tape. Holds glass like crazy.

-Carl

sorry might have been a little vague, like atp said i want to remove the whole pivoting assembly because the bottom and top rod have to go through the weatherstripping

My faded memory is that you'll have to take the main window completely out of the door, and maybe the weatherstrips on both sides of the main window where it lowers into the door. Hardtop? Sedan? Convertible? I'm assuming sedan. With the main window and the weatherstrips out of the way, you can tilt the top of the vent window and front main window channel assembly towards the back of the door and maneuver the assembly skyward and out. It will probably have a fastener at its midpoint and at the bottom of the door, either on the inner panel or actually on the bottom. There may be secret fasteners inside the weatherstripping where the front edge of the vent seals against the door. Where are you getting hung up? Taking the main window completely out makes it simpler to reassemble the door so that the window is actually back in its window channels, IMHO. Good luck and remain patient.

I'm not sure how well this would work, but you might be able to splice the weatherstripping around the posts using 3M black butyl caulking, the type they use on windshields. I have a rubber windshield gasket that shrunk after installation on my box truck, leaving a gap. I used the black caulk to close the gap and it has held up for years. I would be hesitant to take the door apart unless you're doing other stuff at the same time, like reconditioning inside panels, etc..Then it would probably be worth it.

joe - on many of these cars, after you get the whole assembly out, you still have to drill out rivets to actually get the window assembly out and replace the weather strip - if you are doing a show quality restoration you will then need to replace the rivet - if it is a "looks great" restoration, you can use a suitably sized stainless steel screw and acorn nut (and locktite).