1 piece window help

[habeeb]

Need a good link or advice on installing these things please......I have 4 felt pieces and 2 long channels and thats it. It looks like the metal piece that holds the factory glass on doesnt come off too....I need help!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks

[TWD]

Difference of opinions on this one. However, on my '54 I am now looking for the parts to return the windows to stock. I wouldn't change to one piece windows if I were you. The vent windows really do help with ventilation and the one piece are prone to rattles. If you are determined to go ahead, make certain that you have the correct regulators and that you change the door stops.

http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp ... C10%2D3245

http://www2.cip1.com/ProductDetails.asp ... C10%2D3381

[Bucko]

The window holder that attaches to the regulator will come off if you use paitence and some heat from a heat gun.

Now, some words from the wise; DON'T INSTALL THEM!!! I allowed my 15 (now 16) year old son to convince me that they were the coolest thing to install on his (now mine) 73 beetle. The scrapers were a PITA to install on the inside doors, they leaked, it was damn near impossible to get a clean upper bend on them (I did the several "cuts" trick on them) to align them to go upward (on the forward side of the doors). After about 3 weeks, the old regulaters began to fail; the gear stripped when the heavy one piece window got to the top of it's track, and I never did get the window "balanced" to where it would role up smoothly on the felt tracks. I tried the older model window regulators, (they are supposed to handle the heavy one piece glass better, as the glass channel holder bolts on the left and right corner of the regulators rather then just the center) but I had a difficult time getting them installed in the doors. The one piece glass would rub against the tubes holding the cable no matter how much I bent them to make them work. I spent half a day trying to get one of those earlier style regulators installed, and finally went back to the late model ones instead. When my son got a truck (about 5 months of driving the bug), I took those damn things out and completely replaced them with the stock windows and vent windows.

No way will anyone convince me that they can be made to work with any decenticy. Maybe they look good, but that's about it. Absolutly no funtionality at all.

[habeeb]

Its a shame I already bought them knowing that they sucked. I already removed the stock parts from 1 window also. I messed up a few pieces in the process so I guess I'll be buying new parts now because I need FUNCTION since its my daily......Thanks for talking me out of it I didnt really want to use them anyway after I got a good look at them.

Thanks
Jamie

[dragenwagen]

Yeah they look cool, but they suck. Most 1 piece window installations i have seen are terrible, the windows rattle, leak, dont roll up right. I have seen a few installations where the worked fine. My 69 has them... they rattle leak dont roll up right, now I didnt put them in and yes you will need the 65-68 dual point lifters. My 69 has a single point lift and the front of the window wants to tilt down because there is nothing to support the front of the glass, so rolling it up and down isnt fun....

Also not to mention that if you decide to go back to stock windows is a PITA, because the that metal tab usually is cut all the way out and the door looses some strength and a real pain to weld in new metal.

Your car, your choice just speaking from personal experience

[Orange65Turbo]

A lot of truth in what the guys are saying...the scrapers are a big pain..the kits I've used sucked. True on the rattling..mostly when they are rolled down. I won't mention the quality of the felt channels that are out there for the one piece windows. Okay yes I will, they suck too. I've had some that only lasted 5-6 months before the rubber started cracking with metal showing through. If.....you do decide to do it make sure you get the Empi cable door stops or you'll be looking at some body work at the door hinges real quick. And be careful when cutting the tab out at the top of the door. It's kind of tricky and if you're not careful that cut off wheel can jump out and bite your door in the wrong place, if you know what I mean..

[habeeb]

I decided to give it a go. I tried it with the late regulators and your right, it takes 3 hands to roll it up. I have an old '66 sitting around I guess I will try those. Is it a something that will bolt right up or will I need to modify? And which felts are prefered? I got the glue in kind but I heard they have snap in kind too. I cut them and got them ready to go but they look awefully kinked in the curves. Oh well I guess they'll have to leak............

I have got door stops too, how do these go in?

[dragenwagen]

door stops... cable type right? if i am not mistaken - they go in from the inside of the door and hook on to where the stock door stop was connected on the A pillar... where the pin is.

[Bucko]

I decided to give it a go. I tried it with the late regulators and your right, it takes 3 hands to roll it up. I have an old '66 sitting around I guess I will try those. Is it a something that will bolt right up or will I need to modify?

Good luck with those older regulators. Yea, they are SUPPOSED to work, as they hold the window at both the left and right side. The ones I bought did not want to fit right inside the door WITHOUT rubbing on the one piece glass. I would take them out, slightly bend them (as to avoid rubbing the glass), but the trick was to do this without impeeding the cable from operating smoothly. I NEVER got that to work. When the regulater did not rub on the one piece glass, the cable (within the regulator tract) would not crank up all the way, or would "slip". After 3/4 of a day of trial and error, I gave up and used the original regulators, and used my hand to guide the window up and down.

Then I got smart and put the original glass and window vents back in.

Anyone need one piece glass?

[fastragtop]

you can use that glass for target practice! I installed one of those sets 14 years ago(man how time flies)as that was the thing to do;along with cutting out the dash.The dash I was able to live with,but those stupid windows only survived 2weeks! I then had to find a set of replacement doors since my mint doors were worthless! At least back then people were still into it,and I was able to swap doors with a friend of mine

[volksbugly]

back in 99 I put one piece in my 67' it worked great after I got the kinks out... The scrapers were screw in type. The thing that got me at first was making the window stick into the bottom holder. The regulators that were in mine had no way to bolt the window to it. Just a groove and some crappy rubber stuff that was friction based, which I tried to re use... This made the window flop around, fall forward cause it was falling out of the track ect.... I ended up cutting a strip of Dynamat, the type without the metal backing. I stuck that to the window and pushed the window into the bottom regulator channel holder thingy. This worked great, the key was not to push in the window hard into the holder, but to roll the window up, let it fall into position of where it wanted to rest in closed position, i then rolled the window up hard to make it seat into the channel, it didnt seat all the way just enough I could roll the window down, I then had the window down about 7/8ths of the way, this is when I really pushed on it. I put all my weight into it and the window slid down into the regulator channel. Never had a problem with it!

I have heard that they don't make the 1 piece window kits like they used to... I want to put some in mine now, but so many people have had problems I think a restore of my current vents is in order... Get that nice air flow capability to.

Good luck!

Ninja edit:

just realized this post was from 2005... haha

[bajananyone?]

So I just installed my one piece windows this afternoon. I have to say once we figured it out it wasn't that hard to install. First...if you can't get the original German early style regulator you are better off sticking with the regulators you have. (If you have a late model car). The china made regulators are the biggest peice of crap I have ever seen. Every single mounting tab broke off and the crank exploded with first use. Once you get the felt and scrapers in. (I chose snap in scrapers) put the window in through the bottom and push it through the scrapers.

Youll need to drill 2 holes in the door to put more of these clips in ^^




Once you get it all the way in and where it's supposed to be in the window frame of the door. (Clamp it so it doesn't slide back down) put in your regulator of choice. Bolt everything up loosely except for the crank. Tighten those. Roll the regulator up half way then lower the window into the deal that holds the bottom of the window. Put short blocks of wood if needed under it so you can push the window into it if needed.



Roll the window all the way up with some guidance and use your hands to manuver the window to where you want it. Then tighten up every bolt that you see. Cycle to make sure that you have done everything correctly. Congrats. You have just completed one of the most avoided tasks on a bug. I will post up pics tomorrow.

[Jadewombat]

You have just completed one of the most avoided tasks on a bug. I will post up pics tomorrow.

Please do, putting one-piece poly (lexan) windows in my bug. It's an autocross/rallycross car so I don't give a crap if they leak or rattle.

[popeye46]

I love my one piece windows..... I installed them myself and as the saying goes it is custom work, which means that you have to create a way for it to work. I also installed power windows and the doors are suicide to boot. they do not leak they have never rattled and I have had zero problems with them. I just figure the people that have them and don't like them or just don't like them are clueless about making them fit right and thus have nothing but problems with them.....I was born and raised in Los Angeles and love the custom work that comes from the west coast many custom innovations started there and remain popular everywhere even today. So before you tell someone not to do some custom work on their car try to advise them to find the correct way to do it........everyone is entitled to do their car their way

[dragenwagen]

Wow, this is an old post... LOL Like I said back in 2005... Your car, your choice just speaking from personal experience