cfair

While my fenders were off my '66 98 last week, I replaced my front door power window conduits. The last time I did them was in the 90's, but over time the rubber breaks down and starts to crack from use, as mine did.

First off, if your power windows and/or power seat are getting flaky, a common cause is the wires to the controls in the driver's door. The wires move every time you get in & out of the car. Eventually they can wear out into a short or a break. Also if one is broken, or near, the other wires are probably on their way out too.

So a good time to replace these conduits is if your wiring is getting flaky or if the rubber has cracks you can see.

The basic process is to disconnect all the connectors in the door at their switches, then pull the wires back through into the cabin, make any needed repairs, then pull the wires back through the conduit. Other than that, here are what few tips I've got:

Once you get the connectors disconnected from their posts inside the door, cut apart the old conduit. Then just pull the wires through the larger holes in the door and body. No reason to force old wires through tight rubber conduits that you'll be throwing away.

Next pull the wires all the way into the car cabin, if any are broken, or about to break (look at them really critically), when they're in the cabin they'll be long enough to repair. If you have a spare harness or can get the right color coded wires, now is the time to use them, splice in the right colors if you've got 'em. Or at least don't use one color wire for everything, the chances of a miswire are high. If you do use 1 color, label every circuit with blue tape or an electrical labeler like the Dymo Rhino.

Once the wires are repaired, test each switch circuit. Much easier to repair in the car, than in the door. If the circuits test good, spray the inside of the new conduit with silicone lubricant and start pulling. Silicone spray helps wires & connectors slide through easily.

Mid 60's GM big car window conduits with grommet orientation.

If you're working with a one piece conduit, install that into the body (usually two holes) and onto the door, then use a fish tape to pull your wires through. You may want to use a screwdriver to push the grommet edges into place. Or a good pair of needlenose pliers to push them around.

If you're working with a conduit tube and 3 grommets, fish the wires out of the cabin to the outside of the car, between the door and body, then start fishing them into the tube. Start with the largest connector first and work your way to the smallest one. The first one won't be too hard to pull, but later ones will as the tube fills up. This time around I used a fishtape to pull my vacuum power door lock lines through and it really helped save time.

Once they're all in, slide the grommets down over the connectors, over the tube and into place beginning with the inner body grommet. Be sure to orient the grommets cabin-facing vs. non-cabin facing correctly or you'll have to do it twice. Same for the outer body grommet, same for door grommet.

If you were ever going to install speakers in your doors, now is a good time to pull the wires. My '66 Olds big cars cannot accomodate 6x9's in the doors due to interference with the vent window channels. I use 6 3/4" round speakers with foam backing boxes.

hope this helps,

cheers
cf

Vintage Chief

That was an excellent write-up and nice diagram. Thanks for the effort you put into this.