My '66 98 convertible has had door rattles for decades as the parts aged and got loose. Yesterday I finally got rid of them. Here's how.

The two rattle sources in my car were the power window mechanism and the door lock system. I cleaned out dirt and lost washers and bolts from the bottom of the door years ago, but if you have that problem a brush and shop vac are your friends.

For the window, replacing the rear U channel mohair with 2" wide velcro really helped. The fuzzy side of the velcro is just thick enough to make a good channel liner, while being thin enough to allow the windows to slide easily. The thickness also helps drive the window forward into the fuzzy channel on the back of my vent windows. I have another post on that restoration process elsewhere. While the glass was out,

I also added back in the stainless steel "ears" that I had misunderstood years ago. They go at the base of the glass pointing rearward, positioned by the glass edge. Effectively the steel ears lengthen the rear edge of the glass so that it glides well up & down the rear U channel.

This time around I wanted to redo some weakening window roller rivets. I had a few that looked like they were going to break soon and I recently figured out how to drive replacements tight & proper. See this post for details: https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...driver-139670/.

After redoing my window roller rivets I focused on the door lock and door pulls. The rods can rattle around as you're going down the road if their securing clips are loose or missing.

This clip style secures the door pull rod to the door lock itself. One clip per door lock. My 98 also uses them for the hood release, but that's another story.


These clips hold your door lock rod into the door lock

Next up was the door lock, power door lock actuator, and paddle rod connections. Long ago I retrofitted vacuum power door locks to my 98, adding complexity and a rattle source. GM used a second kind of clip that you can find in wide distribution that look like this:


Stop door rattles with these - door locks and door paddles both need them. Power door lock actuators too, if applicable

My car needed 3 of these per door. They really only fit one way. The wave shape is what stops the rods from rattling. One went behind the door pull paddle securing the rod to the spring loaded paddle assembly. The next I used to secure the manual door lock rod to the door lock. The final clip was used to secure the vacuum door lock actuating rod to the door lock. I had older clips in there, but they'd become loose. Fresh clips helped. I think I'd missed clips for the power door locks all together in the past.

The last rattle source was the U or S shaped clip that holds the paddle rod tight to the inner door skin. I rebent that a bit more tightly while still leaving it loose enough for forward/aft motion of the actuating rod. If yours is missing a zip tie might do it, but I just rebent my GM original and was good to go.

Now I have a solid, no rattle, door for the first time in years!

cf

 

I was doing some scans last night from my Fisher Body manual and thought this might illustrate the door lock clip detail nicely.




As installed in my car this diagram is off by 90 degrees clockwise. I.e. my door lock clips slide up & down vertically, but perhaps the A bodies as different.

Anyway hope this helps you eliminate your rattles too!

cf

 

Interesting idea about the Velcro. I'd love to know how it holds up long term. Since you have power windows and not cranking it yourself, do you think the motor has to work harder with the thicker Velcro in there?

 

I've had the velcro in my '66 Starfire U channels for not quite a year and I think it works great. So I did it on the convertible too. Judging by the 8 windows I work on regularly (hopefully I'm done...), the motors don't have to work harder.

If it comes unglued in the long term I'll just get new velcro and redo it, but I don't think it will. I thoroughly cleaned the channel with the 3m solvent and glued the new stuff in firmly. It's also forced into a pattern by the very movement of the windows as it takes a set, so I'm guessing it'll be o.k., maybe for a real long time.

The the fuzzy nap (fibers) is just thick/tall enough to hold the window in snugly in place without slowing it down or binding it. Velcro is not so thin that the movement is sloppy or rattling, and not so tight that it makes the motor work harder. I've even given some though to using it in the front division channel, but haven't figured out how to terminate the U at the top where the rubber molded tip is. And anyway the reproduction front division channel fuzzies are pretty good.

The original mohair or whatever it was in the rear U channels wore out long ago in my cars, so for years the window and hardware was more or less sliding on metal. Or kind of on the thinnest pretense of leftover fabrice that hadn't quite worn off. I say this just to note that improving over something that is well worn is a lot easier than something that's brand new.

 

Just a quick update digging through old threads. Velcro solution for the rear channels still holding up very well in both cars apparently 4 years later.