Looking for a drawing that shows all the brackets and power window mechanisms for a1970 cutlass S. Hopefully doors and rear windows. The body by fisher manual I have does not have them. Pictures would be helpful as well.


thanks

 

I have fairly detailed information on adjusting the front and rear windows for 1966 big cars. Dig around under my user name to read up on window adjustment, noise and water sealing old Oldsmobiles.

The systems are admittedly different, but perhaps there’s something in there that can help you. Be happy you’re working on a Cutlass. Look across the other A body forums for advice that will help since Chevelles, Skylarks, Tempest/GTO all use a very similar (maybe identical) system.

Be prepared to let this take a lot of time. Like days if you have that to spare. Just getting the tracks off and cleaning them up can be a day so you don’t bend unreplaceable tracks and get them really clean for a good water/wind tight seal. Then adjusting the in/out for top and bottom of each window, tight sealing against the roofrail and related front or rear window, plus straightness takes a helluva a lot of time if you’ve never done it before. At least for me.

Get some of that 3M dum dum strip product and the solvent as replacement for the GM grey stuff I don’t think you can get anymore. A heat gun helps remove the old sealant goop and it gets messy. Clean all your window tracks and roof rail tracks so that the parts move easily. Then re-grease the window track not with lithium grease but that pink synthetic grease from Amsoil that doesn’t dry out.

The rear windows in a GM typically have less adjustability than the fronts and really must fit into the proper place against the roof along the top & rear window edge. Usually fronts have more adjustability. So once the rears are right, you adjust the fronts to them. But then you may find a perfect fit between front & rear window edges and a gap at the front of the front window.

That’s where the fun (time…) begins as you iterate among many settings to get the quietest, most watertight, best fit. One tip is to begin the process with most of the settings for each bolt, nut, slot or whatever somewhere near the center of its travel. Generally if something has to be at an extreme - like the end of the slot, or all the way down a screw, that part is probably making up for something wrong somewhere else.

Consider getting some 1” - 1.25” wide adhesive backed closed cell foam in a couple of thicknesses from 1/8 to 5/16’s in case you need to shim the roof rail tracks downward for best fit on to the glass. Shims on the backside (not roof rail rubber channel side) of the tracks can help reduce distances between rear window leading edge/ front window trailing edge. In doing so, you increase the sealing surface of the front glass on the rear front vertical rubber for better water sealing. More or less, the shims reduce the area the glass has to cover forcing them together for a tighter (though not factory) seal.

I recommend new roof rail rubber and tap & die cleaning of all screws, nuts and bolts so you can adjust them easily. It sucks to be fighting rusty screws when adjusting windows. Also be ready for some of the nylon rollers needing replacement. There are kits for most GM’s of this vintage. Or at least you can gin something up that works.

Don’t compare these old cars to new cars for quietness or sealing capabilities. Most new cars a have windows inside doors, so there’s no glass to glass sealing noise, plus seals are much, much better. If you have a buddy with a similar old car, take a ride with them to lunch - go around town and on the freeway to get a gauge on how these old cars should sound, then go from there on what your goals are.

Hope that helps. Sorry I don’t have any diagrams for a ‘70 Cutlass. See if you can dig up an “Assembly Manual”. At least for my ‘66’s, it provided details I’d never seen in the Chassis Service Manual nor in the Fisher Body Manual.

Cheers
Chris