I just wanted to chuck something on here about window channels. I am currently rebuilding a SIII SWB and I am at the point of putting the door tops back on. I had being tossing up if I should buy new window channels etc for when I went to refit the door tops after painting them. I had pretty much replaced everything else as I went along. Why I never did this is a bit beyond me. Anyway. I had a look on line and was a bit taken by prices, freight etc. (I live in WA so it is like paying for things to be shipped to the moon). I sat an thought, there has to be a way I can do this and make it look alright as well. I jumped in the car went to clark rubber and bought some of the "bailey's channel" they sell. Soft stuff not rigid like the OEM stuff. Scratching my head trying to figure out how I was going to make all this work. I trundled off to Bunnings with my son in tow. Wandering the aisles snacking on my Rotary Club sausage, I stumbled upon the brackets and rails that are used for shelves in cupboards and sheds. I will post pics once it is all done. I bought some lengths of the slotted brackets and then cut them to length. They are about 22mm wide and about the same high. The soft baileys channel fitted straight in. Test fitted some glass and it was a bit snug. So with a piece of wood and the metal in the vice I opened up the channel shaped bracket just a smidge and then tested the fit again. Perfect. I used a contact adhesive to stick the rubber in place and then screwed them into the door frame. They came up a treat. Brackets come in three main colours, white, black, and silver/grey. It also has slots in the back of it which are quite handy for the window lock to fit through. Just a little filing to make it a bit bigger. I also placed some rubber washers under them when Place just so there was no metal on metal contact to avoid galvanic corrosion. Once in place they look quite good. All up it cost me $55 to do the whole lot. Quite happy I feel and quite satisfying. I will post some pics and let you see how they turned out. I will also add the item numbers for the baileys channel from clark rubber and the brackets from bunnings.
Hope I didn't waste too much time with you reading this, just thought I would put it on here as I wanted to share my idea.
You hope you didn't waste our time reading it! Are you kidding? What a great contribution! I can't wait to see your photo's and the rest of the information. Good on ya for trying this and then sharing it!
Thanks for the reply. I have attached a few pics of how things turned out. I haven't finished putting them all in. But as you can see they come up ok. There is a couple of things to note. If you hands on a wide set of vice grips, like the ones welders use it will be hand if not a small block of wood and some soft jaws for the vice will do. The channel needs to be widened a bit. Just smidge not too much. I used a small block of wood after putting them in the vice. then gently opened them up that way. Careful not to crack the paint. Then I fixed the rubber channel in place using some contact adhesive.
The other thing to note is the channel that sits vertically as to run the full length and the top and bottom need t be a bit shorter. That way the glass can travel the full distance. I would post measurements, but come on... as if both doors would be square and any vehicles the same.
Hopefully the pics help, and once I can get the product numbers I will post those too. Just so when you go to bunnings and the 13 year old tradesman tells you, that you don't know what you are looking for it is a bit easier to find things.
That's great info, thanks. I am refurbishing (I can't exactly say "restoring") my IIA and I have been mulling over the window channel question. Like you, I had been thinking about what materials might be out there. I don't often have the door tops on, really want to tidy them up for when they're in use.
I've been looking at doing something similar but was tending towards the alloy or stainless for the channels so the rusting issue doesn't come up again. This seems to be the big problem with the standard ones.
They fit quite well actually. Only a couple of mm clearance. So they look quite a good fit. I will post some more pics one the door top it fitted and in place. They also seal up quite well. Having to "relax" the channel a bit to allow for the new bailey channel helps. I should have bought black material to go with the rest of my car. Being Oliver drab and matt black. But I think they come up quite well. Flashest thing on the old thing. Other than the reconditioned Over drive I got for $400. Sorry just thought I would throw that in there.
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