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window winders on an Alfetta

5.2K views 6 replies 3 participants last post by  A_Alfa  
#1 ·
Does anyone have detailed instructions for rewinding the cable onto the drum that rolls the side windows up and down on an Alfetta? I need details such as how many turns are on the drum to start with, which side does the turns start on. How long is the cable before winding.
 
#4 ·
I had to replace a regulator (drum) and the cable itself on a front door to a 78 Sport Sedan. Brace yourself for some frustration. I could never find any "how to", but here are a few tips. If you need a new cable, you can make one by going to the hardware store. Hopefully your cable is still together so you can get the proper length. The cable will have metal fittings on the ends of the cable to fit into the regulator to hold it into place. With the cable I made, I bought a small piece of flat brass and cut it down to the size I needed and drilled a hole just big enough for the cable to go thru and soldered them in place. The length of cable between these 2 metal fittings is key to fitting the cable in the door. My original cable was broken and I had to guess the length and then adjust my metal stops for length after I started fitting it to the door. It is a pain, but I could not find a NOS regulator which would have come with the cable. Hopefully your other door is working. Take off the door panel and study for a while until you are certain of the path of the cable. Remember the windings will not be exactly the same since the door is on the other side of the car but you will get the idea. The regulator itself will give you an indication of which direction the cable needs to be wound around the regulator spool. The part I don't remember is how many windings around the regulator. I do remember that I basically looped the cable thru the pulleys with the reulator not mounted in the door and then wound the regulator to where it would then mount into the door. I remember I used a stick to hold the glass in the up position. This also means you need to have the regulator in an "almost wound to the top position" so that when once I got the regulator mounted I wound up the window to help take up slack, otherwise the window would droop to take up slack. I also remember using tape to help hold the cable in place while I was handling the regulator after winding the cable on it. I also remember going thru this process "umpteen" times getting a little closer each time. It is a pain but can be done. Plan on plenty of time and be patient. The other thing that occurs to me is that whenever someone grabs the window crank to wind the window, I hear myself saying "GO SLOW....BE EASY", cause I don't want to do this again !!!! Good luck with it.

Mark
 
#5 ·
after an hour or so of struggles I have the window working on my Alfetta. As Mark says in his post it is time consuming and frustating. But it was not as difficult as I imagined.

I found that it did not seem to matter how many windings were on each side of the drum as long as there were 5 windings total. The main thing was to keep the cable taunt so it does not unwind. I started with two on the outside (towards the door skin) and three on the inside (interior side) but as I wound the winder up to get the window placement the number varied. The toughest part was keeping the cable on the drum maybe I should have used the tape idea that Mark suggested. Use new pulleys if you can, they seem to have less lateral movement that the old used ones

If anyone is comptemplating this I echo Mark's words be patient and watch the edges of the openings they will scrape the skin from your knuckles in no time

Alfacarr
 
#7 · (Edited)
Well I am done and it has passed the 3 weeks testing period and still works well.

As already mentioned all the drum need to be used, 5 cable windings total, windings on each side obviously depending on initial situation of door cristal.

Total initial cutted lenght 2,26 meters from there down to finetunning. (for a 82' GTV6 driver door with automatic window winders)

For the finetunning I maintained the cable attached to the outside part of the drum without the metal fixing until sure of perfect lenght via trial and error. This allows not to fit and take out the cable end fixing each time (very time consuming), considering that the cable is winded it will not splip away in the measuring installation exercise.

2mm gross inox cable used, with the more flexible configuration available in shop.

For the final window attachment instalation, I used a small mirror in order to check that when the window was completely up or dowm there were still nearly 1 complete winding of cable in the respective side of the drum.

Everything cable included was lubed/greased.

Cable must be taunt , but not too much to put the weak looking pulleys until permanent stress.

Good luck and lots of patience.