Door windows too darn "short"...!
 

I'm putting a 65 GTO back together for a friend. He bought it from an estate sale. The car was not complete (missing an interior). Its a hardtop (no post) coupe. One of the many problems is, the windows do not roll-up high enough to seal against the weatherstrip that attaches to the roof. The window is almost 3/4 inch too-short. The back windows roll up just fine and seal properly. Question is....did someone rob the original windows ? And did someone try to put the car back together using sedan (post) door windows? I noticed when looking up new door glass that coupes and sedans have different part numbers. Anyone ever experienced this before...,

Never dealt with such an issue, but it would seem to me that if the door glass was from a post car that it would also be less wide as it has the frame on the side for the post also. I believe there are adjustable stops for the door glass that may need to be raised up if that is something that you haven't checked yet. Or perhaps a member here has a '65 apart and can give measurements of glass for comparison to verify you have the correct glass with the car or not. Just my 2 cents.

I've run into this exact problem on a 63 Catalina using a convertible door on a Hdtp body. The door bolts on the hardtop body just fine, but the window is roughly an inch too short to meet the top. I just swapped windows to fix the problem.

:2cents:

If you "keep on cranking" the window up, the window sash comes up out of the door and damages the window-felts. So, it's not an adjustment issue. You can over-crank the window upwards and get the door glass to seal with the rooftop. Problem is, the window sash is clearly sticking up outta the door. And the window felts are bent and busted loose from the door.

Yeah....about an inch seems to be what I'm missing. This car seems to be pieced-together. I wish there was a chart that would show dimensions of the door glass.

This sounds a little familiar to me. On My 64 convertible the bottom of the door glass has a thick base that has to come up between the felts. Mine would catch on it and lift the felt out.

I think I either bent or glued the felt out of the way.

Whenever you get an old car in pieces. You inherit all of the prior mistakes of several past owners.


Lack of time, lack of money or both, there is always some reason the car was never put back together.

This includes missing pieces some of which are the very hard to find; and costly parts.

You will get some of old-worn out, broken, and/or damaged or wrong parts. Murphy's law also includes "extra" parts that do not go to the car you are trying to put back together.

I've owned my 66 GTO since 1980. I also have a 64 Tempest that I turned into a ProStreeter back in 1986. The 66 is a hardtop (no post) and the 64 is a 2-door post-car. I am the 2nd owner of each, and they are a great resource for seeing how things "should be" assembled. This car I'm now working on has one hell of a story to tell. I just wish the storyteller was alive. The doors line up perfectly with the body. I guess it's possible the windows were replaced at some point. I guess I have to buy a window just to compare it to what I have. Unless....somebody here might be from N. IL ??? I could bring my window to compare to a known hardtop (no post) unit...?!

So...What measurement do you need? I have the glass out of my 64 Hardtop right now so if you just need the total height of the window I could get that for you.

If you look up door glass for 65 GTO convertible, and hardtop, they do not use the same glass. Likely you have a convertible door on a hardtop body. The sheet metal and vent window interchange, but as I posted, the door class is too short. Running the window regulator up too far tears up the seals in the door as has already been described.

Also if you google image of 65 GTO, and look at the side view you can see the opening of a convertible compared to the vent window of a hardtop is lower due to the folding mechanism taking up more room in the roof.

It was 50 years ago when I swapped the 63 Catalina doors between a convertible and hardtop, but the result was the same. Swapping the glass enabled me to use the convertible door on the hardtop body.

:2cents:

That would be awesome! I have the glass out and laying on the bench. Overall height would be appreciated ! Stand the window up, sitting on the bench. And measure from the bench to the top of the window, please....

Thank you for your input ! I really appreciate the responses.

OK -- my window is bedded in the mechanism. So what I did was lay it on the ground and measure from the bottom of the glass to the top where the glass sticks out from the the mechanism/metal piece (see pic). I get 15-9/16" although the picture makes it look closer to 15-5/8".

I hope this helps.

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...1&d=1769030904

https://forums.maxperformanceinc.com...1&d=1769030904

My window and sash look nothing like what you have pictured there. My sash is 2-piece and bolts together to clamp the window. And, my window measures 17-1/2 inches tall.

Yeah - that is way different. I can’t say for certain but about the glass and window mechanism - but 64-65 doors are interchangeable - so I would bet yours are from something else.

I'm thinking I have factor OEM, and you may have an updated kit outta a catalog...?

are you sure its not the window felts?

I have heard that the problem on 64 and 65 A bodies is that the window felts are too thick.

Try removing them and see if the windows goes all the way up

Mine are originals for a 1964 GTO - cast in part numbers and all that. Plus are identical to those available on the second hand market.

That said -- I have no idea what a 65 set-up looks like. I would assume they would be very similar considering the doors are interchangeable with only very minor differences to how the lock cylinders are retained (that change was made in late 64 IIRC). But maybe 65s are really different.

Well....I wish it was that simple. When you roll the window all the way up, the sash actually rises up outta the door for all the world to see. My 64 & 66 do not exhibit any such behavior. It actually "spreads the door apart". Kinda like when the alien rises up outta the belly of its victim (like in the movie ALIEN).

Here's a pic showing the sash sticking up outta the door....

Uh-oooohhhh....I think I have a bigger problem. When you roll the window down, the glass "sits-in-the-door" at the exact same depth as my 64 & 66. That changes my mind that my glass is too-short. Because, if you added another 3/4 inch to the top of the glass, then the window wont disappear into the door like it should.

So here's what's up....obviously theres a HUGE difference between whats in the 65 that I'm working on and what originally came from the factory. The factory glued the window into a U-shaped channel (sash). The car I'm working on has 3 holes in the bottom of the window, and, the sash is a two-piece unit with bolts clamping the sash to the glass. I guess I'll just "slice off" the top of the sash so that when the window is rolled up, its not sticking out of the door!