1956 windwing repair

[trimacar]

I have a '56 Thunderbird, and the driver side windwing bottom hinge has come off, leaving just rivets sticking out of frame.

Can someone please tell me how you fix this? I see you can buy the bottom hinge with rivets, does that mean that glass comes out, you have to rivet the hinge while frame on car, then reinstall the glass?

A procedure would be appreciated. thanks

[1957Birdman]

David,

If your lower hinge was riveted on it is not original. The only hinge that was riveted on was the upper hinge. The lower one is held on by small bolts with washers. CASCO has the kit for it. Is it possible that your windwings are installed upside down? Considering some of the things I've seen over the years and the number of things I've had to correct on my car that certainly may be the case. Putting on the new bolts is a bit of a bear to accomplish since there is hardly any space there. Very thin wrenches are the way to go.

If you windwing is upside down and the hinge has broken off you will have to buy a new one or a good used one since the hinge is not available separate from the the chrome housing that holds the window.

Please let me know what you find.

[trimacar]

Well, I guess the bolts broke and someone tried to epoxy it in place. In the picture, the hinge on the windwing is the upper hinge, for a left hand door, and the bottom pieces look like the remnants of rivets.

So, if I have to buy a new windwing, it's very confusing what is bought. The distributors show a windwing with the upper hinge, then the lower hinge available with no hardware.

I appreciate your response. I just don't understand how I fix this from what I'm seeing. Aggravating, because I'm a fairly intellegiment person.......

[1957Birdman]

Let me take a shot at explaining it better. The picture shows the main part of the assembly. The upper hinge is riveted to the upper windwing assembly. The lower hinge is attached to the chrome channel that holds the window. You should be able to see two small holes toward the bottom of the chrome channel. They may not be obvious if the previous owner glued things together with epoxy. If you have a CASCO catalog what you need is 03233 Hinge-Windwing-Lower-LH and Hardware Kit 220. When you get the hinge you will put the upper hinge pin into the windshield door pillar. You will then put the lower hinge in the bottom hole and use the parts from kit 220 to attach the hinge to the windwing assembly. It is a bit of a pain to do it and you will need a small, thin wrench. Also, put something over the window opening to be sure that you don't drop any of the pieces down into the door. What does the windwing on the other side look like? It should give you an idea of the way things should be.

Please let me know how it goes.

Lew

[trimacar]

OK thanks, I'll look at it tomorrow, appreciate the explanation...and understand what you're saying, that the previous owner tried a "fix" which complicates things...thanks! David C.

[1957Birdman]

Here is a view from the T-Bird Parts Illustrated book. It gives a better idea of what you know.

Lew

[trimacar]

Thanks! I have comprehensive understanding now, I really appreciate your responses. It's a simplistic question, I'm sure, to someone who's done work on the Tbirds, but I've never had to fool with windwings on the car and didn't grasp what I was looking at.

After looking at the stubs on the frame, it would appear I need an entire assembly to replace this correctly.

Thanks!!

[1957Birdman]

I'm glad to help out. It sounds like someone did a "3rd world" repair on that hinge sometime in the past. I was fortunate that mine had not been messed with that way. It did have the wrong bolts attaching the lower hinge to the windwing assembly, so I ordered parts kit 220 from CASCO and was in business. If you can get the glue out of the two lower holes you still may be able to save the rest of the assembly. If you can't save the old frame you are stuck with buying the complete new windwing assembly 03229. I would try to save the old part first unless you want to spend $200 to replace both complete assemblys, since if you replace the one the other one will probably not look to good in comparison. Good luck.

[Jay A]

Where would I find the small thin wrench to use for the bottom bolts. 

Thanks, Jay

[1957Birdman]

You want a thin or super thin 1/4 inch open end wrench. They are available online in various places such as eBay, Amazon, etc.

Regards,

Lew Bachman

1957 Thunderbird Colonial White 

[paul2748]

I would hope that after 7 years he got it fixed.