To get access to the inside of the car door, the doorcard has to come off.
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Earlier this week, I decided to tackle the rattle in the passenger door. Although I am not convinced there is more to this rattle than just the window guide rail. I am 100% sure the guide rail is rattling. Because when I wiggle the window, I can hear a rattle. And I have had this very same problem on the driver door already.
The door locking and alignment mechanism are the first suspects for these door rattles.
But I keep those two items in the doorframe and the door itself well lubricated with some special spray.
To get access to the inside of the door, the doorcard has to come off. You will have seen me do this countless times on the Spider and some of my other cars, too. Out comes my nifty tool!
This is what the doorcard looks like on the inside. It has some mold on it and some of the holes that hold the plastic trim bits are torn. I have already spoken to my good friend Bianca. She had redone the doorcards on her Spider recently. She has a piece of the correct wood left and she will help me make a new door card sometime in the next couple of weeks. She is much better at this sort of work than I am. For now I will put this old crappy one back at the end of this job.
Inside of the door with the doorcard removed;
You only need to take a few screws and bits of the door to remove the doorcard. Knowing where all these screws are is the tricky bit. Some are pretty much hidden from plain view.
You can just about see the window guard rail here. Contrary to the one on the left door, this one has the felt inside it in pretty good condition.
Regardless, I ripped out the felt, because I want to clean up and repaint the guide rail
Here you see the root cause of the rattle. The top of the guide fits under a metal strip inside the door. The bottom of the guide is bolted down inside the door. But the top moves about a bit, when the car hits potholes and so on.
Tricky to see, but you can just about spot that metal clip that hooks behind that bracket on the guide rail.
Next, some very rigorous cleaning of the guide rail. I use my pneumatic-driven rotary brushes, it goes very quickly, just very dusty!
I still had lots of the felt sealing material left over. When I buy this sort of stuff for a particular job, I usually buy lots of extra, just so I will never run out in the future.
I use this special metal spray. You have seen me use it before. Fanstastic stuff, goes straight onto the bare metal/rust. Gives a nice finish and lasts very well.
I left the guide rail to dry inside our home overnight, because it is a little cold in the garage, about 5-6°C. Next, I cut off the correct piece of felt liner and glued it back into the guide rail.
This glue works well on this sort of application. Rubber to painted metal. You apply it to both sides, wait at least 20 minutes and then press both parts together. I used a piece of wood, same thickness as the window itself, to push the felt liner in place, whilst curing against the radiator inside our home.
I cleaned the mold on the inside of the doorcard. Just brushed it off with a metal brush. Next, I inspected all the various clips. Believe it or not, but Alfa Romeo uses four different kinds of clips on one door card! Luckily, I stock them all!
This is the main problem, these plastic clips need to be twisted inside a hole in the door card. Over time, those holes get damaged, become larger, and the clip doesn’t sit well. Only remedy is to replace the complete door card.
My door cards are unique as they have real leather on them! So, with the help of Bianca, we will make a new wooden door card, remove the leather and various bits and install it on a new wooden door card, in which we have to drill and cut all the various holes.
Next, how to install the guide without it rattling. I can’t change this stupid design, but I can make it rattle-free. I just put a piece of crimping hose on the metal clip. Tricky to get it in place, so I used another one of my highly sophisticated tools to put it in place.
Apply heat!
Done!
I also applied a lot of grease to the bracket on the guide rail, just to make sure. Re-installing the guide rail is pretty straightforward.
With the door card back on, I took the Spider for a nice tour around the Netherlands. Cold, but gorgeous weather!
I am happy to report that some of the rattle is gone, but there is still a distinct other rattle. So, back to the drawing board. I have also clocked up 1000 km. I will be calling Marc to make an appointment to change the oil and oil filter and retorque the cylinder head bolts. The engine has used about 500ml of oil during this run-in period.
Unfortunately, it appears the Spider has developed another problem. Looks like the right rear wheel bearing is about to go! Need some special tools to pull that bearing from the axle. I might ask Marc to do that as he will have the Spider on the lift for the oil change.
Jeroen
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