Door panel hardware and window glass

[vping]

I've been putting this off but dropped a screw into the door cavity so it's a might as well now.
1st Q:
The PO glued the edges of the door panel on. Big pain in the A. I've got most of the for panel off but the top is still really such. Tried a heat gun and it's not budging. I will not be putting it back on with glue. Can someone share the type of screws used and where they are placed? There are small and larger holes in the door but not sure which to use.

2nd Q:
Is there an outline of how to remove the door glass? I want to take it over to see if my local place can make one.

[vping]

1925 Tudor

[Humblej]

The door panel upholstery attaches to the all steel door with clips. not screws. You should have a series of holes with a common spacing around the door sides and bottom. The top of the panel is held in place by the metal trim piece. Originally, the door clips were a 3 piece system consisting of large headed ring shank nails , small metal speed nut clips to keep the nails in the door panel, and a large grommet that snaps into the door. The ring shank nails are installed during the upholstery panel build-up. Before the upholstery material is wrapped around the panel and glued to the back side of the panel, the nails are installed on the cardboard panel and held in place by the spring clip speed nuts. The bushings are popped into the holes in the door and then place the upholstery panel over the door and wack the door panel into the bushings with a rubber mallet one nail at a time. Problem with the original set up is it is almost impossible to remove the door panel once installed without damaging the cardboard.

An improved door panel fastener system is the Model A and later Ford spring fastener. The single spring fastener replaces all 3 parts of the Model T fastener system and will allow the door panel to be removed and re-installed over and over. The Model A panel clips are the way to go.

Here is a picture of the Model A style door panel clip from Clastique, they have a decent hardware section in thier catalog. This style clip will slide right over the edge of the door panel before the upholstery is glued on, and will not require punching a hole for it like other spring clips. The original holes in the door are just the rigt size for these clips so no modification required. Easy peasy.

Classtique_Upholster_Wire_Door_Panel_Clip.jpg (34.04 KiB) Viewed 876 times

The door panel also uses a big spring between the metal door and the upholstery panel at the window crank. The spring holds the door panel away from the door to provide a nice tight fit at the door handle escusion trim piece and allow you to push the panel and escusion away from the crank handle to access the handle locking system be it a set screw or a pin depending on your configuration.

[Humblej]

The Window glass removal is a whole nother can of worms. I find it easier to remove the window lifting mechanism first, the window will need to be in the up position at some point to get the mechanism out of the door. 3 or 4 screws hold the mechanism in the door, and there is a clearance hole at the end of the glass track to get the arm out of the track. Once the mechanism is out of the door, lower the glass to the bottom of the door, take out the felt glass channels on the front and rear edge of the door and the glass will lift up and away. Ford originally held the felt channel in the door with a clip at the top, near the middle, and at the bottom, but what previous owners may have done is anybody's guess... glue, pop rivets, Ford clips, screws, etc., so you will have to deal with that. If you need new door parts such as the metal glass channel, crank mechanism, bumpers, seals, etc., most parts the usual vendors sell are poor quality or just plain wrong for the all metal door. The Model A 28-29 closed cab pickup uses the same hardware as the 26-27 door which may or may not be the same for a 25 tudoor, if so, the Model A stuff is top notch high quality, if not, try to reuse the original parts if you can.

[vping]

This is a great description of both. Thanks. Adding to my Saturday list. Luckily, I got the old panel off without damage.