| 1. | Put seat full forward, seat back tipped all the way forward. |
| 2. | Remove 1 phillips screw from interior trim piece at the door frame. |
| 3. | Remove shoulder belt pivot (#47 Torx) HINT: Take 30 seconds and LOOK at the way the plastic trim hinges over the shoulder belt pivot assembly. It is the opposite of what you may expect, and you really DO want to unsnap it the right way, not by busting the hinge! |
| 4. | Loosen interior trim by pulling forward and bend it inward out of your way. (not necessary to remove totally) WARNING: There is some "tar" on the back edge of this piece which I assume is rear window sealer that creeps onto the plastic...don't get this on the carpeted "shelf" and piece behind the seats! |
| 5. | You'll see a 3/4" hole in the B pillar. About 6" inside this hole is a 12mm sheetmetal nut which holds the stud from the quarter panel window. You'll need a 12mm DEEP socket and a 6" extension on your ratchet, and it's a pure bitch to find the nut, 'cause it's at an awkward up angle from where the damn hole is...find it with your finger, remember where, then grope with the socket until you find it. For damn sure don't drop the socket unless you want a mysterious rattle for the rest of your life. Remove said 12mm nut, being careful NOT to drop it when you pull the socket back through the hole. HINT: Double over a small piece of masking tape and stick it to the inside of the socket so the nut will be held there when you start to take it out through the access hole. |
| 6. | Walk around to the outside of the car. Spring the quarter panel window about 1" outward at the front edge, just enough so the stud clears the hole in the B pillar. NOTE: (Suggestion from Jason Wenglikowski...a good idea, too) Take some masking tape and apply it to the body starting at the rear edge of the quarter panel frame (under the edge!) and at least a couple of inches back from there. The next step runs the risk of scratches in your paint if you're not careful! |
| 7. | Shove the quarter panel window back towards the rear of the car, and it'll pop off the two snap-fit clips that hold the rear edge. This step is counterinutituve...why should Pontiac have designed it so you shove it back over a nicely painted area??? Because they could... |
Reinstallation is basically the reverse of the above:
| 1. | Carefully remove the two snapfit gizmos from the B pillar and pre-install them in their receptacles at the rear edge of the quarter panel window. HINT: The gizmos have a tang which holds them into their holes. If you look closely, you can take a small screwdriver and depress this latching tang and they'll slip out easily. Again, be careful not to mar the paint out past where the quarter-panel frame will cover. |
| 2. | Align the two snapfit fasteners with the holes in the sheetmetal and smack them home with the heel of your hand. The first time you do this, you'll notice you left something out of alignment where the window engages under the rain gutter and you'll have to take it off again and start over... |
| 3. | Reinstall that famous 12mm nut on the stud through the hole in the B pillar. A piece of double-stick tape holding the nut in the socket is a very good idea unless you like fishing expeditions! |
| 4. | Carefully pry the nylon snapfit ("Christmas Tree") fastener out of the B pillar and reinstall it in its receptacle on the inside of the interior trim piece. |
| 5. | Pivot the interior trim back into place, being careful to align that fastener with its hole in the B pillar. |
| 6. | Reinstall the Phillips screw and shoulder-belt TORX bolt, torquing it to specs. |
Clear as mud???
Having now done this process three times (once in an aborted attempt to use an '84 part on my '86, which does not work, and the second time to swap my cracked one out for the junkyard recycled one that was on it, and a third time to put on one of Paul McKibben's very nice replacement "windows"), I can say it really is a pain in the rear, but once you've done it a couple of times, everything, except that damn nut hidden in the B pillar, is a piece of cake.