WING VENT REGULATOR REPAIR

1963 Ford Galaxie

Submitted by Al Gerbitz

 

Old hardened vent seals bring out the beast in us trying to get the whistle out of our wing vents. Excessive force closing the wing to get it sealed may in time force the retaining plate off the back of the regulator as shown below. It is nothing more than a pot-metal casting that has the “ears” through a backing plate peened over to hold the plate in place. Forced enough times, the peened over portion fails allowing the worm shaft to float in and out making the operating handle feel like it is about to fall off as well as not closing the vent completely.

 

 

 

The good news is that I found an easy repair for this problem. Removing the regulator from the door (yes you have to pull that darn door panel off first) is a simple four-bolt operation. One bolt holds the wing itself to the regulator and three more hold the regulator to the inner door panel. If the backing plate has been knocked off far enough some parts may have been lost into the lower door cavity. Shown below are the pieces of the shaft that you should end up with. The easiest piece to come up missing is the “wavey” washer that is meant to keep tension on the assembly.

 

 

 

The repair of the casting does not take a lot of time or special tools just one trip to the hardware store for most of us to get some self-threading screws. I did not say sheet metal screws! There is a difference. Because the pot-metal is so soft I chose to get not only the number 10 by ¾ inch screws that would be needed for the repair but also got four one inch screws that were used once each to create the threads, one for each hole. They do tend to clog up a bit when cutting the threads.

 

On to the repair process itself.

Place the regulator in a vise (gently) with the broken ears facing up with the two washers on the end of the shaft off and the plate in place. Lay a hacksaw flush to the plate and cut the ends off of the ears that stick up through the back plate. Yes you will scratch the plate but trust me you will be the only one to ever see it. After cutting the ears off remove the plate and file the ears enough to make sure that when reassembled the plate rises above the ears enough to apply pressure to the plate to hold it on. This doesn’t take more than a few passes with a fairly clean file. Remove the worm gear shaft for the next process.

 

 

 

If you have a drill press it only makes the next step easier but a good eye with a hand drill will do just fine. As part of the original manufacturing there were depressions deep enough that, after cutting and filing the ears down, left the perfect center punch marks for drilling. Use a 5/32 drill to make these holes.

 

 

 

Once the holes are all drilled out it is the time to thread the holes. Keeping things simple I opted for self-threading screws rather than tapping the holes, either one should work equally well. I didn’t feel that there was enough clearance for a nut next to the casting and opted for threading the holes. Here is where I used the longer than necessary screw to cut the threads before installing the permanent screws. After threading the long screw in all the way I took a wire brush to the threads to clean out the soft pot-metal that was left by the tapping process. There is not much length available to thread so I took the most cautious way I could think of to create the threads and protect the casting. You could just thread a short screw in and out and be safe, possibly but I didn’t want to chance messing up the threads and having to buy another regulator.

 

 

 

 

The next step is one we are all familiar with: Cleaning. The old grease inside the casting is something on the order of tar after forty years and needs to be removed along with the filings that we got into it a few steps back. A parts washer would be ideal but once again to keep it simple I “washed” it out with WD40. By turning the sector shaft back and forth you will know when it is clean. Do the same cleaning of the worm gear and shaft along with the washers. I used white lithium grease as the new lube and really flushed the entire cavity with it.

 

 

Replacing the worm gear into the housing takes a little patience to align the wing tang that is attached to the sector gear. For the most part it is a matter of twisting the sector about an eighth of a turn and turning the worm gear into the housing while applying gentle pressure to the worm shaft. Bolt on the end cap and check to make sure you have full travel.

 

 

A little patience, a hand full of #10 self threading screws and an hour or two of your time has just paid off with a repair that will outlast the original design and has left you with an extra fifty bucks in your pocket that surely will get spent else where on the car.