My 1989 Crown Victoria.

[slack]

Hmm. Maybe yours was previously removed or maybe it's because it's a tudor?

I found this post: http://www.grandmarq.net/vb/showthre...-you-remove-it

With a pic of it:


Looks like it's a nut of some kind. I guess I'll try just unscrewing it.

...Wish me luck!

[87gtVIC]

Yeah that has to come off. Acorn nut. Same/similar used on the body trims on the lower doors.

Mine were never off before I removed them. Tudors do not have them. You can also see in my thread no hole for a stud.

[sly]

yeah... remove that acorn nut and lift up enough to clear the metal and pull out from under the mirror.

[L1011tristar17]

I wish it was that easy on the Town Car. Since the mirror is closer to the doors, that has to come off too (or at least be loosened most of the way)

[sly]

I wish it was that easy on the Town Car. Since the mirror is closer to the doors, that has to come off too (or at least be loosened most of the way)

no it doesn't. try it. lift the end with the acorn nut just enough to clear the bolt and it should slide out from under the mirror. The mirror on my 88 actually rests 1mm off the glass and just enough to allow flex clearance of that acorn nut's bolt... which is just a few more mm.

[L1011tristar17]

If only I knew that one year ago!

[slack]

Passenger Front Dew Wipe Replaced

Looks like on my car, there was just the one acorn nut and there were two hidden screws by inside the door panel by the vent window that needed to be removed. The left most one was sort of hard to find at first. That said, I was able to get the trim removed and the dew wipe replaced! I had to loosen my mirror up almost all the way off to get the trim off. I figured I would have bent it trying to muscle it out.

Here's some pics of the process. I basically followed what was in the sticky topic and it worked great! The dew wipe is a little different than the stock one but it looks like it will do the job.

First, took off the trim by removing nuts and screws mentioned above.


I then removed the machine staples that held the dew wipe on the trim as well as the clips using a screwdriver. I wasn't able to reuse the trim clips on the new dew wipe but it didn't seem to make a difference.


I wasn't as careful as I should have been and ended up slicing my thumb a little.


After that, I used some sheers to cut the length of dew wipe I needed for the window. I attached these with some small nuts and bolts I found at the hardware store.


I then did a test fit:


Not too bad! But the bolts needed to be cut down to clear the window. It's still a tight fit but they don't touch the glass. I used a cutoff wheel and drimmel to cut the bolts down.


After that, it was just the reassembly! Turned out better than I thought it would! I still have to do the lock actuator and the dew wipe on the driver's side and reassemble the passenger side door panel but that will come later this week.

[87gtVIC]

Very nice. You almost gave me a heart attack when I seen the size of those bolts. I was like "oh no he is going to RUIN his glass." Glad you ground them down.

[slack]

Haha. You and me both! I had to file those bolts down twice to get them to clear at an acceptable range. The nut is still closer than I expected but in no means touching.

How high did your new dew wipes make a lip on the door? These new ones on the passenger side have a considerably larger lip over the trim than the previous dew wipes.

The storms today seemed to prove the mod functional at least!

[87gtVIC]

Well here is a pictures from the write up thread to answer your question

[slack]

Damn. I think I might have to take the door back apart and lower the dew wipes a little bit. Yours are much lower and closer to the original dew wipe height.

Edit: Yep. Just went and checked the dew wipe thread. It looks like you screwed yours into the panel much lower down



Compared to mine:


When I installed mine, I was lining up that little lip on the outside so that it sat over the trim top a little. I'm guessing that's where I messed up. That should actually be squished below the trim line right?

[87gtVIC]

Nope



Maybe the mold changed????

Compare if you can:

[slack]

I think it's just too high currently. The trim is definitely the exact same dew wipe you have and the one that came off of mine looks the same as your old one. I noticed that the little nub on the side that faces the trim on the OEM dew wipes is down below the lip of the trim. I'm thinking I need to move mine down a bit to get that nub lip down below the trim line...

I added some higher res pictures of it.

Here's the lip on the inside and outside of the new dew wipe. All the black you see from the inside picture is the outer dew wipe.


Here's the OEM dew wipe on the rear door for comparison. The original ones sit a little higher than level with the trim. My current installation is about 2 inches over the trim.

[L1011tristar17]

I replaced the dew wipes on my passenger door with ones from a junkyard car. Same year and everything, yet they sit a little bit higher than the original ones. Who knows...

[slack]

Hmm. Yeah, could be they're just naturally higher.

I'm going to replace the one on the driver's side either tomorrow or Sunday and do a couple of test fit ideas with that side before I install it. That way if everything is actually installed okay, I don't have to rip the passenger's side door panel apart again. lol

Got the driver's side lock actuator in today and greased up everything. Door panel is off and ready for dew wipe replacement.