After all most fifty loyal years of countless ups and downs the drivers side window regulator on my C20 went the way several dozen other things have gone during the last year of a near ground up total rebuild. This, for those who are interested, is one of those time-freeze restos where as much of the trucks visual essence is preserved while some elements of functionality have necessitated improvement - I could seriously digress here folks. Anyway, a new replacement regulator arrived looking for all the world like the perfect duplicate of old faithful - that's to say apart from 'made in china' stamped into its hide. It went in just fine as did everything else, new quarter rubber and all the felts, the whole nine yards. Feelings of pleasure and pride begun to well up, the sun was hot the sky blue, this restoration game can really make the heart sing and the soul soar. Dangerous. Very dangerous. First hint of raw reality came in the form of a non compliant window handle. It simply refused to engage the new regulators spline. This is where I figure prolonged scrutiny of an object can overcome any kind of physical mismatch. In this instance, no. Tried the handle on the old regulator, went on with obedient defiance. Tried handle on new regulator. Nope, pure defiance. A hissing sound - me. Okay, relax, just needs some tweaking. Perhaps 20, 30, 40, minutes later, who knows, and some educated and sympathetic filing, new met old in unison, wobbly unison. Grub screw tightened and it could all most pass for done-job. No, not really. But at least it allowed me the luxury of testing all the newly fitted felts and trimmings. Nearly perfect but for the out of camber sensation my hand was having during the act of winding. Hell, it's an old farm truck, time-freeze resto, visual essence, get with the program pecker-wood. I can live with this. Ah, but what's this, a small gap, quarter inch of air where glass should be when window is fully up. Like prolonged scrutiny I figure repeated attempts will herald reward in the face of pure physical incompatibility. No it doesn't. This gap would not be reduced. Time to offer assistance. Anyone else been here? What happens if you manually ease the window glass heaven-wards? I can tell you. You pull it out of it's cradle. Through pure luck and not the presence of mind my grip on said glass didn't falter, like a fat kid with a sausage my grip was instinctive. Otherwise not only does one have a corrupt regulator but one also has a pile of glass in the bottom of the door.
My point? In a perfect world parts suppliers would have glossy brochures consisting two principal chapters, first being imports - buy cheap at your peril sucker, second being exactly like original - pay more and save money.
Dreams, yeah whatever!
