I bought a 4-door '70 Nova from a little Old Lady. For the last 10 or 12 years
that she owned it (she was original owner) she only ever used the driver’s side
window. The two back windows don’t open at all (the handle either spins,
nothing happens) and the passenger window drops right down into the door. What
am I looking at to fix this? I would like to have at least the passenger window
work, if not all four. Is it a major concern? Rotted parts? Broken
mechanisms? I have no idea what I’m supposed to be looking for in order to
repair this or if I’m looking at a ton of money for this repair. Can you help
me?
Likely broken parts. Lots of the parts in these mechanisms are plastic. To find out what you need to do you’ll need to pull the door panels. The hard part may be finding replacement parts, so I’d be incline dto track down a source before pullin the panels. The '70 Nova is a classic, so you may be able to find parts through restoration sites.
Register and talk with the people on this site: http://www.chevytalk.org/fusionbb
Just scroll through until you find the section for your year and make.
Remove the handle (just a c clip holding it in place). Then remove the interior of the door. The mechanics that control the window are probably all rusted. Spray some type of penetrating oil on all the joints. Sounds like you may also have to replace the handle. If anything is broken then replace. There are aftermarket parts for almost everything on this car…including window crank mechanism. BTW…it shouldn’t cost a lot to fix this. Good luck…it’s a beautiful car.
I will add that there is a tool that can be bought for cheap at your local autoparts store that makes getting those darn door handles and window cranks off much easier.