Bailey Channel Replacement for VH

[DerekP]

G'day

Has anyone replaced bailey channels on VH front and rear doors belore? I am about to emark on this task
and I'm wondering if there is anything specific I should know before pulling the door apart, tips and what I
should look out for etc

The old Max Ellery's rubbish manual doesn't cover bailey channels (unbelievable..)

Cheers

Derek

[NPreston]

Pretty straight forward, hardest part is getting the old channel out. If you are getting it from Rare Spares be aware that a short piece is supplied for the rear doors for the rear channel. It comes in a roll and has to be cut to fit.

[DerekP]

Assume I need to take the glass out also?

[NPreston]

Yes you will need to take the glass out. Don't know about re-fitting the rear windows as I removed all the winding mechanism and glued the windows in place. Mine is not a road car. You may be able to slide the channel in with the window right down but I doubt you will get the old brittle channel out. Make sure you note how the winding mechanism goes together in the rear doors, it has a horrible cable system. Front is straight forward.

[SL/ENUT]

Never take the rear window mechanism off!. Leave it there. But you do have to take the windows out.

I don't know how Rare spares are with there Bailey channel, once was way to wide for the Commodore.

[NPreston]

I used it in my VC was fine. That rear window mechanism is pretty archaic.

[Darren_L]

I've done mine.
yeah windows definitely need to come out. Depends how old the old rubbers are, you usually need to chisel them out.
not the most pleasant of jobs, but it's worth it once done

[magnetvh]

Done mine on my Vh. Chisel is the best way cause they were like rock. Take glass out. Dnt buy from rare spares, I got mine from a place called Clark Rubber. A lot cheaper. Rare spares Bailey channel doesn't go all the way to the bottom of channel. So wen ur window is down all the way it still rattles wen closing the door. The place I got mine from sells it buy the metre, so u can put the Bailey channel rubber all the way down. I measured about 9 and a half metres u would need to b on safe side.

[Krisp]

bastards i just bought a shit load of rarespares ones

[DerekP]

Thanks guys.

I saw these on ebay - anyone had experince / tried them?

COMMODORE VB-VL FRONT BAILEY CHANNELS -ONE PAIR (eBay item 370476035728 end time 16-Feb-11 16:32:36 AEDST) : Cars, Bikes, Boats

I am a bit worried about chiseling the old ones out and damaging the paint work, is it risky?

Cheers

[Darren_L]

Thanks guys.

I saw these on ebay - anyone had experince / tried them?

COMMODORE VB-VL FRONT BAILEY CHANNELS -ONE PAIR (eBay item 370476035728 end time 16-Feb-11 16:32:36 AEDST) : Cars, Bikes, Boats

I am a bit worried about chiseling the old ones out and damaging the paint work, is it risky?

Cheers

just take your time, you'll be fine. I just wrapped a rag around a scewdriver when it came to the window frame areas. It's more a case of wedging the screw driver between the old rubber and the channel, and then carefully prying it out. When it comes to the channel inside the door, some parts of the channel can be removed from the door by simply removing a couple of 10mm bolts. Much easier to get the old rubber out when the channel is out of the door.

[DerekP]

Thanks Darren, I'll give it a go. Now I just need to source some suitable new ones....

Cheers

[NPreston]

The Bailey channel I bought from Rare Spares was fine, I had material left over. I only did mine about October last year.

[Zeussy]

Yep, as mentioned above, Clarke Rubber - sell it by the meter and a flat blade screw driver...

With the rear windows, (I think?) Where they clamp onto the wire, I got a liquid paper pen and marked the position of it on the wire just incase it got moved. Not sure if its a good idea, but I knew when i did the VH that I was stripping it down for paint, so it'd be a while before they were refitted.

[c2105026]

The most difficult thing on the rear windows is to take the bit out that separates the 3/4 glass from the rest of the window. takes much manipulation to get in and out. Try to find an original factory manual - they are fairly plentiful, and are much more useful for body/interior work. I find ellery manual hopeless, I mean, there are numerous typos and as a pre-service primary teacher I expect a year 4 student to have a better grasp of grammar!

[DerekP]

The most difficult thing on the rear windows is to take the bit out that separates the 3/4 glass from the rest of the window. takes much manipulation to get in and out. Try to find an original factory manual - they are fairly plentiful, and are much more useful for body/interior work. I find ellery manual hopeless, I mean, there are numerous typos and as a pre-service primary teacher I expect a year 4 student to have a better grasp of grammar!

Yeas I agree the Ellery's are rubbish - the manual that says all VB-VK 5L models came standard with a Turbo Hydromatic 400, so wrong!

Thanks for that, the job sounds a little more complicated than I originally thought. I was hoping it was just a matter of getting the window glass out by taking the trims off etc, pulling out the old bailey rubber and pushing in a new one.... Thinking I better get my hands on a proper manual before I embark on said task so I don't totally stuff it up.

[magnetvh]

It's easy as mate u don't need a stupid manual to explain it. Just take door trim off, undo two or four bolts ( cnt remember) take glass out then start takin old channel out. Once done put new 1 in. That's wot I did and its like new now. Simple even Simon could do it.LOL

[ricks_1969]

I am about to replace all of the bailey channel in my VL, the problem is i took the old ones out over 6 years ago so i could send the car off for paint, when the car came back 2 years later i had lost interest and it has sat in the garage ever since then, so now i cant remember exactly how they sat in the doors. For example the "rear doors" have a lighter duty channel for the 1/4 window edge which is obviously one straight piece but do i have to cut the heavier duty channel in the opposite top corner of the door frame or does it just curve around the almost 45 deg bend on its own and then go back down inside the door??? If i have to cut the bailey channel for that bend do i cut at angles and glue together or do i just do a straight cut and butt them against each other at the almost 45 deg angle???.
Also pretty much the same question for the front doors????. Do i need to cut and glue or just straight cut and then butt them together in the top corner???, and where they come down towards the mirror from the top corner do they just bend to go down inside the door in one piece??? or do i need to cut and glue???.

[DANNY8]

Thanks guys.

I saw these on ebay - anyone had experince / tried them?

COMMODORE VB-VL FRONT BAILEY CHANNELS -ONE PAIR (eBay item 370476035728 end time 16-Feb-11 16:32:36 AEDST) : Cars, Bikes, Boats

I am a bit worried about chiseling the old ones out and damaging the paint work, is it risky?

Cheers

I used a set of those Bill Thompson baileys channel rubbers in my wagz. Never tried any others so don't have anything to compare them too, but they fit and work fine for me.