Spider Power Windows

["Jon Inge" <joninge@domain.elided>]

OK guys (and gals), I'm stuck.  I'm still working on the driver's side power
window on my '86 Spider Veloce; it's stuck in the Up position.  (The
passenger's goes down really well, and crawls back up, but I'm hoping a new
switch - on order - will revive it's enthusiasm for upward mobility.)  I've
tested the voltage at the driver's side motor, and get a strong 12v + and -,
but the motor just clicks once and nothing moves, so I've bought a new
motor.

The manual is less than helpful with the following two problems I'm facing:

1.  It says to lower the window, unbolt the cables and remove the glass
*before* removing the motor.  How do I get the glass down to the point where
I can reach the bolts?  I haven't found any manual means of doing so; the
glass and carrier won't move if I tug them, and there doesn't seem to be any
way to crank the regulator manually to bring it back down.

2.  I thought I'd try to remove the motor and regulator anyway, with the
glass still "up", since there seems to be enough room to get to it and,
especially after unbolting  the carrier holding the bottom two pulleys, the
cable appears to have more than enough slack to let everything come off
without being pulled by residual tension.  The manual just says to "remove
the three nuts holding the regulator on" - yet the bolts the nuts are
attached to just spin round in the regulator mounting plate.  Worse, they
seem designed to do so; they're not really bolts, just round-headed pins
with a threaded shank!  How the assembler tightened the nuts on them in the
first place is a mystery; how to get them off now has me baffled.  There
isn't any room behind the regulator to get any form of vise or grips to try
to hold those thin, round "bolt" heads; surely there must be some way to
remove the nuts without grinding them off and finding some real bolts to
replace them?

There's also no clue in the manual as to how much tension the cable should
have after re-installation and adjustment, but I figured I'd set it to about
what the passenger's side  has and see what happens.

Anyone have any ideas?  TIA, as always.

All the best

Jon Inge
86 Spider Veloce "Arturo"
Edmonds WA

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