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Text Box: I had to fix my window regulators on my 1931 Chevrolet.  But I could only find Ford repair kits or 1929-1930 Chevrolet kits — nothing for 1931.  Here’s how I solved the problem.
First I bought a Ford repair kit (because they’re cheap and readily available).  But it turns out that they have a square shank and that doesn’t fit with the GM spline version.  So that was money lost, and knowledge gained.

Text Box: 1931 Chevrolet Window Regulator Repair

Text Box: I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t getting fooled again, so...  
The next step was to grind off the three tabs from my old regulator casing so that I could get inside to the guts.    Once inside, I found that the end tab had broken off of the main spring.  This prevented the regulator from adding the necessary friction to hold the window from rolling up, or down.  Since it was “spring steel”, I decided not to try to fix it (by unwinding one turn and bending back a new tab by 180 degrees).
 

Text Box: The contents that you’re going to keep is displayed in the photo to the left.  Discard the new 1930 shaft.  Insert your old 1931 shaft.  Then you have four new pieces that you’ll use from the kit—the cam, spring, end cap and the gear.  
And of course, the casing (pictured at the top of the page).  So actually, five new pieces.
 

Text Box: The order of assembly is shown above. Five pieces.
 
Once assembled, they look like the photo to the right just before you insert it into the casing.

Text Box: Now, while it’s good to know that the shaft length is not a problem since I was still using the original one, it turns out that the new end cap doesn’t fit on the bottom of it.  After looking at many options, I found that it was very easy to grind the bottom lip down enough so that the cap fits on to it.  This was done using a standard bench grinder.

Text Box: Now, the last step is a decision that is up to you.  If you noticed in the original kit, they included three pop-rivets.  So the assumption is that when you’re done rebuilding the assembly, that you’ll rivet it to the main housing.  
But when I looked at it closely I didn’t see an easy way to get the three rivets uniformly located around the diameter.  So, as you can see in the photo I tacked it on using my MIG welder.  The first assembly lasted almost 75 years until I had to repair it.  So I guess that I’ll let the next guy worry about how to remove the welds 75 years from now.
The last step was to sand the rust, paint the assembly and then grease the sprockets.  When reinstalling in the car, you'll only need to use ONE of the two felt washers that were provided since the '31 shaft is shorter.

Text Box: The 1929-30 window regulator shaft kit (FS-312) can be purchased online at: 
http://www.parts123.com/parts123/yb.dll?userwatch~partnumstring~cadefefx~FS-312
If you’ve never shopped at The Filling Station before, I highly recommend them for all of your early Chevrolet parts.  They are located in Lebanon, Oregon.   Check out their web site at http://fillingstation.com or phone them at (800) 841-6622.

Text Box: Good luck,
Bill Barker        January 2, 2009
 

Text Box: As luck would have it, I discovered that the 1930 shaft is longer than the 1931 shaft.  After racking my brain I gave up trying to figure out how to use the new 1930 shaft.  
As it turns out, my old shaft was still in good enough condition to use again.

Text Box: Next, I purchased a 1929-30 kit regulator rebuild kit (FS-312) from The Filling Station (see below for contact info). 

Text Box: 1930               1931