Power windows! Slightly different method...

I have power windows! They rock! I'm not the first one to do this, and I might not even be the first one to do it in this particular way, but in case this might be helpful to someone I'll show you what I did. Credit goes to Thack for coming up with and documenting his power window conversion. Even though I didn't follow his method exactly, I never would have attempted it without having read his article...


First I drilled out the rivets holding the hand crank gear on the window regulator. (Actually that was second. First I secured the regulator with a pair of vise grips so the spring wouldn't release explosively and take my hand off. I also drilled a hole and put a steel pin through it in case those vise grips slipped.)







This here's a window regulator from a '93 Sable, (Taurus) with the motor. Rear one since it will have less wear. Same one everyone else uses...







Here's where it starts to get different. Using my angle grinder I buzzed off the back part of the mounting area for the hand crank gear to make it flat.







I took the motor off the Sable window regulator and cut out the section where it mounts, as shown.







Put the motor back on and mocked it up. Gears meshed, and the plate I cut from the donor regulator lays flat against the hole where the hand crank was.








I tacked it in with the motor still attached, leaving time between the welds just in case that motor doesn't appreciate getting super heated...







I finished the weld with the motor off, then painted it up and bolted it back on. Time for a test!








Door panel off for installation. (I hate removing the door panels, always afraid I'm going to tear them up...) It fit in there pretty easily. Installing the modified regulator with the motor was no worse than installing a stock one. The glass comes very close to the motor on its way down, but there's a bolt you can loosen on the outside of the door, toward the fender, that will allow you to adjust the position of the glass to make sure it doesn't hit and give it some more clearance. Make sure it clears when you first put power to it! Go down a little at a time, adjust if you need to, then you can start flicking it up and down like a five year old... I only had to adjust one side.








Now to plug up the hole where the crank was. I'm not settled on this as a permanent solution, but this chrome plug from the "Help" aisle at Auto Zone does the trick for now.








Now for the switches! I decided to put them in my console. Initially I wanted to put them in the door panels where the crank holes were, but there's no room there for anything but a surface mount type switch and I didn't find anything suitable in the junkyard.








These are from an early 90's Olds Regency Brougham, rear doors. (Sorry I just couldn't find what I wanted in the Ford section of the yard...)








Wiring it up! I should mention here, although I didn't take a pic, that I ran my wires through a short length of spiral wire loom between the door and the kick panel area, with a grommet in the holes I drilled to keep from cutting into the wire.








All done! Pardon the mess... And that coffee stain in my passenger seat. It will come out. I know from experience. All these mods I've done to the car... Hundreds of hours in minor upgrades like this one, and I can't be bothered to install a freakin' cup holder.

 

Looks like a great set-up. Any idea where to find the link to Thack's version? I tried searching for it, but couldn't find it. Thanks. John B

 

......looks like something I would like to do...

 

Looks good.

I thought your car has A/C, wheres the center vent?

 

It does. It didn't originally though. I omitted the center vent when I installed it because I wasn't prepared to do a dash swap at the time. I may eventually, but for now it works great with just the side vents.

 

Love this thread!
Great pictures, and thanks for sharing how you modded and fit power windows into your car!

 

Thack's article was in the April 2004 Shorthorns I believe. The difference between my method and his can be summed up in this pic from Mavdog71's gallery:



He fabbed up his own plate instead of cutting one from the Taurus regulator, and he cut off more of the Maverick regulator than I did.

 

man thats cool and looks cool..

 

If you have access to an AC dash to trace the opening, it is fairly easy to cut out and fit the center vent in your dash.

 

Those switches are giving me flashbacks of my Jeep Liberty.

Good job.

 

That looks good. I like your idea. I made my own mounting plate also. Your way looks much easier.

 

Very nice. I can't believe no one has commented on your signature line yet. It had me busting up when I read it.

 

I thought about that. When I was taking parts out of the donor car I looked at the center vent mount and figured it would need that indented lip around it to look right, and that would be hard (pretty well impossible) to duplicate. But you're at least the second person who's told me it can be done, so I may give that a shot next time I see an AC dash in the junk yard.

 

I thought the same thing, but after I installed the vent, I think it looks right at home there and you'd never notice something was missing. My primary reason for wanting to swap dashes was a big dent in the dash, but I cut most of it out for the vent. There is still a very small dent, and I think I can clean that up with some hammer and dolly work (and a skim coat of filler) next time I pull the dash out.