Hey all,
I just recieved my power window kit today and figured that I would post pics of my install/trial so you all could make up your mind if you wanted to get the inexpensive universal kits from ebay. If this install and action is successful I will have one kit available for sale with everything you need, but lets see how it works first.

(I am not at my home computer so I can not post the pics yet...I will post one of the install tonight when I get home)

Good idea.

I saw a cool idea in a hot rod magazine last night. They used the window crank as the switch for the electric window. Nice stock look and you still get power windows with no obvious switches.

The handle activated would be neat.


Here is a pick of the motor assembly:

Here is one of the illuminated switches that comes with it:

Here is the unit almost all of the way installed. Note- I will be trimming mounting tabs at the red lines and may need to cut the door at the green lines to keep the profile down. I will see about the last part when I trial fit my new door panels.

If there is anything in particular you want to know, want close ups of, etc post your questions here. I will be happy to accomodate.

I am going to bed now, early day tomarrow.

Thanks for posting this Mike. I’ve wanted to add power windows to my 914 for many years.

My main concern (and I’m sure you’ll be able to answer this when they’re done) is that I hear most of these kits wind the windows pretty s..l..o..w..l..y.


PS, post Lots–O-Pics!

The other issue is ho easy do the windows have to operate manually to be able to be powered. I know mine are really hard to roll up even after cleaning and greasing. Do you think the motor will power through the range?

Tyler,
that is a good question. You can also adjust your vent window channel to help ease your window movement. There are many adjustments to do to get it nice and smooth. Look into it as your window should not be hard to roll up and leaving it that way will cause premature fatigue of your parts.

how does this interface with the crank gear? Is there a picture of what is not needed from the original set up? Does this just go over there the crank handle goes? I guess I want to know hoe it works overall.

Will this work for later doors or earlier doors or both?

Theoretically it should work on old as well, but I have no proof as of yet.

I will take some pics of the interface tonight to give you more clarity.

I thought that I would add some contrast in kits and prices. All ofthe universal kits come with the same adaptors and such. the main difference is the design adn in some kits the possibly the power.

If you do a search for SPAL kits on the net or ebay you will get many hits with varried prices and extras like switches and such.

Here is one with two motor options and without switches:
http://www.commandoalarms.com/itmidx3.htm

And another of the same variety:
http://www.autodax.com/products/powerwindow/spal-2.htm

These are by no means the cheapest suppliers of these kits as I have seen them for less. Just to let you know that they are out there.

Other brands may go for less (like the one I bought). SPAL is the name brand in power window conversion kits so they are usually more. I have heard no complaints about the SPAL, but lets see what the competition has to offer

Wow, pretty simple looking, sweet parts.

I did not look at the links, Mike, but how much added weight?

It can't be much.

John

Hey John,
I don't know exact added weight, but i woudl. assume 10-20# to be a good range. I am being generous in my guess as weight was not an issue to me. I may be able to weigh it when I get home if I can find my scale

Time for some answers:

John,
I was wayyy off with the weight thing. I am not good at guessing weight. I weighed one assembly and switch and it was a little over 1 lb. So figure 3 lbs.

914fan,
If you look at the above pic you will see how the unit fits onto the crank. For your question I took some pics of the pieces for clarification, though.

This first one is a close up of the end of the drive unit. Notice the toothed inside:

The toothed interior piece fits over the adaptor pictured here:

The toothed inside of the adaptor fits onto the toothed out side of the crank adaptor. The insode of the crank adaptor fits onto the crank:

This thread may take a while since I am back in school, but I will be including wiring info as well.

Mike,

I assume that the toothed adapter, mounts to the teeth on manual crank handle. Any thoughts on the life of the plastic teeth? ANy stress on those teeth and it looks as though they could crack. I wonder how hard if yould be to find them machined..? I bet a bit more cash.. Just a thought..

All of the kits that I have seen use this very hard type of plastic. If you look at late model windows you will see the gears are all made of this material. Not worth machining IMHO.

Oh, and there is more than one adaptor that will fit the window crank (just incase).

The good thing about the adaptor being made from plastic is that if the works get jammed up one day you know that the cheapest and easiest piece to replace is the piece that will break.

-Ben M.

Mike,
Nice close up of the installation. Can you picture the motor being installed aft of the crank ? I mounted speakers behind the front door panel.

What gauge of wire did you install to the motors ?

Hey Mike, Just an idea, I used to install the Spal power window kits a lot back in the day and you may want to experiment with moving your crank assembly back inside the door a little using spacers. It will let your door panel sit closer tot he door.

I will order a set for mine and install them and take pictures as I go so you can see how they go in. They are similar to what you have but I have found them to be the best of the cheap kits. The kit you are using is the Colibri kit.

There is another company out there that makes OEM style power window kits called Electric Life They used to be over in Wilmington off Sepulveda, now they are in Chicago. They make the whole kit with the regulator just like the factory would have done. They were expensive though as I recall. About $500 for a two door kit. They dont make one for the 914 but they have some pretty trick universal kits that could be made to work in our little cars.

Electric Life

QUOTE (Dr Evil @ Mar 20 2006, 07:54 PM)

Here is the unit almost all of the way installed. Note- I will be trimming mounting tabs at the red lines and may need to cut the door at the green lines to keep the profile down. I will see about the last part when I trial fit my new door panels.

wow.. nice UNCUT doors.. I've nevers seen a "virgin" one, mine were butchered by some guy with a hammer and crowbar to fit crappy speakers.

Nice to know the drives are only a little over a pound each. How much current do they draw and where are you tapping in for power?

QUOTE (skline @ Mar 22 2006, 01:53 AM)

Hey Mike, Just an idea, I used to install the Spal power window kits a lot back in the day and you may want to experiment with moving your crank assembly back inside the door a little using spacers. It will let your door panel sit closer tot he door. I will order a set for mine and install them and take pictures as I go so you can see how they go in. They are similar to what you have but I have found them to be the best of the cheap kits. The kit you are using is the Colibri kit. There is another company out there that makes OEM style power window kits called Electric Life They used to be over in Wilmington off Sepulveda, now they are in Chicago. They make the whole kit with the regulator just like the factory would have done. They were expensive though as I recall. About $500 for a two door kit. They dont make one for the 914 but they have some pretty trick universal kits that could be made to work in our little cars. Electric Life

Hey Scott,
Thanks for the tip on the spacing. I was wondering if there was the possibility of swapping door mechanisms so the crank side would be facing into the door. Spacers would be easier. Do you have any opinion on the brand that I decided to go with? I am very pleased with the kit so far. It came with everything from pluggs to wires to switches. I wish I oculd just drive over and install it at your place. No that I need help, just that I miss hanging out with ya.

Jim,
I would guess that the supplied wiring is 12-18 gauge. Plenty thick. As for reverse mounting, I would hae to put screw holes in my door to show you. The little metal tabs come with the kit and let you mount the regulator where ever. If I can get someone to hold it in place I will take a pic.

Brian,
I will likely tap power from my cigarette lighter wires as I have removed my lighter (I only smoke when I am on fire )

I do not knw how much current these will draw, but I have a /6 so it will likely not be of consequence to me.

This may seem crazy; but here goes..........................how about replacing the existing turn signal and wiper switch (s) with a multi-tasking switch that could allow contol of the windows. My Volvo has extra stuff crammed into the two stalks; the volvo rear wiper could be a PW onleft/off/onright and the blinker could be up/down when the wiper in is onleft or onright

Is it even doable ?

Doable? Sure, but it would probably take a bunch of time and none of the current parts would be adequate for conversion.

You sure have an imagination

This would tak it to the next level, albeit some electrical challenges are out there. I'll bet there's someone else who has thought about this and has worked out the solutions......let's see.

Jim,

just be happy with the power windows

So I took Scott's advise and shimmed my assembly. It made everything so shallow that I had to notch my door to make the assembly fit flush. Of course I took pics for ya'll.

Close up (a little blurry). I kinda over did it on the reinforcement, but it looks nice

"scalpal - check!
sawzall - check!
dremel - check!"

Great news and enlightening finds today. I jumpered the motor on the pass side and it worked perfectly. It was just as fast as it should be. The fascinating thing was that when I tested the drivers side it moved much slower (due to it being mounted a bit differently which will be addressed later). I can take video of the window working, but I have no place to host it (and no interest in starting such). If some one want so to host it, I can shoot it maybe tomarrow.

QUOTE (Dr Evil @ Mar 25 2006, 09:36 PM)

Great news and enlightening finds today. I jumpered the motor on the pass side and it worked perfectly. It was just as fast as it should be. The fascinating thing was that when I tested the drivers side it moved much slower (due to it being mounted a bit differently which will be addressed later). I can take video of the window working, but I have no place to host it (and no interest in starting such). If some one want so to host it, I can shoot it maybe tomarrow.

email it to me and i can host it here on 914club...

acox914 at comcast dot net

Alright man, if I can talk the woman into filming it while I jumper it I will send it to you.

I got it filmed, now I gotta figure out how to email a 54Mb video.

QUOTE (Dr Evil @ Apr 1 2006, 06:54 PM)

I got it filmed, now I gotta figure out how to email a 54Mb video.

AIM...

I am kinda anti AIM. AOL products have spyware and such. I had a roomie put it on my computer and it was a pain to get rid of.

What about yahoo messenger?

QUOTE (Dr Evil @ Apr 1 2006, 08:05 PM)

I am kinda anti AIM. AOL products have spyware and such. I had a roomie put it on my computer and it was a pain to get rid of. What about yahoo messenger?

54 megs!?!?!?!?!


go to putfile.com or yousendit.com and temp host it there...


you know how to FTP stuff?? - i

Como? No pienso que puedo.

I do not know how to adjust my file size or anything. i have never used a digi vid cam before. It is only 33sec. Any ideas? It should be easy.

upload it to:
A ) yousendit.com
B ) putfile.com
C ) google video
D ) the other site i cant remember the name of

Like I didn't have enough crap to learn. I have uploaded it and it is being "verrified" so who knows when it will be ready for viewing.


Stay tuned!......................watch the banana

QUOTE (Dr Evil @ Apr 1 2006, 08:54 PM)

Like I didn't have enough crap to learn. I have uploaded it and it is being "verrified" so who knows when it will be ready for viewing. Stay tuned!......................watch the banana

it will take 24h or less (may be more the larger the file is) mine 20mb file took 30h..

QUOTE (cbenitah @ Apr 2 2006, 01:02 AM)

QUOTE (Dr Evil @ Apr 1 2006, 08:54 PM) Like I didn't have enough crap to learn.  :rolleyes:  I have uploaded it and it is being "verrified" so who knows when it will be ready for viewing. Stay tuned!......................watch the banana it will take 24h or less (may be more the larger the file is) mine 20mb file took 30h..

Ok, for 59Mb I guess you will need more bananas

Hey, here's one of those quick or dumb questions ...anybody know if there is a way of converting the REAR window into a slider like on a pickup truckor tail gate that will disapear behind the seats? Allways thought that might be pretty neat...but allways sold my cars before having a chance to really look into it? I don't know if there would be any real advantage or aerodynamic gain or loss with having the rear window down or out? But, it might be a good look with just the roll bar?

after the power window motor crapped out in my mitsubishi (insert jokes here) im convinced that power windows are evil as hell

Well, lets see if this worked. It should play as soon as you open the window (no pun intended). It was faster, but I had been running the window up and down for about 30 min on the same battery so it was a little slower by the time I videoed it.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=58...587071548248795

Oh ya, I have a set with two lit switches, some wiring, and two actuators with all of the mountng hardware that I will be selling. I will include instructions, too.