OK, so I just bought a car. It's everything I want, but the manual windows are a pain in the ass. Is there any way I can add power windows? How much would it cost? I have a sedan, but would only require the front windows to be powered, if that's possible?
Adding power windows to a car with manual ones
- Thread starter stinkynuts
- Start date
At one time Crappy tire sold kits to do that - there was also a place on Queensway that did that type of custom work but it is a Harley dealer now. I'm sure there are custom shops in the city that do it.
C
crystalpalace
It can be done, although it is not going to be cheap.
-Needs a new (or at least modified) wire harness, which might have to be attached to the BEC
-Window Regulators have to be replaced
-Door Pad will have to be modified or replaced for Switches
-Need said switches
-Rods for Mini Wedge to Lock/Outside Handle/Inside Handle might not be compatible depending on if the Regulator is Belt, Cable, or 'X' shape, as new Regulator might interfere.
In short, it is a complete door tear down and rebuild.
What type of car?
-Needs a new (or at least modified) wire harness, which might have to be attached to the BEC
-Window Regulators have to be replaced
-Door Pad will have to be modified or replaced for Switches
-Need said switches
-Rods for Mini Wedge to Lock/Outside Handle/Inside Handle might not be compatible depending on if the Regulator is Belt, Cable, or 'X' shape, as new Regulator might interfere.
In short, it is a complete door tear down and rebuild.
What type of car?
It can be done, but it will be expensive. It was more popular years ago when there were less cars with electric windows. You might want to check out J C whitney ( google it ) I also saw on www.toyotanation.com a guy that wanted to put electric windows into a car he had just bought. The conclusion he came to was that it was cheaper to pay the $1000 extra for the enhanced package with electric windows and cruise control rather than trying to put either one on the car after the purchase. Also, any additional stuff you put on the car will not be included into the price at trade in time.
There are/were aftermarket kits that basically added a housing over the crank shaft on your existing door panel and the motor was mounted inside the door. It was actually pretty simple to install.
The absolute BEST bet would be to call up Cookstown auto wreckers and see if they have 2 front doors for your make/model/year and interior colour. Then just pull off all the items off those doors and install them on yours.
As for replacing the wiring harness. 99% of all wiring harness' are the same no matter what options the car was ordered with. It is far cheaper for the auto maker to just have 1 harness per vehicle than 20 or 30. If anyone has ever pulled off the dash panel of a late model car you'd see they have all the wires for the gps, cd changer, high end audio system, everything. Heck my truck is wired for the overhead DVD system and I don't have that option.
The absolute BEST bet would be to call up Cookstown auto wreckers and see if they have 2 front doors for your make/model/year and interior colour. Then just pull off all the items off those doors and install them on yours.
As for replacing the wiring harness. 99% of all wiring harness' are the same no matter what options the car was ordered with. It is far cheaper for the auto maker to just have 1 harness per vehicle than 20 or 30. If anyone has ever pulled off the dash panel of a late model car you'd see they have all the wires for the gps, cd changer, high end audio system, everything. Heck my truck is wired for the overhead DVD system and I don't have that option.
cookstown is a good idea standard auto wreckers could probably help. Another option is to get a set of doors with the windows for your make model etc, get tehm painted to match and bolt them on . The wiring harness will be there as ther are all the same . It will likely be less expensive than a retrofit.
I was thinking that as well and also thinking that if you could get a set of doors in the same oem colour, you could just bolt them on, plug them in and you're good to go. Aligning all the gaps etc is a pain but it can be done (though I think a complete set of doors would be rather costly).landscaper said:
stang said:
you don't need to replace anything, don't mess with computer......do what i told you in the above thread.........
In my younger days when i used to install car audio, i used to do this with my eyes closed, mostly civics and corolla's........... find a car audio shop shouldn't be more that 500.
They will just install a motor in each door......don't need no computer, just a few relays and a switch somewhere and your good to go
It's a late model Honda Civic sedan. I called this guy on Craigslist (the only ad I could find), and he sounded extremely unprofessional. Said it would be $450 for all four doors plus keyless entry (which I already have).
it might actually be the same regulator in the door for power and manual windows so all you would need would be the drive moter and switches no idea about the cost
LOLonthebottom said:
I'd be calling the wreckers looking for same colour doors with power windows, and then decide to live with the manual windows. This modification could end up costing more then the car is worth.
Tell me this upgrade wouldn't make a great episode......
See below for others:
http://www.redgreen.com/index.cfm?app=cart&a=view_episodes
OTB
See below for others:
http://www.redgreen.com/index.cfm?app=cart&a=view_episodes
OTB
Looking at this from a different direction, if you installed air conditioning, you would not have to roll down the windows. May be worth looking into.
