Power Windows

[pribs67]

I'm currently about halfway through putting power windows in my '67. I got the inspiration from a thread on the Samba about BMW power windows in a Westy. It turns out that the motors from a mid-80's 3-series (e30 chassis) have the same exact drive gear as 65-up Beetle regulators. Two of the three bolts on the BMW motor are about 5mm off from the bolt holes for the stock crank. I simply drilled two holes next to the original ones and knocked down the area between them with a dremel. During a test fit yesterday, I discovered that the door stay interferes with the motor so that'll have to come out. If anyone else is interested, I'll write up a tech article when I'm all done. I plan to wire a circuit so that when I arm my alarm the windows roll up automatically.

[starmember]

nice find i would like to see some picturce. :cool:

[Doogie S]

pribs67,

Tech articles are always good, as you never know when you will need the information.

I would have a look at the auto-up function for the windows, as I've only seen this done recently on some newer high end cars. The reason is that if anything is sticking out the window when it goes up, you run a real risk. :eek:

Personally, I would just wire them up normally and have the alarm wiring separate so that I could leave the windows down a crack in the summer to get some air circulation. It's not like a VW is secure anyway, but this may just be me talking, as I have a couple of VW Cabrios. Nothing like a good piece of canvas to keep the thieves out. ;)

Doug

[pribs67]

Good point on the alarm, Doug. If I do the alarm thing at all (and it would be more for the novelty than anything) I will have a switch so the auto-rollup can be disabled since about half the time my windows are up anyway. I could use the same circuit for a one-touch down so I'll probably do that instead and have the alarm so I can hit button 2 and roll down the windows or something of that nature. I'll take pictures of progress so far when I get home this evening.

[NO_H2O]

You can also eplace the VW door stoppers with the cable type used with one pc. windows.

[pribs67]

Well, I got the passenger's side window and motor installed and working yesterday. Then my hoseclamps locating the motor on the track slid out of place while the window was down. So now the window is stuck. That was at 8:30 pm and I hadn't had dinner so I called it a night. I'm going to look at it some more tonight and at least get everything out of there and my window rolled/propped up.
Fitment is quite tricky especially if you leave the wing window separator in place. The motor causes the regulator to stick out from the inside of the door more than stock and is hard to get into place so I'm thinking I'll put it in a different place. All that would be required is to notch a rectangle out of the regulator channel. This time I'll weld tabs on the channel or something a bit more secure than the hoseclamps. Sorry, no pictures yet but I'll get the passenger's side operational and do the writeup and pictoral documentation on the driver's side.
It was quite exciting yesterday once I got everything bolted up and in place to see the window roll up and down with little effort from the motor. It's a bit loud but I think thats from the regulator resting against the door metal and not having the panel on there. It's pretty fast too, about 2 or 3 seconds to roll fully up or down.
After taking my really old cheap panels off and on several times for power locks and windows, they're pretty torn up. Plus, there's now that hole where the crank went. Looks like new panels are in order sometime soon.

[Lazarus]

kinda off topic a bit but watson street works makes a really nice kit. i have that kit on my car no fuss just bolted right in to the stock position. the only problem i had was using a one piece kit its a little heavy and the added drag slows the window a bit.

[pribs67]

preg911 - good point on the aftermarket kit. I did look into a few but decided they would be a bit down the road if I decided to get one due to the cost. Most of the difficulty with this path has been getting the regulator in and out of the door with the vent window separator in place (not the correct way). Since you mention one-piece windows, I think this method would do quite well if it utilized the 65-67 regulators since they lift at two places.

I just got done pulling the regulator and motor back out of the passenger door and brainstorming about different places to put the motor. Right now I'm leaning toward immediately in front of the bottom mount for the regulator. It's easy access and the weight is pretty far forward in the door.

[pribs67]

Well, I finally got everything installed in the doors for the power windows. What I ended up doing was reproducing the factory notch in the regulator (that the crank gear sits in) about 2 1/2 inches forward of the bottom window mount. Then I used the RH motor in the LH door and vice versa. I had my buddy weld nuts onto the regulator channel to hold the motors in place. I ended up re-using half of the original crank housing to keep the regulator in place. I'll finish up the wiring and install the switches this week. It really works well and the install was a breeze with the motors at the bottom of the door where they don't interfere with anything. I know I keep promising pictures, but they'll come this week in addition to a tech article.

[nbturbo]

Still waiting for pics?

[pribs67]

Sorry about that, I've been pretty busy the last month or so moving into a new house. I'm re-vamping the inside of my doors at the moment so the mechanisms are out but I'll take some pics and post when I'm putting them back in. They actually work quite well. They're a little loud but I think that could be solved with some foam between the motors and the doors.

[nbturbo]

Thanks for that.

[pribs67]

Here are some pictures:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/221759.jpg

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/221761.jpg

Feel free to ask questions.