Miata Mailing List: February 1993, Message #37
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From: (none) Subject: Power window installation/review Date: (none)
Miataphites, I received some requests for a review of the aftermarket power window installation, here you go: ========================================================================= I purchased the "Miata OEM power window kit" from "Dealer's Choice". Dealer's Choice advertises in the MCA magazine. I paid $235 for the kit. The owner told me that their primary business in years past has been selling to dealers, not retail. Consequently they do not (did not) accept VISA or MasterCard. He was kind enough to get the kit in the mail after our phone call, assuming that I would send him a personal check ASAP. A nice gesture I thought. The kit is billed as OEM quality. If, like me, you picture plug and play factory-style wiring harnesses, etc. you'd be wrong. On the other hand, now that the kit is installed, I would have to say that the appearance and operation is very factory. The kit includes: 2 integrated Bosch motors and winding mechanisms 2 Bosch lighted microswitches 1 switch mount plate 1 wiring harness Some hardware Instructions What's Missing Here? ==================== The instructions are, well, terse. Something akin to: 1) Remove factory winding mechanisms. 2) Install motorized winders. 3) Wire switches. 4) Test to be sure that the windows don't bind. Needless to say some there were some important details missing. The Miata shop manual was valuable to understanding how to adjust the window glass. I also found early on that the wiring harness provided was, in no way, intended as a direct fit for the Miata. The wires leading from the switches to the motors were way too short to bridge the distance between the console and the winders - no matter how they were routed. I ended up splicing about 2 feet onto the passenger side and 3 feet on to the driver side to be able to properly route the wires. I also determined right away that no combination of the included hardware and existing hardware would be enough to install the winders. No big deal, I just bought a couple extra nuts and washers. Finally, at first glance it appeared that the switch mount was a direct replacement for the blank panel in the console. Later I found that although it was close, it wasn't a direct fit. The Installation ================ I removed the battery leads and removed the console and the shroud for the eyeball vents and stereo. This is very straightforward as long as you know about the trick to remove the eyeball vents (i.e. feed a length of strong cord through the vanes of the vent and pull out sharply, a bit scary but it works). Then I pulled the small metal shroud below the steering wheel. Finally I removed the door panels. These are held in place by the usual pop fittings, the speaker covers and the screws that retain the armrest, and door lever. Be careful when popping the plastic fittings for the door panel, they are backed by masonite. Removing the door panel exposes the polythelene weather seal which is held in place by sticky black mastic. With care, the polythelene sheet can be peeled away from the door, but I found that it was cleaner to use a razor to cut the mastic as the sheet is peeled away. This helps prevent the mastic from getting all over everything. With all this out of the way, the real work starts. Before proceeding it's worth noting the maximum height of the window. The stops that limit the window height are removed in the process of fitting the electric winders. Removing the manual winders was fairly straightforward. The factory manual suggests blocking the window glass in place after removing the winder. Installing the Bosch winders took some puzzling, partly due to the size of the winder versus the size of the available openings in the door, and partly due to poor alignment between bolts on the winder and available holes in the door panel. This part is slow going since you have to be careful not to dent the outer skin of the door while fiddling with the winder position. On one of the doors I experimented with removing the window glass entirely, this required removing the trim and weatherstrip at the top edge of the door. Doing so made it easier to jockey the winder and motor into place. I ended up enlarging one of the bolt holes at the top of the door panel to make everything happy. This was true on both doors, so I don't think it was due to pilot error. I jury-rigged some power to the motors to test the window alignment. Alignment is accomplished by making small adjustments to the orientation of the winder and by adjusting the window glass retaining bolts. I re-adjusted the stops for the window height so that maximum height was the same as before. Next I passed the ends of the wiring harness through the rubber tube that carries the speaker wires from the body to the door. This is fairly easy to access on the passenger side, but a bit more challenging to get to on the driver's side due to the fuse box and associated wiring. I used copious amounts of electricians tape and zip-ties to secure the harness in place and relieve strain on the wires. The easiest way to do this seemed to be sitting upsidedown in the seat, with my head down by the clutch pedal. I wore a headlamp so that both hands were free. I then routed the harness up over the steering column on the driver's side, and above and behind the glove box on the passenger side (it helped me to remove the glove box), under the stereo console and under the shift console. I got juice to the winders directly from the fuse box at the junction designated for power windows. Since the switch mount provided wasn't a direct fit, I removed the factory blank panel and cut out the center of it with a scroll saw so that the switch panel would snap into that. This is hard to visualize, but basically the factory blank ended up acting as a fairly narrow bezel that the switch plate snaps onto, with the bezel going back into place on the shift console. The Result ========== The finished product is very satisfactory. In fact I like the look of the Bosch switches better than the factory switches. (If you want to see what they look like, check out the power windows in the new Volkswagen Eurovan (maybe any new VW for that matter?)). They have a little window icon that is lit by a green LED. The winders appear to be well made and of OEM quality. It's really nice to be able to control the passenger side window without having to lean over and crank it down. I think that Colin Chapman was onto something when he included power windows in the Elan and the Europa. The Miata has a fairly tight cockpit as well, and I think it benefits from the convenience of power windows. The downside? Well, it would've been nice if the installation could have been more straightforward (proper wiring harness, etc.). A switch with a "detent" so that you can lock the switch into a full-up or full-down position without having to hold the button down would've been nice. In all, I think it's worth the time and money (what else could I say right, I've spent the money :-). The kit from Dealer's Choice is frustratingly close to factory, it would be nice if they could go the extra distance to provide a better fitting harness and switch plate. -- ================================================================================ _ / Jeff Maurer, Sr. Analyst _ ___/ _ __ Service Applications, Sequent Computer Systems, Inc. / / / / / / Uucp: ...!uunet!sequent!jdm / /__/_/ / Internet: jdm@sequent.com __/ (503) 578-5062 "We break the surface tension with our wild kinetic dreams." Neil Peart, RUSH