Power window conversion???

[william0431]

Hello all, So I am right at the half way point of my overseas tour of duty. I have been using this time to collect a ton of parts for my Sport Fury and my Savoy. I still need to post photos of the Savoy, long story short I Cannon-balled from Okinawa japan to San Diego, drove to Fresno, bought the Savoy, hauled it back to Sand Diego and flew back to Oki in less than 4 days, since my Command would only let me take 4 days of off island leave what with Korean War ready to restart :/

Any way back on topic, I really want to have power windows In my SF and frankly just looking at the parts books and interchange books had me a little confused as to what regulators and motors I need and then reading, the cost and rarity of them along with the troubles others have had just to be dissatisfied by their function has me thinking there must be a easier way of achieving this. So i have been looking at what options there are.

Knowing the manual cranks move the windows correctly with no alignment issues gave me an idea. Again, I cant just run out to the garage to take measurements so I am basing my idea off of the pictures I have of my car, photos you all have posted on various threads. There is a popular aftermarket PW kits out there that you remove your window crank handle and fit a gear around the manual crank post, the motor can be placed any where and is connected by a flexible arm.

With this kit installed normally they put a very ugly plastic cover with ugly modern buttons over the protruding crank mount. I am wondering if you were to cut the crank post down and cut / machine the reaming crank post to be grove'd to mesh with the drive of the aftermarket kit. would it be flush enough to still mount the door panel with out a bulge or the mechanism rubbing the back of the door panel? I have two perfect sets of original switches I could easily mount and connect to make the kit motors work, they may need to be mounted slightly different than the factory correct position due to the position of the post and drive gear being in that spot.

Going off the photo of my door below, it looks to me like the inner skin of the door is recessed a bit from the door panel where the crank handle post is. I am wonder if any of you can verify this distance for me, and I will order one of the PW kits to see if the drive is thin enough to fit in this gap between the sheet metal of the inner door skin and the back of the door panel.

I am attaching a few photos of to help visualize as well as a link to some one installing the kit. In the video he leaves the crank post its full length but I don't think it would be that hard to cut it down to be flush with the edge of the drive....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeDWptbUHMw

Hope this all makes sense to you all.... I can picture it working in my head. Who knows maybe it works and we can all have power windows for the price of one of these kits. For the backs I do not have any good pictures of how the crank protrudes from the body panel but the photo i do have leads me to believe this might work for the back as well. Hoping maybe some of you can verify for me. A car is a lot tougher to work on when it is an Ocean away... Only another year and a half away if every thing plays out here, but I am up for promotion so we will find out in December if i am moving up a rank and if that happens hopefully orders state side will come with it

[Matthew Keij]

I don’t think you can get it flush enough.
The original power window switch goes through that hole already and it doesn’t stick out much on the door panel.

I think the best way is to find all the power window stuff and build and original set

[william0431]

Hi Matthew, I was kinda afraid of that. I am searching around for an original set of power windows. I am a little confused by the parts and interchange manual. Looking through it, says any 57-59 Special club coupe will work (excp Imperial) but I know there were a couple different types with regulators to match.

I found a guy who has a 57 New Yorker and a 58 Desoto parts car's. I am waiting to hear back if they are 2drHt's and the part numbers for what he has. Am I reading the interchange manual right, As long as these are 2drHt's they should work?

I appreciate the feed back on my idea. I am also attaching the P/N page I have been using for researching and the interchange manual. The search continues.... Just glad I do not have a Convertible, those rear regulators must have been a pain the A to find!

[william0431]

maybe I am reading too far into it but ill have to take in to account the motor interchange dependent on manufacture (Autolite or Dura). I am hoping this guys 58 Desoto will do the trick.

[Matthew Keij]

Let me ask around to see if we can find stuff you need

[william0431]

That would be awesome!!!! Thank you!

[Matthew Keij]

Maybe John Fowlie still has some stuff?

I checked with Jessica from the fin farm but no luck there

[william0431]

I'll ask John, he is already helping me with a power brake set up for my savoy and is going to look and see if he has an autronic eye set up. thank you for asking around for me.

[william0431]

So, I have come across a 57 New Yorker 2drHt that is being parted out and have purchased the complete power window set up out of it sight unseen. It is getting shipped out later this week. I have gone over and over the manual, parts book, interchange. From what I can tell any 57-59 D,P,D,C (except Imp) 2drht will work for my 2drht. My only concern is after reading a few different threads on PW if the 1/4 are different. I know Convertibles are a special case.

Will these 57 NY 2drHt power windows work on my 59 Ply SF?