Crank handle car power window conversion - GIF

[Jon]

Crank handle car power window conversion.

[bruce.desertrat]

Clever.

My '78 Peugeot 704 sedan came with power windows. It's backup was a geared plastic T-handle you inserted into the space where the regular handle went in the door , which was normally covered by a round plastic insert. It fit to the normal gear the handle did, so you could lower and raise the windows even if there was no power.

I really miss that car, it is still the most comfortable touring car I've ever owned. Still have the weird foot long tubular adapter you needed to pull the spark plugs...

[Frank S]

Power windows would be OK to have I guess. but I don't care for them. for the simple reason that there is no manual crank that you can insert into a hole and lower or raise them. when the dinky little micro motor quits or the plastic gear rack strips off. Thanks but no thanks having a rotary switch with a faux handle to make the vehicle still look normal just doesn't cut it for me.

[PJs]

Nice for a Retro conversion!!

[skibo]

Well we are stuck having to buy a "Plane Jane" car with hand crank window operation or buy a nice car with electric windows, we'er stuck in the middle! I like electric windows and I hate them also, kind of like automatic transmissions, air conditioning, and so on, just more to go wrong!

[Frank S]

Electrical problems in a vehicle is like cancer of the lymph glands once it happens it spreads everywhere.
Friend of mine bought a Chevy HMR when they first came out He lives in the Pacific North West where the humidity stays high and it rains very frequently. He garages all of his antique and classic vehicles in climate controlled buildings. the HMR being a daily driver was only kept under a car port Before it was 4 months old it had been hauled to the dealer on a tow truck a dozen times always electrical always something different the first time was because the windows would not go up. It started raining on his way home since he was already in line for the ferry he figured to just finish his trip home and have t hauled in the next day.
Before they finally got all of the gremlins out of the car they had replaced every module and the entire wiring harness twice.
I recently bought a 2002 Ford Expedition at auction Not start situation. it has the integrated passive anti theft system (PATS) . Let 1 little thing go wrong and the PATS thinks it is being stolen. I found the (GEM) general electronics module had a burned diode and part of the pc was burned I thought no problem just replace it.
Not so fast young man that GEM was made obsolete 2 years after production Ford does not carry replacements. have to buy used. I did that and got hjalve of the electronics in the vehicle to function.
Connect scanner read the codes systematically try to correct the codes get one cleared and another crops up. Hook up IDS to flash and clear then reprogram. NO good buy clean flashed ECM engine control module connect IDS once more program keys add minimal start up programming according to FORD service manual.
Engine fires 1 time for 5 seconds then BOOM nothing again. IDS can't even get clear readings PATS has locked everything out once again.
I won't touch the vehicle again until I can talk with someone who knows how to make the engine a stand alone and to do what FORD says cannot be done Remove any trace of PATS.

[PJs]

Wow Frank, quite a story on the Expedition. I had heard of some of that stuff on the PATS but sounds like the gremlins are a-foot. Most of the time in my experience a lot of the newer stuff is ground fault related which is always a tough nut to crack...low voltage/draw electronic components and plastic in the vehicle everywhere. So to compensate the harnesses become "Abundant" with ground lines and loops plus subject to crosstalk and emf, let alone flex circuit boards with 1-800-bad-head(ers). Uncurling the PATS from that would be like trying to remove IE from Windows...IMHO. Sometimes the local colleges will have an autoshop type program and will take on projects like that for training purposes.

Way back when Fomoco started using ECM's they were horrible, kind of like Mopar ballast resistors (everyone should keep one in the glove box). Back then it was a C note to replace them, then the market got flooded with referb's, then ones made out of country...none of them lasted long...nor should have ever been mounted on a fender well. When a friend called me the 2nd time stranded I just grabbed a few tools, went to the "good" part store, bought one went and found him replaced it. That one lasted about a year and some... Also got a $50 tip from a guy and his family (on vacation) one time, who came in with the tow truck and Mopar class A motorhome. Talked a minute tried the key, went in and got 2 ballast resistors...10 minutes, let him watch, ~$35 total...boom done, one in the glove box...Happy family...Happy Wrench.

New stuff is so complex and tied together you need $40k in special tools and test gear and 4 years college. My brother was explaining the Mercede's 6 speed 7G-tronic transmission to me and I had a hard time keeping up (went blank actually) and he went to school for 3 weeks on it...and you may have a 5G in your Mopar! And I would not look at the 9G's Nomograms unless you are serious about chasing some Waskily Rabbits.

I don't mind electric windows other than the bloody knuckles, wrist scratches and making 3 special tools to get the regulator out and back in when they do die and usually at the most in opportune time, like your friend...which may have been his long term electrical issues from water getting in.

Guess I went off a bit...oops! Been chasing IT stuff for someone today...Done now...

PJ

[Frank S]

Yes PJ I could write a million word thesis on the trials, tribulations, and perils of phantom ground faults but that is for another time.
In keeping with the grist of the subject of the OP of this thread it is my thinking that given the retro look of the window crank handle to operate the electric windows. I think that I might have carried it 1 step further, should I ever decide I wanted electrics on say my 49 chevy pickup I am restoring. I would construct a clutch system whereby my windows would either be electric or manual by simply pulling out on the crank handle which would disengage the motor and reengage the gear mechanism to the crank.
The old 49 has enough clearance in the door cavity to allow this. the motor would have to be mounted low in the door with a long drive shaft to the gear head which would have to fall away from contact with the main regulator gear, as would the crank handle have to be situated so that in normal position it would not make contact with the regulator gear, or both motor and crank would have to be made like a manual transmission going from 1st to 2nd gear so to speak. About 1/2" of movement would do the trick.

[PJs]

Interesting idea Frank and agree hardily that a pull out crank should be an option. Not sure I followed all of your design with the drive shaft disengagement/re-engagement mechanism but get the need for such and plenty doable for someone like you with some insight and skills. A 49' PU with big grin grill would have plenty of room I would think to adapt a newer regulator. I saw a 66' Nova at a street show in Napa a while back that had a similar mechanism (manual/electric ops), his had a push to engage manual with a small thumb release lever plate between the door panel and crank. Probably some kind of cam/cylinder. Everything else pretty much stock including an OEM clean-ex dispenser and OEM (shin buster) AC...although the 327 built and brakes were very clean and tastefully done. One of my favorite cars, but didn't get to yak with the guy much but he did let Mrs. PJ and I sit in it.