Electric Windows
Look Ma! No window winders!
This is an updated picture showing the door with the blanking plate covering
where the window winder went.
I managed to get a digital clock and some electric window switches from a
Renault 11. They light up in the dark!
My Renault 5 is the only 5 door one I have seen which has electric windows.
It only has electric front windows. I managed to get the electric motor
assemblies from a scrapped Gordini Turbo. What a shame it was to see one of
those in a scrap yard! I also got the switches, the rubber door wiring
protectors and some of the wiring. The bar which holds the glass is different
from the manual winders, so I got that too.
Fitting the mechanisms
This was perhaps one of the most interesting challenges I have had with the
car. It was quite a difficult job as the motors were never designed to go
inside a 5 door car. The tasks I performed are these (not necessarily in
order):
- The winders wouldn't easily fit inside the doors, so every trial fit, I had
to take them apart to get them inside the door! This wasn't too hard - just a
case of unscrewing the motor and feeding the runner inside the door and then
screwing the motor back on once the winder was inside the door.
- The doors on the five door car are a very different design from those on
the three door car. The rear edges of the doors slope and so the mechanism has
to be modified so that the windows wind up and down parallel to that edge of
the door. Getting all the angles correct was quite a headache and I nearly
chopped off several fingers when experimenting!
- It was impossible to fit a drill inside the door to make the holes for the
wires, so I had to take the doors off!
- Fitting the wiring was not too hard - I ran some wires directly from the
battery, via a fuse, to a relay which switches when the ignition is switched
on, then to the winder switches. The wiring to the motors is very simple.
- Whilst I had the door panels off, I fitted anti-vibration pads to the
inside of the doors and also applied some soundproofing felt which I encased in
plastic sheeting, so it shouldn't get wet and rot.
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