Modernizing Your Opel GT: Power Rear Quarter Windows

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1 1 Modernizing Your Opel GT: Power Rear Quarter Windows By Wayne Torman My 1973 Opel was going to be in the shop for a few weeks, and I had finished stripping my $25 wrecked 1971 in the garage, so I needed a project to bide the time. I decided to try installing power actuators for the rear windows, since I didn t care about putting extra holes in the wreck if it didn t work out. First I went to a few junkyards, looking for window actuators from the rear windows on Minivans and Mazda 626 s. Unfortunately, all I found were manual hinges. Next, I went to the parts departments at some new car dealers to look at what they offered. After finding out that the Ford set would have cost me about $350 (!), I decided there had to be a cheaper and more efficient way. Using an old power window motor that I had left over from another car, I played with several different combinations from ¼ threaded rods to screen door braces to cables, but it seemed like nothing would work until I found the answer Shopping List: Junkyard/Catalog/New Car Dealer: 1 Power window motor (see details below) 1 Power window motor switch (I used one from a late-model BMW. If you choose to do the same, the connections are: #1 - To Motor, #3 - to 12V, #4 and #5 - BOTH to ground, and #8 - to the other pole of the motor. If you can t find a BMW switch, any double-pole, double-throw [DPDT] momentary, center-off switch will do - see wiring in Figure 11.) Hardware Store: 2 Sink/Basin Supply Tubes (usually in 1 Package), 3/8 O.D. X 12 (referred to as guide tubes ) 3 3/8 I.D. Metal Pipe Clamps (the kind that are lined with rubber and mounted with a single screw) Flux and Silver Solder 3 Long machine screws to mount the window motor (probably #12 X 2 - but it depends on the motor you choose) 4 nuts if the bolts go all the way through the motor housing; 1 Nut if they don t 2 stainless steel machine screws, #10 X ¾, Round Head or Pan Head 2 Acorn Nuts, #10 3 #8 X 1 round head or pan head machine screws with nuts and lock washers (the flatter the screw head the better) 2 Spacers, approximately 5/8 tall (I.D. -just large enough to fit around motor mounting bolts, O.D. about ¾.) 1 3/8 Aluminum Lockbolt Collar (to be called lock ring in these instructions) The size is approximate - just large enough to fit loosely over crankshaft of window motor with the top just about the same height above the motor as the top of the spacers). If you can t locate this part, a piece of thick tubing, 3/8 inside diameter, about ½ long, will probably work. Model Airplane/Hobby Shop: 4 R/C Airplane control rods, 4/40 X 30, threaded 1 at the end only (2 to be used, 2 spare) 4 Clevis pins (called Kwik-links - 2 per package), 4/40, non-soldering type (2 to be used, 2 spare - you *will* need the spares!) Marine Supply Shop / Boat Store: 1 4 X ¾ Tang (This is the drive-arm mentioned later, shown in figure 3.) Opel GT parts dealer(optional, but recommended): Replacement plastic grommets for rear windows. (Hey, as long as the windows are out of the car anyway.) Preparation: Carefully read all of these instructions before starting this project, so you know what you re getting yourself into! The motor that I used for this project came from an aftermarket power window kit that had been installed in a Honda Prelude, and were left over when the drive mechanism for the windows failed. I m no expert on power window motors, and I don t even know the manufacturer or model number of these motors, so I don t know a particular model to recommend. On the other hand, I can tell you the keys to picking the right motor for this job: The motor must have three bolt holes, with two exactly on the same radius, and the third one offset (outside the radius of the other two). If all three mounting bolts are the same distance from the crankshaft, the motor will NOT work in this project! The crankshaft on the motor should be square. A threaded one will get loose (I guess you could try double-nutting it, but I think you d be asking for trouble!), and a hex or cog one would be too hard to make the hole in the drive arm fit to. The motor should be as flat as possible to sit up tightly under the rear deck.

2 Place the motor on your workbench with the crankshaft pointing up. Make a drilling template for your particular motor by laying a piece of paper on top of it and rubbing a pencil gently over to trace the location of the crankshaft and motor mounting bolt holes. Once you have the template sketched on the paper, transfer it to cardboard, and double-check that the holes in the template line up with the actual holes and crankshaft on the motor! Cut the Supply Tubes to 7 from the tip of the bulb to the cut. Save the 5 leftover tubes, you ll need at least one of them! Stick a large Phillips head screwdriver or metal rod 2 into the cut end of each tube, and gently bend the tubes to about a 25 angle: Figure 1. Bending the guide tubes (you should actually try for a slightly more curved or gentle bend than is illustrated.) Remove the rear deck vinyl cover, the vinyl curtain (or door) and the trim piece from the crossbar at the front of the rear deck. Draw a line on your template straight back from the mark for the crankshaft. Align that line with the central groove in the metal deck. Use the template to mark holes in the rear deck, so that the two bolt holes on the radius and the crankshaft will all be located exactly under the flat area at the back of the crossbar (the lip that the metal rear deck plate is riveted to). (NOTE: I was able to mount the motor exactly in the center because I already had a donut tire installed and the tire bracket removed. To retain your full-size tire, you ll need to move the motor about 4 closer to the driver side window. Important - If you do move it to the side, you should attach the control rod for the passenger window to the REAR hole in the drive arm, and the driver window to the forward hole, the opposite of what is shown in figures 5 and 10!! You also might want to use the second 5 piece of leftover tubing on the passenger side. I haven t tried it, so I m not sure! The rest of these instructions assume center installation, so adjust as necessary.) Figure 2. Locating the template and marking for the mounting bolts The crankshaft should be located exactly under the middle rivet, but do not drill a hole for the crankshaft, just holes for the three bolts! Note: It s easiest to do this with the rear windshield removed, but if you don t want to remove it (and who would?), then drill small pilot holes down from the top, and then larger holes (to actually fit your bolts) up from the bottom. You may need to remove the spare tire and bracket to get your drill in here underneath the deck. Prepare the drive arm (Tang) like so: Use needle-nosed pliers (and a lot of patience!) to carefully bend, and then flux solder (soldering is *NOT* optional!!) the Kwik-links like this: 2 Figure 3. Preparing the drive arm Figure 4. Preparing the Kwik-links

3 You must modify and flux solder the Kwik-links as shown in Figure 4 to insure that your windows will close tightly and seal out the rain!!! (Note: If you find a better, stronger part to replace the Kwik-links, please let me know!) Installation: Once the drive arm fits onto the crankshaft of the motor, place the two spacers on top of the motor mounting holes, place the drive arm onto the crankshaft, and place the lock ring on top of the drive arm. Mount the motor below the crossbar using the 3 appropriate bolts and tighten securely! Do NOT place a spacer on the third bolt since it would probably interfere with the travel of the drive arm. Do, however, use a nut and lock washer at the very top of the third bolt, to hold it securely against the rear deck from underneath. Drill 2 holes, ½ in diameter, at 3 ¾ from each end, in the top surface of the crossbar, about ½ from the back of the bar. Drill 3 holes in the front of the crossbar, 1/8 in diameter, at 6 and 11 ¼ from the left side, and at 6 from the right side. (Do not drill a hole 11 ¼ from the right side!) The holes in front are best located about ¼ from the top, but if you have a piano hinge and door setup instead of the curtain, drill them as close to the bottom of the front as possible. Figure 5. Top view of complete assembly Figure 6. Front view of complete assembly Remove the Quarter Windows by removing the three screws that attach the hinge to the body behind the window and the two screws each that attach the forward brackets to the window column. Carefully support the window and hinge, and drill the pin nearest the glass out of the hinge, using a very sharp 1/8 metal-drilling drill bit such as a carbide tip bit. IMPORTANT NOTE: This is probably the most dangerous step of this entire process, because you risk shattering the window (I shattered one myself!), so be very sure to brace and support both the window and hinge securely while you *carefully* drill out the hinge pin. Use a large Phillips head screwdriver or a 3/8 metal rod to twist the ½ holes on top of the crossbar into an oval shape, like this: 3 Figure 7. Bending the left-side hole (use opposite direction for right side!) Slide the bent guide tubes down into the ½ holes from above, cut end first. Using the #8 X 1 machine screws, nuts and lock washers, secure them against the front edge of the crossbar, using hose clamps at 6 from each edge. Slide the remaining hose clamp to the center of one of the 5 leftover supply tube pieces and mount the clamp at 11 ¼ from the left (passenger side) edge.

4 One at a time, place the Quarter windows back into the openings (don t screw them in yet), and make sure that the opening at the end of the guide tube points directly at the center of the fitting on the window that the hinge was attached to. If it doesn t line up fairly closely, remove the guide tube and bend it by hand (gently!) until it is aligned correctly. With the guide tubes and the motor secured in place, take each 4/40 control rod and bend a gentle curve at about a 25 angle, just past 7 from the threaded end of the rod. Try to make this bend a nice gentle curve rather than a sharp bend, but leave the last 7 at the threaded end as straight as possible! Be very careful not to kink the rod; it is far better to underbend than overbend! Wrap electrical tape over the threaded end of the rod so it will slide into the guide tube without hanging up on any interior scratches or imperfections in the tube. Starting where the motor is, slide the rod for the left side through the 5 straight tube and then through the curved tube until it emerges from the end of the tube and points toward the window opening. Slide the right-side rod through the right curved guide tube until it sticks out as well. Mount the Kwik-links onto the threaded end of the control rods (after they have been pushed through the tubes) as shown in figure 8. Reinstall the window in one side of the car. Use the control rod to push and hold the window open about 2 ½. Insert one of the small machine screws (from the bottom up) and use an acorn nut on top to secure the Kwik-link to the window fitting (which used to attach to the hinge) as shown in figure 9. Figure 8. Mount the Kwik-links halfway down the threads on the end of each control rod. Figure 9. Attaching the Kwik-links to the window fittings. Once the control rod is attached to the window, apply power to the window motor so that it is in the fully closed position (figure 10). Have a helper push the window closed from the outside of the car, as tightly as possible. Grasp the control rod with pliers and pull it tight to remove any slack. Hold the rod on top of the drive arm and use a Sharpie pen to *carefully* mark the rod with a small dot at the *top* point where it lines up with the center of the hole in the drive arm (see figure 10). DO NOT mark the line all the way around the control rod at this point! Repeat this process for the other window. (Now it gets annoying.) Remove the screws and nuts holding the control rods to the window fittings. Remove the control rods from the guide tubes and take them back to your workbench. Bend the wires down from the marks you created at a VERY crisp 90. This is why it was important for you mark the rods carefully, because the bent wire must go straight down into the hole in the drive arm! After you are satisfied that the bend is sharp enough, make another bend in the wire about ¼ further down from the first one, so that wire continues perfectly parallel to its direction before the bend. Cut off the wire about ¼ past the second bend. When you have finished bending the wire it must be a perfectly flat shape like this: Reinsert the control rods into the guide tubes, reattach the Kwik-links to the window fittings and make absolutely sure that the bends in the rods line up perfectly with the holes in the drive arms. Next, remove the motor mounting bolts and dismount the motor. Hook the control rods into the holes in the drive arm as shown in Figure 10. Note that the control rod on the right (for the driver s side) goes behind the crankshaft and the control rod for the passenger side goes in front of it (unless you mount it to the side, in which case you should do the opposite, as described in the text between figure 1 and figure 2). While holding the rods firmly in position on the drive arm, slip it back down over the crankshaft, put the lock ring on top of the drive arm, put the spacers in place, and remount the motor to the rear deck lip. Frankly, it s a pain in the ass trying to remount it with the rods, spacers and lock ring trying to get away from you, but DO NOT skip any parts! If you skip the lock ring the control rods will continually twist the drive arm off the top of the crankshaft to annoy you, and you will probably wear out the drive arm quickly, too! 4

5 Figure 10. The motor, drive arm, control rods, spacers and lock ring with windows in Closed position. With the motor and rods in place, and the motor set to the windows closed position, check for play in the window and check for a good seal. To adjust the tightness of the window seal, remove the machine screw and acorn nut from the window fitting, and adjust the Kwik-link up or down the threaded rod, then reattach them and check again. You ll probably want to adjust them again in a few weeks, once all the parts have settled in to their most comfortable positions. Now, all you have to do is run a two conductor cable (14 gauge wire minimum) under the carpet to your switch location and wire the switch up: Figure 11. BMW Window Switch Figure 12. Momentary, Center-off, DPDT Rocker switch If you get it wired in and discover that the switch works opposite to the way you want it, it is easiest to just reverse the two leads at the motor. You are now ready to conveniently make use of those quarter windows in your more modern GT, even if you suddenly remember to open them when you re already cruising down the highway! 5