Should i convert my manual window cranks to electrical?

[priscillacraven]

I recently bought a 1990 BMW E30 316i sedan that only came with one manual window winder. Unfortunately, that one has now broken, so I'm considering converting the windows to electric.

My main question is whether it's worth buying an original BMW power window setup or if a cheaper universal kit would do the job. I'm on a fairly tight budget, so I don't want to spend more than necessary.

If anyone has done this conversion before, I'd appreciate any recommendations on what parts or kits to buy.

[82eye]

pull everything you can off a parts car. there's more involved than just the motors. switches, center console, and wiring harnesses will need to be added or changed. some consoles are universal with blanks for the switches, but many are not.

[Holland]

I cannot imagine it would be easy at all. I don't think non power cars came pre-wired so at a minimum you would need motors, regulators, harness which is probably part of the entire chassis harness, console, switches including the lockout switch. I would think it would be far easier to locate a manual window regulator and crank to fix the issue.

[Vincenze]

If you look around, you can find cars that are parted out.
Later cars shouldn't have problems with electric motors.

The door electric connectors are weak, though.

[TobyB]

At least on the earlier cars, the electric window harness is separate.
Now that I think about it, isn't the later one, too? I only parted one, a LONG time ago now...

And on the really early cars, the hardware's pretty similar- they kinda stuck a
motor on the manual lifter and called it good.
So yeah, go parts shopping. I would NOT recreate the original exactly, but it would be nice
to keep it stock- looking. So maybe use whatever parts for lifters are easiest to find/ make work,
wire it yourself with a standalone harness, and find original switches to keep it looking stock.

Wiring diagrams are out there- look on the Wayback Machine for Wedophones.com, and look for manuals.

It'll be a project, but not too bad, compared to many.

t

[Panici]

I'm personally a fan of manual windows, and would keep them manual if given a choice.