Sunday, June 10, 2012

The DIY EG Civic Hatch Power Windows Install

When I begin a project, I always make sure to get all the information I need -- wiring diagrams, pictures, possible problems to encounter, and other stuff that you need to remember.

The site that helped me the most is this: http://repo.jackmoves.com/v/erik/albun31/albun42/
This is more detailed, but I didn't follow everything like the relay and other stuff.

This is the first time I'm taking the fenders off Scratchy so it's a bit challenging. Besides that, the wiring and the installation itself is a breeze especially when you connect/assemble the harness beforehand. By doing so, you will be able to test its functionality first before taking your car apart.

Here are the parts I used and the steps I took to install.

1. JDM Window riser with motor, bought for P3,500 with switch and pigtail harness. Motors should be swapped so that the right motor will be at the left to make the auto up and down function work.




2. Left and right door covers. This is part of the black bricks Gathers interior I bought in 2010 for P19,000. 



...look, a Honda Primo maintenance badge!


3. Window switch to motor harness which should be assembled before hand for easy installation. The best way to assemble this is to match the colors of the wires. I reiterate, you don't need a Honda power window relay for this to work. The gray connector is for the switch, the white is for the motor. You just need to connect all the wires together and the two extra wires are for 12v positive and ground. I used normal automotive wires to connect the two sides.




If you fancy reading diagrams:


4. Take of the fenders of the car. You need to remove the skirts by removing the clips and a screw at the front part, then for the fender you need to remove three bolts on top, and three at the side. You need these off the car run the wires through from the door.



5. Take the interior covers off the doors and you can see the mounting holes. The doors are ready to accept power or manual windows.



6. You need to remove the glass first, use duct tape to hold it while you work on the riser. No need to take the glass off the door. Unscrew and remove the manual riser from the door through the biggest hole.



7. Run all the wires from one side to the other. I used a normal 16ga automotive wire to do this.
Ground the harness to the driver side door, no need to ground the passenger side since + and - signals (2 wires) will come from the driver side wiring.


8. Connect the power wire of the harness directly to a vacant slot in your fusebox. I used a vacant one that turns on only when you turn the key to the "ON" position. You can also choose a slot that turns on at "ACC" position. You can choose any of the two depending on your preference.


You can see here that the option connector C917 for "ON", you can use C919 for "ACC".
9.  Test if it works!


Since this is a JDM power window, driver side switch for left and right are reversed. A good thing is that the auto up and down feature works as it should so I could live with it. You can also wire it as such that you have the correct orientation, but of course, you'll lose the auto up and down with it.

I'll post pictures of the finished install soon.