i saw a thread about installing power windows from a while back that was bumped several times and didnt see a writeup for this, so here ya go.
im lazy so get ready to read, i did this quite a few years ago and i dont know if i took many pics when i did the swap, ill post them later if i find any.
this writeup applies to 97 and older imprezas.
i swapped power windows into my 96L as follows:
i went to a junkyard and bought 4 complete doors w/doorcards and the power window/lock harness for $210 off a 93 impreza.
i discovered the harness for the power windows and power door locks is almost completely seperate from the rest of the chassis harness and that harness has a diode, a capacitor and a relay bolted to a bracket buried under the carpet behind the drivers seat. you will need this harness for the windows to work properly and it just makes things easier.
i had to go back and remove and purchase said harness from the donor car. i lived in las vegas at the time, it was middle of july and 110 degrees outside, this sucked considering how long it took to get all 4 doors off, carried through the junkyard from the very very back corner, loaded in my car and driven across town, with no a/c.
dont forget the harness...:sunny:
i removed the harness and ended up cutting a few wires that ran up to the fuse block.
this was my first gc so being a noob i didnt know this, plus i was on fire and pouring sweat from the heat and i got impatient.
i think you could get the entire harness with the plug if you removed the fuse block from under the dash and unplugged it from the block, so take the time to get the harness with the plug, it should make things easier later on since you wont have to splice any wires. you might wanna take the whole dam fuse block if you can...
i brought it all home and installed the new window/lock harness. you will need to remove the seats and carpet to install the harness, you will learn how to do this when you pull it out of the donor car at the junkyard.
i wired a fuse to the wires for window power and plugged it into a spare slot on the front of the fuse block and then spliced the lock power wires to the existing power lock wires. you will find these wires when you remove the old lock harness.
i think installation would be easier if i had took the time to get the connector on the end of the harness, i could have plugged it into the back of the fuse block where the old power lock harness was and just install the fuse in the slot where it would normally go if the car came with power windows.
im not 100% sure about the plug part since i didnt actually get the plug for my swap. i have a degree in applied electronics theory and the wiring diagrams so i wasnt too concerned about cutting wires. again i recommend getting the plug with your harness, if its not plug and play you can always splice them in at the fuse block. if anybody has more info on this, please post up!
next you will need to swap parts from the junkyard doors into your doors, unless you luck out and they are the same color, in which case you can install the new doors and plug them into the new harness.
i ended up swapping the harnesses and regulators out of the junkyard doors into my original doors since the donor car was purple and my wagon is white.
the front doors are more difficult than the rear doors mainly because of the size of the door and location of the harness, the rear doors are much easier to swap the harness into. i did the front doors right away and drove around with purple back doors for several months until it cooled off. i removed the doors one at a time and set them up on a workbench to make it a bit easier to do the swap. gravity is not your friend when you remove the window crank assembly with the doors on the car. trust me on this one.
first roll the window up and stick something in there to keep the window from coming down when you remove the manual crank. i used a 2x4.
unbolt the window glass from the manual window crank assembly, unbolt the crank assembly from the door and bolt the regulators to the door, then reattach the glass to the new regulator.
the holes are in a different location from where the manual crank assembly attaches to the door, mine were covered by round white stickers, remove the sticker and there will be a nice little hole waiting for you behind it.
the harness is a bitch to get in and out of the door, there is a bolt or clip inside the door that holds the harness in the door, you will have to remove this clip to swap the harness.
reinstall the door. you can test each door as you install them, but you have to have the harness installed with power and all the window switches have to be connected for any of them to work.
in short, the best way to do it is to goto a junkyard and pull the harness and doors and swap everything into your car.
hopefully this will help at least one person trying to do this install.
i also have the wiring diagrams for a 96l if you need them, pm me for info. :monkey:
im lazy so get ready to read, i did this quite a few years ago and i dont know if i took many pics when i did the swap, ill post them later if i find any.
this writeup applies to 97 and older imprezas.
i swapped power windows into my 96L as follows:
i went to a junkyard and bought 4 complete doors w/doorcards and the power window/lock harness for $210 off a 93 impreza.
i discovered the harness for the power windows and power door locks is almost completely seperate from the rest of the chassis harness and that harness has a diode, a capacitor and a relay bolted to a bracket buried under the carpet behind the drivers seat. you will need this harness for the windows to work properly and it just makes things easier.
i had to go back and remove and purchase said harness from the donor car. i lived in las vegas at the time, it was middle of july and 110 degrees outside, this sucked considering how long it took to get all 4 doors off, carried through the junkyard from the very very back corner, loaded in my car and driven across town, with no a/c.
dont forget the harness...:sunny:
i removed the harness and ended up cutting a few wires that ran up to the fuse block.
this was my first gc so being a noob i didnt know this, plus i was on fire and pouring sweat from the heat and i got impatient.
i think you could get the entire harness with the plug if you removed the fuse block from under the dash and unplugged it from the block, so take the time to get the harness with the plug, it should make things easier later on since you wont have to splice any wires. you might wanna take the whole dam fuse block if you can...
i brought it all home and installed the new window/lock harness. you will need to remove the seats and carpet to install the harness, you will learn how to do this when you pull it out of the donor car at the junkyard.
i wired a fuse to the wires for window power and plugged it into a spare slot on the front of the fuse block and then spliced the lock power wires to the existing power lock wires. you will find these wires when you remove the old lock harness.
i think installation would be easier if i had took the time to get the connector on the end of the harness, i could have plugged it into the back of the fuse block where the old power lock harness was and just install the fuse in the slot where it would normally go if the car came with power windows.
im not 100% sure about the plug part since i didnt actually get the plug for my swap. i have a degree in applied electronics theory and the wiring diagrams so i wasnt too concerned about cutting wires. again i recommend getting the plug with your harness, if its not plug and play you can always splice them in at the fuse block. if anybody has more info on this, please post up!
next you will need to swap parts from the junkyard doors into your doors, unless you luck out and they are the same color, in which case you can install the new doors and plug them into the new harness.
i ended up swapping the harnesses and regulators out of the junkyard doors into my original doors since the donor car was purple and my wagon is white.
the front doors are more difficult than the rear doors mainly because of the size of the door and location of the harness, the rear doors are much easier to swap the harness into. i did the front doors right away and drove around with purple back doors for several months until it cooled off. i removed the doors one at a time and set them up on a workbench to make it a bit easier to do the swap. gravity is not your friend when you remove the window crank assembly with the doors on the car. trust me on this one.
first roll the window up and stick something in there to keep the window from coming down when you remove the manual crank. i used a 2x4.
unbolt the window glass from the manual window crank assembly, unbolt the crank assembly from the door and bolt the regulators to the door, then reattach the glass to the new regulator.
the holes are in a different location from where the manual crank assembly attaches to the door, mine were covered by round white stickers, remove the sticker and there will be a nice little hole waiting for you behind it.
the harness is a bitch to get in and out of the door, there is a bolt or clip inside the door that holds the harness in the door, you will have to remove this clip to swap the harness.
reinstall the door. you can test each door as you install them, but you have to have the harness installed with power and all the window switches have to be connected for any of them to work.
in short, the best way to do it is to goto a junkyard and pull the harness and doors and swap everything into your car.
hopefully this will help at least one person trying to do this install.
i also have the wiring diagrams for a 96l if you need them, pm me for info. :monkey:
