1978 Reliant kitten rebodied in hand formed aluminium

The height of the window, door to roof is about a foot and there is almost enough room within the door to allow it to retract to be almost flush with the top of the door. The problem is finding a suitable lifter. The one I'm playing with is from a 2006 Honda Civic Type R which is about two feet long and that will definitely not fit. I've been looking at the possibility of cutting it down but that isn't straightforward and I would like to find something suitable without modifying. This is always an advantage when anything goes wrong and you need to source a replacement. Standard is always good in my view.

On most examples that I have seen,the track is vertical with a carriage that lifts the glass. Here is a picture of the one I have. For it to fit in the door the angle of the track would need to be no more than 30 degrees off vertical. Any more and it will come through the side of the door. The window glass comes outwards at something like 40 degrees from vertical. I'm not sure whether it might be possible to get it to work with the window at one angle and the lifter at another.

I would appreciate any ideas and suggestions particularly if you can point to a more suitable mechanism.

Sorry about the quality of the screenshot. I was too lazy to go back to the workshop to take a photo of the actual unit.


PS The second photo shows the angle of the B post and I hope clarifies what i trying to explain.

Great suggestion, thank you. The Z3 mechanism looks more suitable but it could be a bit on the large size. Without knowing the dimensions I'd have to buy one and see. You are quite right about needing a quarter light and that is already in the plans.

I'm probably missing something but why is the angle of the glass an issue, Surely the track on the lifter just needs to be mounted at 30 degrees parallel to the glass runners?

Absolutely right but the problem I have with the Civic mechanism is that the tract is too long to allow the optimum angle and I would prefer not to modify it. Putting it at 30 degree angle brings it out through the side of the door.

Thanks Glen but looking at it I think it would give the same problem as the Civic one that i have. Too long to allow the correct angle

I've just had another thought I would like to run by you.

Rather than an electrical lifter for the window, I'm thinking manual vertical slider operated by hand from a peg in the door card with some sort of clamping arrangement to hold it in the desired position. This has several advantages, the main on being that it would allow the window to be fully retracted into the door, it saves money on two electric lifters and there is also a weight saving. Against, a bit crude maybe but it is simple and being simple myself, I do like simplicity 

Any comments?

I'm liking manual operation more and more and showing my age I can clearly remember the straps to open railway carriage windows. The operation and locking in place needs to be thought out and definitely needs further consideration.

I roughed out a ply template for the window mainly to see how much quarter light is needed and the answer is not very much and could well take the form of a plate rather than glass, much the same as on many modern cars where it is a mirror mounting.

You'll notice from the photo that an angled channel needs putting into the rear of the door to accommodate the window because of the gap between the door and the B post. 

Probably the next step is to trial fit the window channel but Woolies are currently out of stock until November so there may be a bit of a wait before we can progress. So, in the meantime, I'm going to build up the passenger door which is just a repetition of what has gone before so I won't bore you with it.

I'm favouring Lexan rather than glass for the side windows because of the weight saving and ease of shaping.

Ah, the Deltics, what a wonderful sound they made when they were on song. We lived close to the east coast main line and they were hitting big numbers on that section of track.

I was 23 in ‘65 so I was able to really enjoy the truly swinging 60s when everything was fun.

I've seen it on racing Porsche 356's as well.

Its nice simple and light.

I think its a great solution.