So there are a few other write ups on how to install power windows on your CRX or hatch. I thought I'd throw in mine since im pretty happy with my install. i did a few things different...

First I ONLY did the passenger side. I like the manual lever TBH, its fast and convenient and easily adjustable. I just dont like reaching over to the passenger side if ever i need to open or close it (after a passenger exits and leaves it open...) and I also wanted to keep things as OEM as possible, WITHOUT spending extra money on JDM/EDM doors and switches, and without cutting my original door panel! ill show you what i mean...

Mechanically, you need the EF 4dr LX/EX front power window regulators. You must swap out the top beam that mounts to the window so the CRX/hatch window fits. AND you should swap out the smaller balance beam, its ALMOST the same, but the 4dr one is like 1/32 shorter. the difference is easy to miss if youre rushing.

To take OFF the original 4dr top beam you just pry the ends open. I hope that part is obvious. Use pliers or whatever. then slide off.

To take the CRX top beam and balance beam off (the smaller one, bottom of the pic), you drill out the little dimple at the end. A 3/16" drill bit works, and follow it up with the largest bit you have to chamfer a nice edge on the other side. You can get away with just prying the balance beam off without drilling since it can kinda wobble off the single wheel on its own, but might as well just drill that one out too. Then just swap the two onto the 4dr regulator.



the THIRD thing you MUST switch out is the coil spring. the sedan window is much smaller so the spring is comparably weaker than the CRX spring. You can see the difference clearly.



its easy to take it off as long as its in the far position. This might be tricky on the motorized 4dr regulator since it needs power to move. But you can just hot wire it directly to your battery or any other 12V source and ground to move it in the position you need. I'll discuss wiring in depth later but basically you just switch the two wires to the motor between positive and ground to power it in one direction, switch polarity and it moves the opposite direction.

By now youve already taken off the original crx/hatch regulator. its time to install the hybrid power regulator. it will bolt up with no further modification! the holes to mount the regulator are different than the nonpower regulator, but they are there. no extra cutting required! use the two non washer bolts in the two holes closest to the speaker.

Now its all mounted up and use that 12V source again to roll the window up in case you need to finish this project later...

 

So heres where I did things MY way.

When I pulled the 4dr regulator from the junkyard, i kept the electrical switch that was originally mounted near the door lever. the 4dr door bezel and switch console WILL NOT FIT A CRX/HATCH DOOR. theres no way to make it work cleanly without cutting both the panel and/or the door metal. The screws that hold the lever bracket do not match, and not even that little screw that holds the bezel matches. so forget about using the 4dr bezel. Also, if you use JDM/RHD door switch console and bezel, its all screwed up because its obviously not LHD. youd have to take the extra effort of finding some rarer EDM door panels from Germany or somewhere its LHD.

HOWEVER, the passenger switch itself from the 4dr comes off the door bracket with just 2 tiny screws. plugs right into the end of the wiring harness and I cut the power window wires ONLY off the door harness and ended up with just 3 dangling wires. The switch has 5 wires, 3 to the inside of the car (power and main/driver switch), 2 to the motor.

So then its just a matter of HOW to utilize this switch onto the stock door panel WITHOUT CUTTING. well I figured out that theres JUST enough room at the back of the door pocket plastic piece to fit this tiny switch! the plastic piece is a dime a dozen and totally replaceable. so why not...

i took some measurements of the switch and drew it on a pieces of masking tape. the pocket is actually molded at an angle to the top surface. i orientated my switch parallel to the top plane, thats why it looks slightly off. its 18x21mm btw.


then used my dremel to open up the hole.


then i wasnt quite sure how to actually MOUNT and SECURE the switch to the pocket... I thought about gluing it with epoxy but honestly the switch was kinda stiff, and because of the curvature and limited space there wasnt going to be a good amount of surface contact for a good hold long term. So I took a spare interior screw that was oversized and just screwed the switch to the pocket! honda interior screws are meant to cut plastic, so it just cut its own thread into the switch's flange and existing screw hole. its kinda ugly to see that screw head to be honest, but its VERY secure. and only 1 screw needed. i dont see it from my driver perspective either.



i forgot to mention i had to cut a bit of the hard plastic so the switch could fit. just a bit and its within the flange of the pocket piece.



for the DRIVER's side, remember I am only powering the passenger window. So I dont necessarily have to add the switch to my drivers door panel pocket in the same way. What I planned on doing all along was using the EF Hatch SUNROOF switch as my main switch. reason 1: its oem, it FITS OEM into the open blanks next to the steering column. no need to wire it thru the chassis to door wiring loom needlessly. reason 2: its designed for a high amperage motor. NO RELAYS NEEDED. reason 3: its the perfect rocker switch, its just open and close, or UP and DOWN. scratch off the illustration and you dont even know its a sunroof switch.



for the actual wiring, like i said, the passenger switch and motor harness has 3 wires that go into the cabin for power. I threw away my wiring notes, so the colors might be off, I'll correct it later when if I need to, but you should experiment and figure out how it works yourself too. from memory, the 3 wires are Blue/BLACK stripe, Blue/GREEN, Blue/YELLOW. i could be wrong on the last two, but I'm certain on Blue/Black because this wire needs to go to CONSTANT (or ignition) 12V+. This way the passenger door switch can operate UP and DOWN on its own. To TEST this, touch BOTH the blue/green and blue/yellow wires to Ground - with Blue/Black to +. The passenger switch will work.

So now we know Blu/BLACK goes to 12V+. Then Blue/Green and Blue/Yellow must go to the driver/main switch, or sunroof switch. The sunroof switch has 4 wires. 12V+ IN (GREEN), Ground (BLACK), and then Green/RED stripe and Green/YELLOW. (again, i could be wrong on the last two, doesnt matter.) The two striped wires will normally be at ground at rest. When you press OPEN or UP on the sunroof switch, then it will power the Green/Red wire, and leave the Green/Yellow wire at ground. Vice versa if you press down. THIS IS PERFECT! since the window motor works the same way, in other words these two go to the PASSENGER switch's Blue/GREEN and Blue/YELLOW. if you wire it correctly, and at this point its a 50/50 shot at being right even if I totally messed up the colors, the sunroof switch will alternate the power to the motor UP or DOWN. if opposite, then just switch the 2 wires. no big deal.

Ah, now the catch in this wiring is getting the wires CLEANLY through the chassis door opening and into the door itself. You will need to route THREE (3) wires, the 2 wires from the switch, and a constant/ignition power wire. There is only 2 speaker wires currently in the door loom and the connector is on the door side. The rubber nipples on each end are large and flexible enough to fit several more wires tho. There is no connector on the body side, at least not that I found. Once you lead the wires from the sunroof switch to the passenger side under the dash (it helps to take the cluster, center console and glove box off to route the 3 wires as far up as possible to hide them from view.) you reach in next to the blower motor (you dont HAVE to take it out) and you should feel a neoprene gasket. CAREFULLY peel that back, it WILL RIP if youre not gentle because one edge of it is completely sealed and pressed to the body, so you can only peel 2 sides of a corner back. Inside there you can feel where the wires go out of the body and then you can route the wires out thru the rubber boot/nipple. This is kinda tricky. I used a wire hanger trick to make a needle hole and wrapped the end of the wire to it and poked it thru the inside of the nipple/boot. once you do it once, the other 2 are easy.
bend the hanger like such.


another small but helpful tip is to hammer off the door pin so you can open the door a bit more. it helps! i did not want to take the door off, its a pain to realign! im happy to report i didnt have to.

Then route the 3 wires into the door side nipple and connector. the plastic connector has A LOT of space to accommodate 3 extra wires around it, this shouldnt be a big deal. if you did it right, the 3 wires should follow the existing door loom. you can cover it up with electrical tape or some other kind of sleeving or whatever. now that youre in the door, you just splice the appropriate 3 wires to the door switch!
here's my finished wiring. i tried to keep it as clean as possible and use as much sleeving and protection and zip ties as needed.


you might be wondering why the color of the wires dont match. what i did was while i was at the junkyard, i pulled out the stock wiring harness from an integra and took the LONGEST and HEAVIEST GAUGE wire I could. At the end of each wire, there is a nice stock CRIMPED terminal. you just take it off whatever connector it was in (just use an eyeglass screwdriver) and I plugged it into my sunroof switch connector! no extra crimping for me, just splicing, and the minimal at best!

 

and here it is, what i see off the passenger door!


ah, before anyone asks, thats a PRELUDE STEERING WHEEL BUTTON. diameter is PERFECT. but its a bit thick in the depth. theres a tiny bit on the inside of the button that i drilled a hole and used a paper clip to halfassed secure it into position. ok, i confess, i DID have to cut a tiny hole into the door panel for this part, but its completely hidden. but i will have to figure out a better of securing it later. for now it works and you get the idea...

My only regret is not taking the WHOLE door harness from the 4dr. I could have then made the wiring on the door side much easier, and spliced OEM crimped terminals in the door connector where I needed, and left the door locks and power window connectors unused. I have in mind to install a power door lock in the future (for the passenger only for the same reason as the window) and if i do, i'll be sure to take the whole harness next time. i need to research tho if other door locks like DA integra work, that would be perfect... i dont want to use aftermarket crap if i dont have to...

I'd like to (posthumously) thank Wes Vann for being my inspiration on this. Even though I didn't do it the crazy unique way he did, his awesome write up, like all of his write ups, was detailed enough to be extremely informative and helpful. I smile now when I look over and use my power window thinking of what a great guy he was.

I'd also like to thank rwdsohcef, aka the Master Fabricator, aka JDM donut maker (lol) for being some additional motivation recently to get this project done... hahaha...


hey! my 16,000th post!

 

nice work tyson. u know there are power antenna switches from 88-89 accords that fit the slots and work the same way where you control how far out the antenna extends, not sure if you would use it for the window tho. i gathered some of those prelude steering wheel center pieces, but in hopes that they would fit. but i lost them somewhere in my garage. its good to know that they fit. any type of mods for them to not fall out? or is it just push in and go? if you took pics, can you post so i can do the same on mine after i find them?

 

like i said, im not totally happy with how i mounted the prelude button. i just drilled a hole in the little tab, drilled an appropriate slot in the door panel and use a paper clip and bent it back so it captured the button to the inside of the panel. its not firm, and when i figure out a better way, ill take a pic.

 

btw, i ground down the edge of the prelude button to make it overall thinner. it looks nicer and it fits more flush now and i can use a paper clip to positively secure it to the door.

i was rushing so i didnt take a pic. but really, if you read what i wrote and you have the prelude button already, it should be obvious.

 

very nice write up sir. since im new into EF's a parts list used would be cool. but other than that I dig how you kept it OEM looking and Hidden. I didn't like the passenger switch placement but that's just my .02 when I do this I might put the switch through the old window crank hole so its not so hidden, and use a OEM single window switch. but I'm not knocking you in any way Your way does look cleaner.