Another 69 Camaro RestoMod....with a twist. Project "Midnight Phoenix"

[srode]

Decided to start trying to figure out how to get the necessary hood clearance to fit around the pretty red engine cover

In previous pictures it looks like your hood was closed, curious where the clearance problems showed up. Is it for the engine at rest or more about movement when under a load?

[1966 stingray roadster]

Let me start off by saying this is an extremely impressive build. 1969 Camaros have always been one of my favorite cars and my favorite Camaro hands down. I have owned several. Love what your doing. keep showing the updates.

[Snowcatter]

In previous pictures it looks like your hood was closed, curious where the clearance problems showed up. Is it for the engine at rest or more about movement when under a load?

The supercharger "hat" fits almost perfectly inside the air cleaner hole in the hood when closed, however when I installed the red LSA engine cover that's when the clearance issue showed up. Currently I have to remove the red cover to shut the hood...that's why I decided to start chopping it up lol

[Snowcatter]

It fits! It's not the best work I have done but it solved the problem. Maybe I'll find a clever way to hide it

[Motown 454]

It looks nice to me, great job.

[Snowcatter]

I'm not very good with Photoshop, but this is pretty close to what this thing will look like someday........

[slimjim]

I like it, the new valance cutout somewhat matches the holes either side of the running lights

[Snowcatter]

Update...I have been slowly trying to figure out the best way to retrofit the 5th gen window motors into the 69 doors. I can't just use regular power window regulators because the 5th gen motors are canbus controlled and the car can't even tell if the door is open without them. They also have various other functions that aren't important here, but suffice to say I need them. First thought was to retrofit the entire 5th gen regulator but it's 3" shy in range and the 69 window tracks don't play nice with a cable drive regulator. I decided the best way to go was to use all 69 hardware and regulator and just retrofit the motor to the manual regulator...that requires custom building an output gear for the motor to replace the cable drive one. I think step one is solved, now I just need to mount it to the regulator.

[Peanut1959]

Cool solution! Cant wait to see a video of your successful setup in action.

[GB68]

Update...I have been slowly trying to figure out the best way to retrofit the 5th gen window motors into the 69 doors. I can't just use regular power window regulators because the 5th gen motors are canbus controlled and the car can't even tell if the door is open without them. They also have various other functions that aren't important here, but suffice to say I need them. First thought was to retrofit the entire 5th gen regulator but it's 3" shy in range and the 69 window tracks don't play nice with a cable drive regulator. I decided the best way to go was to use all 69 hardware and regulator and just retrofit the motor to the manual regulator...that requires custom building an output gear for the motor to replace the cable drive one. I think step one is solved, now I just need to mount it to the regulator.

In my build using 04 GTO hardware gear driven motors the lift scissors/supports are nearly the same in length but the angles of mounting are daunting so same with here just going to incorporate the motors into the manual position, probably easier than yours.

[Snowcatter]

Haven't posted an update in awhile...been working on trying to solve this power window puzzle. Wow this has by far been the most difficult retrofit to date and really kicking my a$$. My plan was to retrofit the manual regulator to accept the 5th gen motors. I had to mount the motor to the back side of the regulator which seems easy enough until you try to fit it all together lol no matter which way I rotate the motor it runs into something...either the front window track, regulator arms or the window glass sash channel. The other problem is the motor runs the wrong direction and no way to reverse it. I did discover that I can use the opposite side motor which turns the other way and the computer module can be swapped from side to side to get the electronics Happy, but still will not physically fit which has me pretty deflated since I have been trying to make it work for weeks now. I think I need to scrap the manual regulator and get a set of power ones to mount the motors to. :(

[revolutionary]

Very cool build!

[Snowcatter]

Thanks!

Very cool build!

I finally solved my power windows dilemma! Big relief lol I ended up ordering a pair of electric life power window regulators that position the drive motor in a much more usable spot. I will post a detailed write-up this weekend to show how I did it. But for now the windows go up and down with 5th gen motors ;)

[Samckitt]

Awesome build.

[Snowcatter]

Ok, here's how I finally solved the 5th Gen window motor retrofit. Using all 1st Gen window hardware and tracks with a Electric Life power window retrofit regulator modified slightly to accept the 5th Gen motor.
The motors from Electric life are similar to the GM motor, so I was able to use the output gear modified slightly and installed into the 5th Gen motor. The first image is of the manual regulator laid on top of the electric
life regulator...notice how it locates the motor down low for needed clearance.

The output gear was slightly larger in diameter so a quick turn on the lathe fixed that. The drive cogs on the back were also larger so some careful filing got them to fit.

I welded on an ear to catch one of the mounting tabs and the other just required a little filing with a rat tail to grab another screw location. It fits very nicely and doesn't move at all.



I got everything installed and it fits very nice inside the door, runs the window up and down smoothly and the express open and close work as well as the slight drop when the door is opened and the pop back up after
the door is shut ;) Hopefully this will help someone avoid the nightmare and wasted time I experienced figuring this one out....now onto the next problem!

[xHarrell]

Thank You, this will help me out so much!!!!

[Motown 454]

Thanks for the great write up, those directions will help a lot of people.

[Snowcatter]

Here is a video clip to see the window in action ;)

[Motown 454]

Wow that is slick! Nice job. Is it the box on the window motor that makes the window be able to do that or is it from a separate part of the factory wirirng?

[Snowcatter]

Wow that is slick! Nice job. Is it the box on the window motor that makes the window be able to do that or is it from a separate part of the factory wirirng?

Thanks! Yes it is pretty slick It is a combination of the Body control module (BCM) and the module integrated into the window motors. Each window motor communicates over canbus to the BCM and the motor has
an encoder built in so the computer knows the exact position of the window at all times. When this is first installed the computer has to "learn" the full up and full down positions. This window system probably
could be retrofit into any project as long as the BCM and 5th Gen door latches are included as well.