where do you drill a hole in the door to run wiring for power windows. there is a double wall in the hinge area, and I am wondering where the best place is to drill a hole.

 

Bump.........

 

Hi there bbusman!

We aren't ignoring you, things are a little quite at the moment, and you seem to have done something unusual - you asked a NEW question!

And at the moment I don't have a good answer because never put electric windows in my 55 when I restored it a million years ago. But, I'll look in the parts books inthe morning and see if I can help with an answer.

A good guy to ask would be Bill Walford ("WALFORD'S 56")! Send him a PM! Dave Boley is a structural guy who might know too!

Good luck,
Julie

 

Goodmorning,

This is a pic of what I did with my '54 doors to wire the speakers. I used nice stainless wire looms from ***** rod and custum. I liked it, look good, but found when the weather turned cold the looms lost thier flexibility to slide back thru the hole into the kick panel area...thus the wirelooms "kinked" and the door wont shut like it should and pinched the wirelooms.
I am going to replace with the contact button type of wire setup sometime this summer. You might get an idea of location from the pic. there are a couple more door pics in my "intereor work" gallery
Hope this helps some....later, Ed

 

I didn’t answer the first time posted because I talk too much as it is, and my experience with this item was bad, all bad, and Mom said you should say nice things. Aligning up both sides where there are not triple folds of metal and also where the loom can slide is tricky. It is difficult (although I was rushing and not as patient as normal) to get the two side lined up correctly, I’m sure that a professional and smarter guy would know how to mark the spots with an ink transfer pad from one jam to the other. It takes a bigger hole then you would thing and I missed my alignment, well …..It’s a real big hole now! (Pilot error) Pictures are available if requested, but none at this time,……..so as to protect the guilty.

 

I also did the stainless looms.. and I think they are terrible.. the passenger door one has kinked once, and now is near useless.. it has broken free of the socket in the door.. (slides into the kick panel.).. and has frayed.. ugly..

I did carefully drill the hole from the kick panel side with a 90degree drill (thanks HF) and one of those step bits..

I don't really know what I am going to do yet.. the button type contacts are nice, but you can't work anything in the door with the door open (roll down the power window, or whatever)..

I'll post a pic tomorrow when I get the truck out of the trailer.

sam

 

Painless has a pretty cool system called Jamb-tac if you do a google search that comes in 2,3,4,5 wire systems.

you can see them at Streetrod Stuff - Ignition & Electrical - Painless Jamb Tac Wireless Connectors

 

right that the jamb buttons that I'm not sure I'm keen on..

Sam

 

Ya but they look cool.....

I have had to replace the door wiring on two different vehicles so far because of wire fatigue. I think I am willing to give up functionality while the door is open for dependability.

 

I used two ( I had elect. door locks, windows and speaker wires to run) of the SS braid looms in each door sliding into the kick panel without any kinking or wear issues so far. Place them as close to the inside edge of the door frame as the mounting hardware will allow. There are pix in my gallery. Someone here just posted some pix of a new variant that has a ball and socket arrangement on the fixed end that looks like it would solve any concerns with binding. Getting the wires from the looms to the components in the doors is the hard part since there is a reinforcing panel inside the door running from top to bottom. You could possibly drill through it from inside the door by reaching up through the inspection opening with a right angle drill, but snaking the wire could still be a challenge. I simply drilled 2" holes with a hole saw in the inside door panel to work thru. Since they will be covered with upholstery, I decided to not fight with it. Be sure to put a rubber grommet in any drilled holes you run wires thru.
I don't think wire fatigue should be an issue if you route the wire carefully and leave enough slack in them.

 

I've seen another option, but for the life of me I can't find a pic... Saw a picture of the hinge that had been modified with a 'conduit' or tube shaped to match the contour and welded/glued/attached to the bottom edge of the upper hinge. Sort of an "S" shape... there is plenty of room in the hinge pockets in the jamb... but might need a little releaving on the door end.

It was nearly invisible unless you're looking for it and didn't present the problem of kinking ... you could use any size you needed although the larger you go the harder it will be to bend to match the hinge shape.. but since it's going to be painted anyway... I'd use a torch o soften it up before bending.. you're only dealing with about 6-8 inches of tube and most benders won't do what you want with the radii you need.

Might consider copper and epoxy it to the hinge... or drill and tap the underside of the hinge and clamp it on... now I'm thinking more and thinkin you could use the standard door loom tube and glue/clamp it to the underside of the hinge too !!! it flexes already so bending wouldn't be a problem (I love it when my brain works and I can actually think of ideas !!!)

might even use the lower hinge and it would be much less noticeable there. I like the look of the contact buttons but as others have commented... you loose all connection with the door open.

later
John

 

Found a nice post when searching for this item

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/7...tallation.html

AND in my saved pictures: YES! (I like it)

 

very nice.. finding a solution for a finished door is my problem..

sam

 

Sam, how about bending up some tin to fit over the entire hinge with some fold around tabs. Paint the formed parts to match, run the wires along the hinge and then place the fabricated panels over the wires and fold the tabs around the hinge?

 

Hi All,
I solved my door problems without removing the stainless looms...Here's a couple of pics....pics dont do justice but I think it turned out real well and works GREAT. I used 1/8" x 2" aluminum from Lowes , cut and polished it in my shop. Bent them to match the door contour and mounted with 1/8" aluminum rivits.
Ed