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Will,
I got mine from the wrecking yard. Unless you insist on having a warranty any early to mid 90's taurus will work. Take the motors out of the back doors and they will be practically brand new. 5 bucks each. I picked up 3 each side just in case. Take a hammer and chisel to knock the rivets out.
Doug M
I got my four hole Aerostar units from NAPA Auto parts, but that was a few years ago. One of the better mods I’ve done to the car to improve its operation. The info is here http://www.panteraplace.com/page164.htm

Bill Taylor came up with the Taurus motor solution. The part numbers for the Taurus parts are here http://www.panteraplace.com/Page187.htm

Both solutions work really well and the nice thing is it improves the operation but it is not visible unless you take the door apart. Those are the type of mods I like best.

Mike
quote:
Do both of these options result in the window going all the way down?

No. Replacing the motors DOES NOT change the amount the windows go up or down. While the regulators/motors are out, others mods can be done to achieve the lower window position as instructed at Panteraplace. Replacing the motors with stronger motors only makes the operation faster with less current draw. Alternately, if I modify the window lifting mechanism as instructed at Panteraplace and use a stock motor, it will go down lower but very slowly because we're still using the weak stock motor. Two different jobs.
Will
I was afraid to do this mod. A couple of the write ups from our engineer type owners got into almost micrometer type measurements.

However, Bill Taylor convinced me that the Taurus conversion was very easy and had room for error. Meaning it would be highly unlikely that I could totally screw up my window system. I took my time and it was in fact a very easy modification. For those of us on the mechanically challenged side I say just do it! The difference is amazing and I wish I had done this mod years sooner.

For those purists the Taurus conversion is not reversible. But as Mike said it is all hidden in the door. And honestly who would ever want to go back to the super slow originals?
Jeff
I did mine last year and what an amazing difference!

Anyone on the fence about this (for tech reasons) shouldn't worry too much. Like Jeff and Swen say, it's pretty easy. In addition to Mike Daily's resources, my website (see this link about halfway down: http://www.markscars.ca/Pantera_Projects_2.html) has some detailed photos of what's involved.

Mark
I made the conversion last summer and I have no idea how you would get the riders side out if it fails in any place but the full up position.

The drivers side on my car has alot more room and I think I could get the assembley out.

I think I would have to cut the arm in two to get the riders side out.

They sure work, well worth the effort.

John
quote:
Originally posted by INZOWHO:
Will,
Take the motors out of the back doors and they will be practically brand new. 5 bucks each. I picked up 3 each side just in case. Take a hammer and chisel to knock the rivets out.
Doug M


Would the back door window motor allow the window to go all the way down? On the Taurus the back windows only go part way down as a safety feature. Or is it stopped by a microswitch?
The back door motors are identical to the fronts. They are stopped in the Taurus by micro switches. No problem in the pantera.

They will not allow the windows to go ALL the way down. Glass will still stick up about an inch as they do with the original motors. The big advantage is the taurus motors will move the glass twice as fast with half the electrical power. Well worth doing the swap.

P.S. Love the orange and black on your car!

Doug M
quote:
Originally posted by INZOWHO:
They will not allow the windows to go ALL the way down. Glass will still stick up about an inch as they do with the original motors. The big advantage is the taurus motors will move the glass twice as fast with half the electrical power. Well worth doing the swap.
Doug M


True, but if you notch the curved arm and flatten the bottom screw retainer you CAN get them all the way down. The link I posted above shows the mods needed. It is only another 20 min work and also well worth doing while everything is apart.

And I am in complete agreement. Orange is awesome on a Pantera and yours is a really nice hue.

Mark
Hey Will,
Have you found a source for the motors near you? I've tried 2 places out my way, one thinks they might have them and want $35 each, the other is a larger yard, but they don't have any taurus' that old, but they pointed me to a third wreckers up in Richmond Hill that has a number of the cars (I don't have a price yet, I'm going to call tomorrow).
Note - the Taurus window motors will not work on late-model cars unless you fab some kind of adapter plate or something.

The motors and mechanism are completely different. I discovered this after ordering 2 Taurus motors, paying shipping and import duties, taking the door apart, and removing the motors. They aren't Ducellier, although I forget who made them now..
The passenger side power window of my car has not worked since I purchased my car a few years ago. I decided to perform the Taurus conversion and make the window go all the way down, since I was going have to tear into the doors anyways.

I just finished the Taurus motor conversion tonight and have been working on the modifications to get the window to go all the way down. Right now the window still sticks up about a half an inch.

I have been studying the regulator and have not found where it is binding up but, hopefully, I can figure it out tomorrow.

On a brighter note, the new Taurus motor is very fast and smooth compared to my stock driver’s window. I did noticed both windows have a kind of popping sound coming from the spring on the back of the window regulator when the window gets close to the closed position.

Does anyone have any fixes or suggestions to make the spring quieter?

Thanks.

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Thanks for the advice. I did check the spring for cracks and don't see any. I’ll try some grease.

I tried to find some used motors in town but none of the junk yards had any – hard to believe with how prominent the Ford Taurus was. I was going to do the eBay thing but just ended up through going O'Reilly's Auto Parts because I was impatient and wanted to do the conversion this weekend.

As for the window going all the way down Panteraplace.com has a very detailed write up on modifying your original Pantera regulator so that this is possible. I have done what they recommended but must need to do a little more grinding in some areas to get the proper fit. Here is a link to the article: Windows that go all the way down.
Garth,

That is the article that I have been following to try and get mine to go all the way down. So far the passenger side goes about quite a bit more than my driver's side (which I have not touched yet). I am pretty sure that I just need to grind a few more areas a little more and do some adjusting. I didn't have a chance to work on it yesterday so hopefully I can try to finish it tonight. I'll let everyone know how it goes. Thanks again.
Last edited by garvino
Corey,

Thanks for the information but I already bought the two units from the local auto parts store. I spent a little more than I wanted to but they had them in stock.

I still have a hard time believing that none of the junk yards in my area had any Taurus cars.

For anyone contemplating this conversion, it is very simple and makes a world of difference.
quote:
Does anyone have any fixes or suggestions to make the spring quieter?

You need to remove the rust from the spring. The spring "binds" on the rust, and then releases with a POP. The spring can be removed for cleaning, but be VERY VERY careful. The hardest part of the spring to clean is the smaller center coils (not much room to work). Once cleaned, a light coating of grease will act as a rust inhibitor and lubricant.

John
John,

Thanks for the advice on the removing the spring. I pondered if I should give that a try but it looked like something that could knock your teeth out pretty easily. I guess I’ll see what I can do the next time I work on the car.

I did have a chance to tinker on how far the passenger window lowers this evening. It now goes down almost even with the window molding. It sticks up in the middle of the door just a bit - maybe an eighth of an inch. However, when you put your arm on the window sill you can’t even feel it.

Also, the window still does not move as freely in the window track as I would like, so I am going to work on the alignment a little more.

Below is a pic of my passenger window in the full down position with everything hooked up. I'll try and get a better pic when I have the car out in the sun next time.

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  • Window_down
I had a chance to finish up my Ford Taurus motor conversion on the passenger side this weekend. The windows go all the way down now and are real smooth. Tonight I removed the regulator and took out the regulator spring for a little cleaning. I bead blasted it, greased it, and reinstalled it. The window is now very quiet when it goes up and down.

I have uploaded a video of the window running on Youtube. My 4 year old son is running the switch so it stops a few times when his finger comes off the switch. Even with that, you can tell how fast the window now is. By the way, this video was filmed prior to the removal of the spring for cleaning and greasing so it is noisy.

Hopefully, I’ll get the driver’s side down this weekend.

P.S. Here is the link to the video

Last edited by garvino
Finally had time to do mine, the first took close to 5 hours (lots of breaks to re-read the instructions, decide if I really wanted to go ahead with the non-reversible mod, try aimlessly to remove the motor/regulator without first removing the window glide thingy, keep the kids from bickering, figure out which tool to use to trim the mounting studs on the regulator (busted a bunch of cut-off blades for the Dremel, couldn't get the right angle with the hack saw ... finally found the flush cut saw with a metal cutting blade was the cat's meow - only needed a little bit of grinding with the Dremel to get it perfectly flush), and running to the store to get 1.5" 1/4x20 bolts)).

The second window was done in about an hour and a half (1/2 hour to get the motor/regulator out, 15 minutes to cut the studs, grind them flush, cut the regulator for the new motor (recip saw cut it like butter), and a shot of rust-proofing paint, 20 minutes for lunch, 1/2 hour to re-install everything, button it up and test it).

Special thanks to my western compatriot who supplied the motors - molti grazie!
Last edited by 5754
I finally had to chance to finish up the driver’s window motor conversion last weekend. The actual conversion to the Taurus motor on the driver’s side went really fast. However, try to get the window to go all the way down and get everything aligned seemed very time consuming and tedious compared to the passenger window.

Also, when I ordered the Ford Taurus motors from O’Reilly’s Auto Parts they each arrived with slightly different mounting systems - the same bolt pattern but just different backs. (I will try and post a few pics to show the difference). I slightly modified the back of the Taurus motor mount on my driver’s side window to get a more complete gear mesh. The passenger’s side meshed nicely from the get go.

Once again, I am very pleased with the conversion and I would highly recommend it to anyone with their stock window motors.
This is back of the motor that I used for the passenger side door. The alignment and mesh of the gear on this motor with the regulator gear was excellent. The gear actually was thicker than the one that I used on my driver's side (see driver's side motor pic).

Both motors were ordered from O'Reilly's Auto Parts for the same year Ford Taurus but came in with the different backs. After performing the conversion I would prefer this style over the one I used on the driver’s side.

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  • Passenger_Side_Taurus_Motor
This is back of the motor that I used for the driver’s side door on my car. The motor gear was not as thick and, therefore, the mesh of the gears of the motor and regulator was only about 70 percent.

I ended up grinding down the back cover and insetting it slightly to gain a better mesh. This was not hard, but did take some time that was not required with the other styled back. After my slight modification the alignment and mesh of the gear on this motor and the regulator gear was excellent. I’ll post a pic of the modified back so you can have a visual of what I did.

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  • Drivers_side_Taurus_motor
Here is the modification I did to the back of my driver’s side motor. Grinding the ears off the back and dropping the back into the case allows the motor/gear to sit farther down on the original Pantera regulator assembly. This pic is before I sealed it shut using gasket maker.

Before doing this, I verified that dropping the back down inside would not interfer or rub on anything. After I let the gasket maker dry around the edges I installed the motor on the regulator and was ready to go.

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