Replacement Window Cables?

davamb · Postby **davamb** » Sun Apr 29, 2012 6:48 pm

Hey all,

been a while and I must apologise in advance for my absence and for coming back with a request for help - poor form I know.

Anyways, driving home Friday night heard a 'clok' from LHS of car and then this morning I noticed passenger side window had dropped. Some serious investigation and dismantling later I find that the 'raise' cable ferrule has parted company with the cable at the carrier. I tried drilling the ferrule out and resoldering it, but this gave way almost immediately, looks like stainless cable and my soldering is just not taking. Made up a crimp-style ferrule and crimped it on, but this lasted only until the window hit the top stops before giving way. In the meantime, both cables have wrapped an extra turn around the capstan with the result that both are severely mangled. Managed to tidy them up a bit each time, but I fear replacement is the only option.

So, to cut a short story long, anyone know if you can buy just the cables from Maz or whether they'll stiff you for some complete sub-assembly priced at a zillion bucks?

Also, the silly little nylon clips that retain the outside weather strip are so brittle with age that the release tangs snapped on every single one when trying to remove said strip. Replacements available?

Thanks in advance,

davamb · Postby **davamb** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 2:25 pm

Well $252.45 for a complete replacement mechanism. Ouch. This is pretty steep seeing I only need the cables. Going to raid the local bicycle store and see if I can't make up my own cables. It's not rocket science, just needs the right ferrules.

bruce · Postby **bruce** » Mon Apr 30, 2012 2:29 pm

Yup, this is an old common problem.
I remember a while ago there was a thread saying that MX5plus or Mania (?????) were selling the cables for under $100?

93_Clubman · Postby **93_Clubman** » Tue May 01, 2012 1:36 pm

Hey Dave, good to hear from you.

I bought d & p side cables from Mazda back in the late 90s for my NA6 - think they were about $50 each, & fiddly to replace. But Bruce is right, & MX5 Mania have some on ebay currently (see page 2) for $99 plus $7 shipping:
http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/mx5_mania/m. ... 4340.l2562

davamb · Postby **davamb** » Wed May 02, 2012 2:12 pm

Hey Paul and Bruce,

thanks for that. Bought some cable inners from the bike shop yesterday, but they have moulded-on alloy ferrules of some description. That'd be alright if I could get my own ferrules, but this seems to be rather difficult - bike shops have no idea. I'll check out what's available in the way of fishing tackle, might be a lead there, but in the meantime, MyRedMX5 has kindly come to my assistance and has sold me a couple of the genuine articles. I'll keep investigating the DIY repair when I've some more spare time, someone else might be able to benefit or it might be of use when the driver's side (eventually) fails.

Postby **NitroDann** » Wed May 02, 2012 2:15 pm

I built mine out of bike cables for about 15 dollars.

Dann

bruce · Postby **bruce** » Wed May 02, 2012 2:58 pm

I remember trying to do the same with bike cables, but the ferrule at the end was the stumbling block. From memory it's a unique cast circle of metal on the end. Bike cables have small squashed metal caps.