996 Cabriolet window motor swap to Boxster motors.

[esendia]

Hi, this winter gone my passenger window regulator cable snapped so I replaced it with one I got off eBay from a Boxster which came with the motor.

I assumed they were identical and just swapped the whole mechanism.

The original drivers side 996 motor drops down entirely then goes up entirely at the beginning and end of the roof operation while the Boxster motor on the passenger side drops only around 3 inches (still more than adequate to clear the roof) and looking on youtube this seems a fundamental change between the two cars roof operations and the motor has two different part numbers.

My question is, is there any reason not to swap the drivers side also to a Boxster motor? It seems the operation seems fundamentally better, when I lower or raise the roof at low speeds I'm still relatively protected from the wind and generally results in less wear over time on the motor or regulator.

I have the original 996 motor so can revert to the original operation but since I have to pull a door card anyway I'm wondering if I do that or replace the drivers side with a Boxster motor too for what appears to be a more comfortable operation.

Here's a link to a Boxster and a 996 roof being operated to demonstrate what I mean.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvhuCbkA_tg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmgeN16QpqA

 

[Alex]

After the process is complete and the window is only down 3", are you then able to put the window fully down manually?

 

[esendia]

I'm a little confused by the question, the window returns to the top position after the roof is all the way up or down as normal and is still manually controllable mid way through the operation just like the original.

Here's a video of my car, the drivers side is using the original 911 motor that goes all the way down and up with the roof and the passenger has the Boxster motor that only drops and goes up a little way. Just checking if there's any obvious reason I can't replace both sides with Boxsters motors to act like the passenger door so I have less wind while operating at low speed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pzccz9C8F4

 

[Alex]

OK - see what you mean now.

I never normally have my windows up when the roof's down so it'd bug me big time only dropping 3"

 

[esendia]

Ah, fair enough. I have long hair so tend to get blinded by the wind blowing it into my eyes when they drop all the way down while moving so usually have to pull over. So accidentally finding this out seemed like a solution to that.

can't see a reason not to go ahead with changing it in which case. Like you mentioned dropping all the way seems a comfort thing for most people like yourself rather than a change that's going to cause any damage to the mechanism.