Yeah, I know that the brick wall has been the gear and the cables. I even read all about the person that worked out getting a new gear made but it didn't pan out due to high costs due to the limited numbers needed. As for the Accord assembly. The more I think about it I think it might be possible. I might have to try and make it to Rich's Tech event so I can look at another bike without having to put mine back together. Here is what I have been thinking about.
First off the motor. I agree, I haven't seen any reports of them failing. I just mentioned that in the event that it actually happened and someone was looking at replacing just that and stumbled across this thread many moons from now. It would help them identify that the Honda Accord uses the same motor. Well not 100% the same The wire connector appears a little different. However the white connector on the top of the motor visible in this photo looks like it would unclip so someone could either just cut off the ends and put the right connector on or try and move the power cable over to the Accord motor. Other than that, from the photos I have seen, the motors are the same.
What isn't the same is what the motor bolts to. On the 1300 it bolts to an aluminum bracket shown here that houses the drive gear and holds the cables.
Well it might not be aluminum. It feels pretty cheap much like the same powdered metal that the drive gear is made from. That is fine for the rest of the assembly but the gear couldn't take the wear. The only marking on any of the parts to this assembly is "MCSA" which is stamped on the black metal part that has the three bolt holes in it. This same acronym is also stamped on the sheet metal that makes up the assembly. Whoever MCSA is I think is the big mystery. I would be willing to bet it is the subcontractor that makes the parts for Honda and would be the source if it were possible to ID them and if they would be willing to sell the part, which I highly doubt will ever happen. I am curious if the "M" in MCSA is Mitsuba who makes the motor. A Google search is difficult because MCSA is a Microsoft Certification so there are lots of hits on that. More so when you include things like window in your search.
As for how the existing cable attaches to the bracket. This can be seen in this image.
The red arrows show where the crimps are at to hold the cable to the bracket that supports the windscreen. This is why that cable can be rotated. If I wanted to shim the gear and run on a new part of the cable I should be able to braze the cable to the bracket so it will no longer spin. What is interesting is how the mechanisms are driven differently. The 1300 does a push/pull with the one cable. The Accord uses a continuous cable that does more of what might be a pull/pull motion. Well from the poor photos it looks like this is the case. Based on what the bracket looks like and how the cable attaches, I don't see why the cable couldn't be cut off and changed over to the pull/pull version used in the Accord. There are micro switches on the right mechanism that limit the range of motion of the mechanism to prevent over extending. Since w are dealing with the same motor there is no reason it couldn't be done the same way. The concern is that a continuous cable isn't going to help much when it comes to this application. The reason is that it would only power one of the brackets. The way I see it there are two options.
1. Try and use the Accord mechanism and cable possibly extending the cable so the left and right sides are connected in series. It would be troublesome to align and most likely why it wasn't done this way.
2. An easier way would be to run two motors. One for each side. Now if you spliced the second motor in, it should work but it would double the load on the circuit and most likely cause issues. So something would have to be done with relays to make this work. Impossible, no, but it would take some time to figure out. Plus we would have to find room for a second motor in there.
The other issue is that we need to ensure that there is enough clearance at the top of the mechanism for the cables to come out. Since my bike is really stripped down it would take some time to put it back together enough to see if this is an issue. That is why it would be nice to take a peak at a bike at the tech event. I might have to try and make it. I might get around to putting things back together enough to see if it would work. If I think it does I might order an assembly for an Accord and take the next steps.
. Larger aftermarket windshields place even more stress on the mechanism when attempting to adjusted with the pressure generated at speed. I've even read where some say a large windshield wont even adjust at all when moving.
