Can you remove the crank mechanism and just add the motor to it (I assume rivets) or do you need to swap the manual assembly for a complete power one?

 

Ive never done it but I suspect you will have to change the whole regulator assembly. A donor car will help. the rivet holes should be there.
good luck

 

you will need power regulators. also, the rivets will go in different locations. if you look at the door, there's a whole other set of holes that correspond to the ones that the manual regulator is riveted to. the other set of holes are the ones that you should use for the power windows.

 

If you google it you'll find a complete set of instructions with pictures of every step. If I can find the link I'll add it. I did it myself with a 1st gen about 30 years ago. My only warning is to be very careful getting all the parts out of a donor door if you decide to do it that way. I undid all the bolts I could see and put my hand inside the door to wiggle things loose. The scissor mechanism came loose from the worm gear and snapped shut. That thing has enough force and is sharp enough to cut your hand off. It's correct that all the holes are there so it's a straight bolt in if you get the same family of parts. Another thing is, if you don't already have power locks add them when you've got the doors opened up. Good Luck.

 

easyiest to just get doors with power windows and run the wires... soo much easyier and thats talking from experience and stitches..lol

 

I have the power lock solenoids, power mirrors and the wiring harness already. I bought the power locks and the seller included the entire harness for windows, locks and power mirrors! Since I want to probably put new window motors in anyway, I thought I could save myself some trouble at the yard and just rivet the new motors onto the old assembly in place of the hand crank mechanism. But if it is not worth it, then I guess I am off to the junk yard!