My mk1 window winder died

[Night Runner]

Afternoon all,

For a while the drivers window has been getting stiffer and stiffer, I kept putting off oiling it.

Then today it broke . The cable has snapped and the handle spins freely.

I have popped the door card off (Mazda - why did you attach the winder handle like that? bds).

Now my question is - do I need to buy a whole window mechanism?

I'm running the '5 as cheap as possible (only cost me £600!), for example I fixed the broken rear window zip issue for £5 by buying a leather needle and mega-strong thread!.

[Sbloxxy]

I'm not certain that the cables on a manual system are the same as an electric set up ... but if they are, you can buy just the cable you need (there are two). They're around £18 each. If you need to buy both cables however, its probably cheaper and much easier to buy a complete secondhand mechanism.
Changing the cable is reasonably straight forward though its fiddly.

[MX-5 Lazza]

The winders come off easily! You just need a hook to pull the clip off and the handle then almost falls off!

[Night Runner]

MX-5 Lazza said:

The winders come off easily! You just need a hook to pull the clip off and the handle then almost falls off!

I know that now. I assumed () that you pop the plastic cover off the centre of the winder and there would be a bolt attaching the handle to the spindle.

Also - £18 per cable?! fk me!. Looks like I can get a mechanism for £55ish.

[jammy_basturd]

You can get away with just one cable, the one that pulls the window back up (I'm not sure if both cables are different lengths or whether you can change them around). One of the cables on my eleccy window went weeks ago, and for the time being I've just got one cable that keeps the window in the up position. It kinda does wind down and up, but I've tried to not use it at all whilst there is only one cable.

You could also try and find a bike cable that is the same length, they have very similar ends: