How To......Install Wipers

[Chris Canning]

Can you please give me your thoughts about the best way to....Install Wipers.
Any pictures of motor mounting or tips on installation would be appreciated.
Thanks
Chris

[Someday I Suppose]

Chris, I did mine with the body on before I put the engine in, it was very easy to be able to sit in the engine bay and do them.

For me the biggest issue was that the drive cable would skip on the gears in the wheel boxes. I took about a 3 inch section of the drive cable and then worked on the wheel boxes on the vice. Basically I put the cable in place, and then worked to draw the rounded 'keeper' section the wheel box closer to the gear so that the cable can not pull away from the gear and skip. The hardest part there is making sure that section doesn't get pinched and that it stays over the gear. It is certainly something you need to do on a patient day, but little by little and you will get them where they need to be.

-Scott

[sharkx]

Excellent advice from the previous poster. I would also suggest you give the aluminum tube the heave ho. I used steel fuel line. It's easier to cut, flair and bend. It's also slightly smaller in inside diameter than the aluminum tube and gives you a little better contact with the wheel boxes. Use a generous amount of grease inside the tube to make sure everything moves freely.

As for mounting the motor, I found that the motor assembly tended to swim around in the supplied bracket. I cut up some tire inner tubes and lined the inside of the bracket with them to make a tight fit. Here's a pic:
http://www.linux2go.org/postings/wiper.jpg

Bruce

[CapeCoralCobra]

607606

I installed the wiper motor before installing the body, but did the rest after. I used an aluminum plate behind the wiper motor to give it a firm base, as opposed to the thin firewall. After hours of trying to use the supplied steel tubing with less than desirable results, I went with the alternative plastic tubing described here: http://www.mk4build.com/manual/doku.php?id=lucas_wipers Some guys use copper tubing; also easier to bend/flare than the steel. I didn't have any problems with the wheel boxes. I even tried to get them to skip and they wouldn't. I also used PVC pipe, instead of the rubber tubing, between the wheel boxes and the body. I found this tip after a search on the other forum.

I forgot when I replied, but in addition to the aluminum plate, I altered a large muffler clamp plate (not the U-shaped bolt, the plate with 2 holes in it), which I ground to fit the diameter of the motor and riveted that to the center of the aluminum plate. You can't see the muffler clamp plate in the photos, but it is directly opposite the mounting strap, between the strap mounting bolts. Once the strap is bolted through the plate and firewall, the motor is VERY tight.

[Someday I Suppose]

Good advice, on the space behind the motor, I THINK its ********** who sells a molded rubber piece that fits there and works very nice to tighten up the fit against the firewall.

[buildit]

http://mk3build.com/manual/doku.php?id=lucas_wipers

http://mk3build.com/manual/doku.php?id=wiper_assembly

http://mk3build.com/manual/doku.php?id=wipers

Hope this helps....worked for me! I did use the flexible tubing vs. the hard tubing and it worked find...some do recommend that you "flare" the ends of the hard tubing coming off the wheelboxes so that the cable inside doesn't "hang" on it.

[J Persons]

Double post

[J Persons]

Here's a photo of the mount that I made. It's a piece of strap aluminum with a piece of 3/4" aluminum channel cut to fit the motor. I split a piece of rubber tubing to cushion the motor from the mount. You may have to play with the wheel box spacing to get it correct. Each car is a little different and you may need to space the wheel boxes away from the windshield a little more than what the drilling gauge tells you to. Also the wiring schematic that came with the wiper kit is wrong, a couple of the terminals on the motor are misidentified, at least on my version it was. I have a wiring schemtic for how to wire it for the park feature, using a relay, if you need it.
You will need to work on the wheel houses a little to get them to work correctly, or just buy better ones from **********. The FFR wheel houses are crap.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v477/jpersons/Body/WSwipers6.jpg

[sharkx]

The FFR wheel houses are crap
The design of the wheelboxes has changed. Some of the early ones did not have teeth on the entire circumference of the wheel. The newer ones do. In fact the newer ones look just like the ********** ones.

Bruce

[ArcticSnake]

I have done and redone the wipers 3 times. THe latest one, last night. They are loud, they bind, I cannot get them to work. My goal for today is find new boxes, new motor and make a system with metal rods instead of gear boxes. I know its Lucas and "vintage" but my application of them has left me wanting. Seems like many have gotten them to work, but I can't they are a POS in my hands.

Ill sell mine when I am done.

[CoryB]

I bought a complete used MG setup from British Miles (http://www.britishmiles.com/). It came with the proper motor, mounting bracket (including rubber baseplate spacer), sandblasted/rebuilt wheel houses, inner drive cable, outer housings, and switch with auto-park. Also included were some crappy Chinese wiper arms and blades.

When I talked to the guy there he said that they used to supply FFR in the early days but don't any more. But he knew exactly what I needed when I told him what I was building.

Everything works fine - no skipping or any problems. This is OEM factory supplied (used) stuff, not aftermarket.

Just realize that since it came from another car, the tubing has to be rebent and shortened to fit the FFR and the wheelhouse base spacers need to be shortened. I also replaced the ancient switch-to-motor wiring since it was too short anyway.

[Richard Oben]

I hope this is not a duplicate to the instructions but the cable has to be threaded into the wheel box for it to be in the right location. This of course means mounting them as a unit. Which is a real pain. What we do is mock it all up cut and flare everything and then install one peice at a time threading on to the cable as we go. HTH, Richard.

[Chris Canning]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. Think Ive got a problem though. Im concerned that I may not have room (width wise) on the firewall. Due to the right hand drive conversion I have a different detail to standard. I dont have the low footbox top over the passengers side.
http://i1178.photobucket.com/albums/x375/ChrisCanning17/2010%20Factory%20Five%20Mk4/IMG_0734.jpg
Ive got about 520mm between the two footboxes along the firewall and 210mm from the right hand(my drivers side/US passengers) footbox to the heater.
Any thoughts please? Just dont go out if its raining??

[buildit]

Another little hint is that many wiper motors fit perfectly in the Mustang fuel filter mount.....just secure with a large hose clamp.