Windscreen wiper mechanism
A motor in the engine bay turns rotary motion into reciprocating motion then sends that to two “wheel boxes” under the dash that rotate the wipers.
The motor is fairly standard. I cleaned up the commutator, checked the brushes, greased the mechanism and closed it up again. Hooked it up to a battery and it seems to work fine.
Unfortunately the wheelboxes didn’t survive. The locating studs had all sheered off and I wasn’t convinced I could replace them. Also the splines which drive the wipers were pretty dubious so I ended up replacing them.
Fitting it all was one of the most fiddly jobs to date. It all has to fit up inside the cowl- i.e. up behind the dash. So it’s virtually the first thing I had to fit when the car came back from the painters.
The wheelboxes are retained by the fittings on top. The washer tubing has to be connected up and tucked away out of site before being routed back out into the engine compartment. Then finally the rack that’s operated by the motor has to be inserted from inside the engine compartment.
The wheelboxes are retained by the fittings on top. The washer tubing has to be connected up and tucked away out of site before being routed back out into the engine compartment. Then finally the rack that’s operated by the motor has to be inserted from inside the engine compartment.
All buttoned up
Update. All buttoned up, that is until I came (much later) to fit the wipers. By then I’d fitted the dash, the wiring loom and the heater, all of which are in front of these hard to get at wheelboxes.
So I was dismayed that more or less immediately, one wiper went loose. There was obviously a fault with the now very hard to get at wheelbox.
When I finally got hold of it, I found the pinion had come off. Not impressed given it was brand new.
So I was dismayed that more or less immediately, one wiper went loose. There was obviously a fault with the now very hard to get at wheelbox.
When I finally got hold of it, I found the pinion had come off. Not impressed given it was brand new.