Wipers

[CJBergquist]

So, I'm a really supposed to "grind or cut" flat??? How the heck are you supposed to hold the darn thing without burning the crap out of your fingers.
It's beer:30...I think I'll quit for the day.

[DARKPT]

Chris, those are for the earlier Coupes with no bumps in the cowl for the wipers. Some have cut a spacer for the cars with the wiper bump. I just used a washer between the nut and the body.

[CJBergquist]

I got the "instructions" from the "other" forum under Tech Updates. There is a complete article by one of the FFR techs. It replaces what is in the suggestion" Manual. It says to "grind or cut" it flat.

I'm going to think about it tonight and move forward tomorrow...

[DARKPT]

Interesting solution from FFR on that one.

You might have better luck taping it up and cutting it, then. Lemme know if you mess 'em up and want another crack at it, as I didn't use mine.

If it helps, I just bought some washers a little bit larger diameter than the threaded part of the wheelbox, then drilled out the center of the washer until it slid over the threaded area. A spacer would have been nicer, but mine turned out okay. See the 0:46 second mark for a quick peek at how mine turned out.

dashlower.mpg - YouTube

dashlower.mpg - YouTube

[70gtvert]

Here is mine, I did not use that part either.

[MikeJones]

CHris, you want to grind it to match the shape of the body while maintaining the other end to be perpendicular to the threads so that bolt rests flush against it. I held them wth pliers and used a 4" grinder to shape it.

It is important since that bolt is what holds the wheelbox steady. Mine were not tight enough and had to pull the dash to tighten up as the wipers were moving the parts more than the wiper blades. Same thing for the rubber washers/tubing. If too thick, there is too much play.

Regards, Mike

[TimC]

Originally Posted by 70gtvert

Here is mine, I did not use that part either.

Looks like yours has the bumps for the wipers. My grey body doesn't.

[CJBergquist]

I ended up making a fixture out of a couple washers and a tapered screw. Used the Dremel cutoff wheel to ruff cut then the belt sander to finish. All in but I don't like the fit of the tubes...kind of a tight force fit. Needs some "adjustment". I'll finish it tomorrow and post some photos.

[JohnPR]

I believe those are for the grey body only. I have the black body, so didn't need to use those pieces. The grey bodies had no hump in the bodywork, so those angled pieces were needed to get the wiper spindle at the correct angle.

[CJBergquist]

John you are correct, the chrome angled bezel is for the older gray coupes that did not have the wiper indents (or are they outdents?) molded into the front cowl. However, the updated wiper instructions on the "other" forum instruct you to saw or grind them flat. I did it and they look okay and have somewhat of a finished look. I'll post some photos when I finish up later this week.

[JohnPR]

Hey Chris. Interesting. So if I'm understanding correctly, we're supposed to mount them on top of the hump. How tall did they say to cut them down to? Do they end up being kind of like fancy washers, or is there still a bit of a curve around the edge?

[70gtvert]

Put them on top of the molded in ones? Don't see how that would work as in my photos there are only a couple of threads left so that thing would have to be cut down very thin. Then you still have that large nut that would go on top and hide whatever sliver of a that thing you were able to mount, unless with this setup there is a thinner and smaller diam. nut. Interested to see if I'm wrong.

[CJBergquist]

I cut down the angled bezel with my dremel tool then finished it off with the belt sander.




I think the trimmed bezel gives a more finished look.




Found a nice rubber washer in the plumbing section of the local hardware store.

[CJBergquist]

Here's a couple photos of how I reworked the bezel. I had to figure out how to hold the darn thing without messing up the finish and burning my fingers.

I started with a 1/4" flat washer and filed some notches to allow the washer to sit all the way down into the bezel. To keep the 1/4 20 screw from pulling through I used a chisel to shrink the hole a little. Worked great.



With a second washer and a nut to hold everything together then clamped in a small vise...let the cutting begin.



I used 1" of 5/8" id rubber hose. It placed just enough of the smooth part of the shaft even with the fiber glass.

[DARKPT]

That turned out really nice, Chris! Maybe I'll put my unused bezels to work after all.


Dan