I finally plucked up the courage to get cracking on the solution for windscreen wipers that I should have gone with from day one. The job started with getting the old Fiat mechanism out, easier said than done as the demist vents had been welded in place after the wiper mech went in and had to be cut out to get the bloody thing back out. With that done it was just 2 6mm nuts holding it in place, 5 minutes later it was out and on the scrap pile. I had to drill out the hole for the wiper spindles as the mini ones were a couple of mm bigger than the Fiat ones, far easier than if it had been the other way round. The wheel boxes fitted quite easily on the near side, not so easily on the off side, where the angry grinder had to come out and make a minor adjustment.
I still don't have the correct motor but the one I do have is exactly the same size and shape so I was able to mock things up and make sure it all fits, which it does. I have to weld in a bracket to hold the motor but that's a simple job, I have made a bracket to go round the motor, it is all isolated with rubber to keep noise down. I attached a battery to it and am pleased to say it ran almost silently. The correct motor should be here soon, it will comply with the regs and it will be quite a neat install. It's taken far more time than I would have liked but if it all ends well then I will be happy.
I got a bit lucky at Newark auto jumble and found some really nice stainless wiper arms and wiper blades. The arms are adjustable for length and can be configured to park either side, which is handy as I don't know what side the motor will park yet, having the ability to set the blades at the right angle for either left or right park is a big advantage, as is being able to set the length of the arms and the length of the blades. A mock up told me it would all work rather well and either set up will clear enough of the screen, although a left park would be best. It's all pretty academic from a driving point of view as it will never go out in the wet but it has to be acceptable from an approval point of view.
I had a go at sticking some of the roof lining tiles to the roof I used carpet adhesive and wanted to know that it was strong enough - it certainly seems to be absolutely fine although I am concerned as to whether it will remain stuck when the roof panel gets really hot. When I built my Robin Hood about 20 years back the carpet on the trans tunnel would come unstuck every time it got really hot in the summer. It was a real pain so I am hoping this stuff is much better than the cheap crap RH supplied back then. I like the look of these, they are quite heavily textured and make it a wee bit different. They are quite a light grey, which is good as it doesn't make the interior too dark, I will use a similar shade for the carpet, which won't be going in until the painting has been done.
Add comment
Comments