Windscreen Wiper

Down yet another Rabbit hole....

One of the "front half" restoration sub-projects was the windscreen wiper mechanism.   The type 54 has a single wiper driven by a standard Lucas motor/transmission and cable mechanism, while the federal cars have a similar  two-wiper systems, with a correspondingly larger, heavier motor.  I have both the original and, in my parts bin, a partially-seized two-wiper setup.  I will install the original.  It was not difficult to give it the ‘refresh’ documented below. 

Units used in the Europa

Here is a comparison of the single (restored) and dual wiper motor units, followed by images of the markings on the cases.

Paint and refurbish

I decided to restore the smaller original unit in order to maximize lightness. While it was tired-looking and filthy, the motor appeared to be in good shape, and the entire mechanism turned freely. The cable was somewhat sticky with old grease, and the motor housing contained grease that seemed serviceable but may be thicker than when installed over 50 years ago. So, the motor assembly was disassembled, cleaned painted and reassembled, as was the cable. A few comments and some great detail from a chat on FB:

• they are robust. clean and bench test. then you're good to go.
• Remove the grease. It is stiff when cold and likely contaminated. Replace with any silicone grease. I used Sil-Glyde.  (I decided to clean and grease, couldnt help myself.   Glad I did as the grease in the cable was quite hardened.  I used grease that is blue.   Bought it for my boat.)
• Take photos so you know which way the wheel box fits. Dunno about your luck but I usually get a 50/50 wrong.
  - The field coil housing needs to be marked so it goes on the same way. Some are indexed but not all. So mark it to be sure.
  - They are a bit on the weak side. We used to rewind the armature with more coils for a little more oomph.
  - The large wiper gear has a cam on the reverse side which operates the park switch. The gear needs to be removed, cleaned and the bushing and cam greased.
  - The rack should not be stiff in the housing at all. It is just ordinary tubing (imperial) with simple single flares at each end so it is easy to make up another.
  - The circlip does not like to be spread. Just slip in one side and then press down on the other to fit. It won't break that way.
  - Both the armature bushings have felts that need to be oiled prior to ureassembly.
  - There is a ball bearing in the non-gear end of the armature. You need to be careful that it stays in place. Use some light grease to hold it and to lube it during operation.
  - The armature has an endplay adjustment. It is critical to smooth, long-lasting operation. You want virtually zero-play with no preload. It's tricky to adjust because the large gear and the field magnets also provide resistance. So, it's better to fit the armature before fitting the rack cable and housing. I also usually run the motor at this stage to make sure it runs easy and free without play.

  

Various shots of disassembly/

The wiper arm was missing, and I recall tossing a mangled one years back.   .  Apparently a MGB-GT wiper arm is a good substitute, and with a slight bend will park snugly at the bottom of the windshield, as it should.     Some FB comments - thanks again Brian!

if you have a single wiper and a motor for a twin setup, it won’t sweep the full screen or park properly. You can change the drive gear to give a full sweep of the screen and park on the passenger side. The wiper arm is the same as an MGBGT but you will have to put a set on the end of the arm to get to park parallel with the bottom edge of the screen. You can set it by carefully bending it in a vise.

Not so fast.... I traded a tired MGB steering wheel for this arm, got it home and clearly the spline count is different.  

Fine post, coarse socket.

 

Fine splines - maybe.

 The gent I traded with sent a photo of another he had.  Still doesn't look right.  This from a '73 MGB-GT.  

Turns out the splines aren’t supposed to match, however I do think the fine spines would be preferable.  The arm fits fine.  I will need a  compatible 23 or 24” wiper blade to fit.

Done!