Discussion
Does anyone know where I can get hold of the driver's side wiper arm for my V8S?
Is's a 1994 model and I know that there were 3 types of wiper arms used. The original 1 that was on my car was made by Fister. Does anyone also know if the same wiper arms are used on the Chims or griffs as these seem easily accessible.
Thanks in advance.
Is's a 1994 model and I know that there were 3 types of wiper arms used. The original 1 that was on my car was made by Fister. Does anyone also know if the same wiper arms are used on the Chims or griffs as these seem easily accessible.
Thanks in advance.
Barkychoc said:
...the later ones (Griff / Chim) are not quite as low profile and I think they could foul on the bonnet, but I'm not 100%.
The driver's side one will need to be low profile or it will foul the bonnet. Even the standard OE one's will foul if you're unlucky (combination of spindle height and bonnet fit - the better the bonnet fit the less clearance there is!). If you go with the TVR Parts one at least you’ll know you’ll be getting the right part even if you do have to fiddle about a bit. I’ve got a bit of black tape on the back edge of my bonnet to protect it from rubbing. There's loads of clearance on the passenger side so you've got a lot more choice. I fitted a Lucas one I got from an autojumble and it works great.Hi thanks for letting me know about the profile of the arm,I rang tvr car parts who said they have them coming in on Monday also spoke to David Gerald who said they do have them in stock £18.97 + vat each plus postage,So not sure now who to go with, the tvr car parts one is cheaper but I obviously want the one that is going to fit the best.
Pic 1. A Lucas arm. A bit too high and touches the underside of the bonnet. But it might be OK if I removed the plastic trim covering the nut. Which is what TVR had to do on the OE ones. I fitted the other Lucas one to the passenger side and was able to leave the nut cover trim on, so it’s much neater than the original, and there’s no clearance issue on that side.
Pic 2. A Nissan one. Low profile and so it clears the bonnet on the driver's side nicely. Unfortunately the spindle hole is too big.
Somewhere out there in scrappy land or Ebay there is a low profile arm with the right size spindle hole. The search goes on.
New wiper arrived on tues. I fitted it yesterday and short of taking it out in the rain all seems ok. It fitted well, didn't seem to catch on the bonnet and was working fine. I'll know better once I take her out and test it for longer, though she doesn't often get a drive out in the wet. Thanks for all the advice. Now next job....arranging to get the omex system set back up with Mr Adams.....
Gary
Gary
If Harry W reads this he could probably explain better than I can, not being that mechanically minded,probably should have said the car needs to be re set up so that the omex system works as it should which it has not done since I had to replace the distributor, coil and plug leads, Mark Adams originally set the car up for harry I believe,hopefully this will make a bit more sense than the last post
Gary, how is the new wiper working?
This is where I’ve got to. From the bottom working up.
1. OE wiper arm with some of the plastic shaved off to let it clear the bonnet. Still too close for comfort though.
2. Champion arm picked up at an auto-jumble. The other one works fine on the passenger side where clearance isn’t an issue.
3 & 4. Low profile pair from a VW Golf. A quick try shows the low profile is the answer to the clearance issue but until can get the car out of the garage and lift the bonnet I won’t know if it can be tightened onto the splines enough. Shortening and bending a loop in the arm shouldn’t be a problem (he said
).
Watch this space.
This is where I’ve got to. From the bottom working up.
1. OE wiper arm with some of the plastic shaved off to let it clear the bonnet. Still too close for comfort though.
2. Champion arm picked up at an auto-jumble. The other one works fine on the passenger side where clearance isn’t an issue.
3 & 4. Low profile pair from a VW Golf. A quick try shows the low profile is the answer to the clearance issue but until can get the car out of the garage and lift the bonnet I won’t know if it can be tightened onto the splines enough. Shortening and bending a loop in the arm shouldn’t be a problem (he said
).Watch this space.
v8s4me said:
Gary, how is the new wiper working?
This is where I’ve got to. From the bottom working up.
1. OE wiper arm with some of the plastic shaved off to let it clear the bonnet. Still too close for comfort though.
2. Champion arm picked up at an auto-jumble. The other one works fine on the passenger side where clearance isn’t an issue.
3 & 4. Low profile pair from a VW Golf. A quick try shows the low profile is the answer to the clearance issue but until can get the car out of the garage and lift the bonnet I won’t know if it can be tightened onto the splines enough. Shortening and bending a loop in the arm shouldn’t be a problem (he said ).
Hi due to the weather we are having in the SE I have not taken the S out, It seems to work ok, in the garage that is,If however when I do start using the S the wiper does start fouling on the bonnet I will bear in mind what you said about a low profile pair from a golf,reading about it in the S bible they say the griffith 500 wiper arm can be used but this again depends on the spindle size and it suggests if all this fails, short of replacing the motor, wheel box etc with a later system, to recast them using epoxy or to jam the wiper arms onto the splines with thin copper or aluminium sheets. maybe good for someone out there in the know to consider doing this as the demand seems high but parts rare especially for the earlier models. My S is one of the last so hopefully Parts for it will not be so much of an issue, Damn, I wish I was more technical.
Watch this space.
This is where I’ve got to. From the bottom working up.
1. OE wiper arm with some of the plastic shaved off to let it clear the bonnet. Still too close for comfort though.
2. Champion arm picked up at an auto-jumble. The other one works fine on the passenger side where clearance isn’t an issue.
3 & 4. Low profile pair from a VW Golf. A quick try shows the low profile is the answer to the clearance issue but until can get the car out of the garage and lift the bonnet I won’t know if it can be tightened onto the splines enough. Shortening and bending a loop in the arm shouldn’t be a problem (he said
).Hi due to the weather we are having in the SE I have not taken the S out, It seems to work ok, in the garage that is,If however when I do start using the S the wiper does start fouling on the bonnet I will bear in mind what you said about a low profile pair from a golf,reading about it in the S bible they say the griffith 500 wiper arm can be used but this again depends on the spindle size and it suggests if all this fails, short of replacing the motor, wheel box etc with a later system, to recast them using epoxy or to jam the wiper arms onto the splines with thin copper or aluminium sheets. maybe good for someone out there in the know to consider doing this as the demand seems high but parts rare especially for the earlier models. My S is one of the last so hopefully Parts for it will not be so much of an issue, Damn, I wish I was more technical.
Watch this space.
The spindle hole on the VW arm is the right size and clamps down well on the splines. The arc of the sweep is about right and most importantly, there is plenty of clearance between the arm and the bonnet on full sweep. I’ve put some white tape on the bonnet to try and illustrate the gap. Next job is to shorten the arm and work out how to attach the blade to the arm.
Edited by v8s4me on Sunday 12th February 22:13
v8s4me said:
The spindle hole on the VW arm is the right size and clamps down well on the splines. The arc of the sweep is about right and most importantly, there is plenty of clearance between the arm and the bonnet on full sweep. I’ve put some white tape on the bonnet to try and illustrate the gap. Next job is to shorten the arm and work out how to attach the blade to the arm.
why? Seems a lot of effort when the correct parts are available from TVR car parts..Edited by v8s4me on Sunday 12th February 22:13
Just IMHO Damian S3
Because the "correct arm" rubs the back edge of the bonnet, particularly on the V8S. The better the bonnet fits the tighter the gap between the arm and the bonnet. It was a known problem at the factory which dealt with it by removing the plastic nut cover before fitting. If yours works OK then lucky you, but as we all know, every car is different. Personally, I think it’s worth the effort to protect the paint and avoid more complex solutions eg lowering the spindle box.
Edited by v8s4me on Tuesday 14th February 18:14
v8s4me said:
Because the "correct arm" rubs the back edge of the bonnet, particularly on the V8S. The better the bonnet fits the tighter the gap between the arm and the bonnet. It was a known problem at the factory which dealt with it by removing the plastic nut cover before fitting. If yours works OK then lucky you, but as we all know, every car is different. Personally, I think it’s worth the effort to protect the paint and avoid more complex solutions eg lowering the spindle box.
good reason not been a problem on mine so far perhaps my bonnet doesn't fit lols.. Shame we can't replace the entire mechanism with something newer vw polo or similar but this would be a lot of work. Edited by v8s4me on Tuesday 14th February 18:14
Thanks for the explanation.
Cheers D S3
v8s4me said:
If yours works OK then lucky you
Lucky me.I was getting quite intrigued by this story, so I checked out my wiper clearance. As you can see, plenty of room to slide my fingers between the wiper boss and the bonnet...
Looking further I can see that the bonnet inner edge has been sculpted to provide extra clearance...
...and I can't say the bonnet is fitted particularly high or forward at the rear edge:
#So I'm wondering if this is really a common problem. Joe, was your clearance issue present prior to your post accident re-build?
Graham
You've got loads more room than me. The problem was only noticeable once the new bonnet had been fitted by Surface & Design. They obviously know exactly what theya re doing and the bonnet fit was much better and much neater than the old one. I had to slacken off the bonnet pin on the driver's side to give a bit more clearance for the wiper. Now I'll be able to put it back to where S&D set it and close the bonnet/side panel gap.
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