Wiper modifications

[DavidL]

I remember when the Mk 3 coupe first appeared, hearing that to avoid the Metro wipers hitting the windscreen surround, the driver's side operating arm had to be lengthened by a small amount, but the Convertible build manual instead refers to very careful alignment of the blades.

I think mine have just been carefully aligned; however, once there's a bit of wear in the linkage, there is going to be enough slop to allow the arms to "overwipe" particularly when the screen is wet, and I'd like to modify the arm to reduce the throw.

Does anyone remember the distance that needs to be added to the arm, or have an original Mk 3 Coupe build manual which references this?

[Stuart]

From what I can see my build manual makes no mention of the mod, however the original builder has made notes through-out.

A real pig to get the drivers side sweep stay on the windscreen, no amount of bending or twisting works

He went on to say he extended the arm by 8 mm. There was also an article in a club magazine about the issue.

[DavidL]

From what I can see my build manual makes no mention of the mod, however the original builder has made notes through-out.

A real pig to get the drivers side sweep stay on the windscreen, no amount of bending or twisting works

He went on to say he extended the arm by 8 mm. There was also an article in a club magazine about the issue.

Thanks Stuart, 8mm sounds a reasonable amount. I can't see how any bending or twisting would do anything apart from rotating the entire swept arc of the screen around, and I'd guess that there wouldn't be any leeway to play with.

I might have got my info from that article (do you know what date it appeared?) although I thought it had come from the factory...

[Moneypit]

In my convertible manual it suggests the following

The standard Metro arms are used, but with 14'' blades in place of the standard 16''.The wiper arms do need modification from the standard shape.....remove the standard kink from the top end of the arms.....straighten the arm.Reposition the arm in the vice so that a bend can be made 1'' above the main structure of the arm.Bend the arm in the same direction as the original kink.

Then it goes on to say about careful alignment.

[manifold]

My arms are bent like this and they work fine.

[DavidL]

A bit after the event, but thought I'd mention it.

I removed my wiper linkage, to find that the driver's side arm had indeed been modified by lengthening it. I now realise I have wipers which sweep the entire screen without encroaching on the screen rubbers, due to a couple of lucky finds on eBay (a wiper relay and the wiper stalk with the delay switch).