Discussion
Very impressed with that final version Joe, SO much neater. Those photos do however appear to show that the body on the later cars has a subtle difference at the wiper spindle recesses; the recess is extended away from the spindle. No wonder the arms on mine have been cut away to miss the body (not 100% successfully). Think I am going to make a template and go to the breakers, VW first then other makes, just to see what is out there.
Thanks for looking Joe.
By coincidence I spent an hour in a friendly breakers this morning, quite enjoyed it, bit like old times!!! he let me crawl over any cars I wanted to look at, and it is a nice old fashioned yard.
I took along my old wipers to see if I could find a close match. Most modern cars however have much bigger screens and some pretty weird and wonderful wiper arrangements so anything I found would need a lot of modifying. Incidentally, a large minority of the cars in the yard did have the same spindle size which is a good start.
I was beginning to think I was faced with a substantial mod no matter which arm I chose when I had a Eureka moment! There in front of me was an old Ford Ka back to me, with a REAR wiper. Most rear wipers are shorter so I went on the hunt for rear ones that might do even better. I have a couple to try (£5 for a whole bunch, take back what I dont need...an old fashioned breaker indeed).
I have attached pictures of a Nissan Micra rear wiper. Same spindle, good clearance over the bodywork and under the bonnet (more than it looks on the forshortened last pic),bends right way and almost exactly the same length! Very easy 'standard' blade attachment. Blade is slightly shorter but changing to a different blade is easy.
Looks very promising but I have yet to try it in the wet and I need to change the blade, which was goosed. Trying it with water chucked on the screen it seemed almost ideal. I am going to get a second arm for the drivers side and some new blades and give it a proper test.
By coincidence I spent an hour in a friendly breakers this morning, quite enjoyed it, bit like old times!!! he let me crawl over any cars I wanted to look at, and it is a nice old fashioned yard.
I took along my old wipers to see if I could find a close match. Most modern cars however have much bigger screens and some pretty weird and wonderful wiper arrangements so anything I found would need a lot of modifying. Incidentally, a large minority of the cars in the yard did have the same spindle size which is a good start.
I was beginning to think I was faced with a substantial mod no matter which arm I chose when I had a Eureka moment! There in front of me was an old Ford Ka back to me, with a REAR wiper. Most rear wipers are shorter so I went on the hunt for rear ones that might do even better. I have a couple to try (£5 for a whole bunch, take back what I dont need...an old fashioned breaker indeed).
I have attached pictures of a Nissan Micra rear wiper. Same spindle, good clearance over the bodywork and under the bonnet (more than it looks on the forshortened last pic),bends right way and almost exactly the same length! Very easy 'standard' blade attachment. Blade is slightly shorter but changing to a different blade is easy.
Looks very promising but I have yet to try it in the wet and I need to change the blade, which was goosed. Trying it with water chucked on the screen it seemed almost ideal. I am going to get a second arm for the drivers side and some new blades and give it a proper test.
Yes Glen, mine looks the same (but a lot dirtier!)but Joe's looks like the recesses slope off in line with the wiper arm, presumably to give more clearance. I assume the chips to the paint on the pic were from the wiper arm touching, I found the arms on mine had been ground away quite a bit to give clearance.
My guess is that one of yours has been changed by now, but what they used is anybody's guess. Mine were different and one clearly wasnt original.
The Micra part number is 2878041B10 and, fitted with a 17" blade,it works well in the rain. HOWEVER, a bit of the same old story I am afraid. That part is being discontinued and is now a special order from Nissan at, wait for it, £55 +vat!!! I think the guy at Nissan thought I had had a heart attack!
There are some old stock coming in from Europe at about £20 (ebay), and they are still common enough in breakers. It isnt therefore the long term answer so back to the drawing board or another plea to TVR Parts Ltd, and that discussion has started.
CBS do some adjustable wiper arms BUT they are the wrong spindle size! Damn.
The Micra part number is 2878041B10 and, fitted with a 17" blade,it works well in the rain. HOWEVER, a bit of the same old story I am afraid. That part is being discontinued and is now a special order from Nissan at, wait for it, £55 +vat!!! I think the guy at Nissan thought I had had a heart attack!
There are some old stock coming in from Europe at about £20 (ebay), and they are still common enough in breakers. It isnt therefore the long term answer so back to the drawing board or another plea to TVR Parts Ltd, and that discussion has started.
CBS do some adjustable wiper arms BUT they are the wrong spindle size! Damn.
Just completed the mod with the Golf MK3 arms and thought I's share some thoughts.
Using an old wood chisel was better than a cold chisel to open up the crimped section
For me, the distance that gave the spring tension I guessed was ok was 4" from the end of the arm body to the tip of the hook that holds the blade:
This could have been luck based on the width of the vice I used to hold the bits apart to get the spring tensioned...
Not having any solder to hand and failing to get enough pressure to get the crimping to hold the end without slipping I came up with the idea to grind a section out of the end piece that would allow the arm body to be crimped into the resulting gap:
Resulting in a nice pair:
Paint is drying ready for refitting tomorrow.
Steve
Using an old wood chisel was better than a cold chisel to open up the crimped section
For me, the distance that gave the spring tension I guessed was ok was 4" from the end of the arm body to the tip of the hook that holds the blade:
This could have been luck based on the width of the vice I used to hold the bits apart to get the spring tensioned...
Not having any solder to hand and failing to get enough pressure to get the crimping to hold the end without slipping I came up with the idea to grind a section out of the end piece that would allow the arm body to be crimped into the resulting gap:
Resulting in a nice pair:
Paint is drying ready for refitting tomorrow.
Steve
I should have come back on this. Nissan Micra K11 model REAR wiper arms are pretty well perfect. They fit as they should, correct length, everything. No work to do. 
Although they are not cheap from Nissan they seem to turn up pretty regularly on ebay and I had no difficulty getting a second one and a spare at the right price. There at least 4 on ebay at the moment £12-17.
Although they are not cheap from Nissan they seem to turn up pretty regularly on ebay and I had no difficulty getting a second one and a spare at the right price. There at least 4 on ebay at the moment £12-17.
If you can get hold of them, the VW ones allow the wiper blades to sit lower.
You will need two pairs to do this though because you have to use the two shorter elbows (the cranked bits which attache to the spindles).
Nissan looks like a good option too.
With any modern arm check the spring tension. Our geriatric motors might have a job dragging the blades across the screen if the springs are too tight. I stretched my springs a bit and never use the wipers on a dry screen.
You will need two pairs to do this though because you have to use the two shorter elbows (the cranked bits which attache to the spindles).
Nissan looks like a good option too.
With any modern arm check the spring tension. Our geriatric motors might have a job dragging the blades across the screen if the springs are too tight. I stretched my springs a bit and never use the wipers on a dry screen.
SteveOS3 said:
I looked on Ebay a week ago and saw a few but the pictures looked like they were different sizes and shapes. Worth getting the images lined up for comparison but good if they are ok - saves time and money.
It has to be the K11 model Micra, It was in production for about 9 years I thinks so plenty made, the ones I have used are from the 1993-97 K11. There was a facelift K11 1998-2002 and that appears to use the same arm. The subsequent K12 and later ones have a straight arm which does not fit.Gassing Station | S Series | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff