Changing windscreen wipers from LHD to the RHD position

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Author Topic: Changing windscreen wipers from LHD to the RHD position  (Read 7241 times)

Offline VaughanH

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Changing windscreen wipers from LHD to the RHD position
« on: February 18, 2020, 09:29:51 am »
Hi

I am currently building a 1965 Mustang restomod which will be RHD.
    After searching the forum for help on the changing of windscreen wipers from the LHD position to RHD the advice indicates that this is a simple process yet I am struggling to complete the job.

    The sheetmetal work is done and now I am trying to get the wipers to run.

    I have changed the transmission arms from left to right. Forum advises that this gives the correct sweep range.

    I have noted that the drive bracket on a 1965 has two pins that move the wiper transmission arms while the later models only had one pin. Do you need to go to the later single pin design? The reason i am raising this is that in order to get the wipers to turn the correct way you have to turn this bracket 180 degrees which then places the motor mount bracket in completing different position to the one I was expecting.

    My thoughts are that I have to re-position the park position switch by removing the cover plate locating the new park position and then relocating the park switch. Is this correct.

    Any advice and help is appreciated.

    Regards

    Vaughan

Offline unilec5544

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Re: Changing windscreen wipers from LHD to the RHD position
« Reply #1 on: February 18, 2020, 02:44:38 pm »
You have to make sure the motor is mounted in the correct position, otherwise you will have one wiper sweeping ahead of the other. Just fit the wiper and bracket temporally in position and attach long cable ties to the wiper transmission point outside the valance and run the motor.

Offline VaughanH

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Re: Changing windscreen wipers from LHD to the RHD position
« Reply #2 on: February 28, 2020, 11:07:42 am »
Hi Unilec5444

Thanks for your reply. I have sorted out the positioning of the motor and the wipers operate fine. Basically what I have done is re-manufacture the drive arm such that it is a mirror image of the original. (At this point this a temporary drive arm to allow me to test it out. )

I then repositioned the motor mount bracket based on dimensions from the original position. Minor adjustments got the wipers working fine.

Next issue was the park switch location. I had decided that the park position switch would need to be relocated as the original switch stops the wipers in a position that will mean they sweep down on the next start up. Removed cover on gearbox and ran motor until I had the drive shaft in the correct position. Mounted my new bracket and test run the wipers. All worked fine.

Re-positioning the park switch proved to be an issue as my chosen location means there are other parts within the gearbox that will trip the switch prematurely.

I am interested in how others have overcome this issue.

Any ideas?

Once I have sorted what I have done I will post (including photos) showing exactly how I went about this task.

Thanks again

Vaughanh

Offline unilec5544

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Re: Changing windscreen wipers from LHD to the RHD position
« Reply #3 on: February 28, 2020, 04:30:45 pm »
No need to mess with the parking function. I just reread the post where I did this and it was 9 years ago so all my pics are lost now, but it may give you some ideas. Shaunp may have a better memory than me.

https://www.mustangtech.com.au/Forums/viewtopic/t=2044/start=0.html

Unfortunately this is the only pic I can fine, not to clear but you can just see the motor and bracket. If you want I can remove my dash gauge pod and take more new pics, but not for a few days.

« Last Edit: February 28, 2020, 04:59:15 pm by unilec5544 »

Offline big al

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Re: Changing windscreen wipers from LHD to the RHD position
« Reply #4 on: February 29, 2020, 09:01:41 am »
Just rotate the arm 180 degrees.
But the end result will depend on how much butchery you've performed getting it to where it is now
It's not a hard job, just need to know what you are doing.
Sounds like you've both tried to reinvent the wheel on this one

Al

Offline VaughanH

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Re: Changing windscreen wipers from LHD to the RHD position
« Reply #5 on: February 29, 2020, 04:01:58 pm »
Hi Neil

Thanks for your response and the photo. The key for me was the advice that there was no need to change the original position of the park switch.

I went back and retried rotating the original bracket 180 degrees and sure enough this worked for me today. (Not sure why my son and I had a problem with this method a week ago but when we rotated the bracket we ended up with a weird position for the motor and bracket and it looked like you would need to notch the transmission arms or the drive bracket. I pulled the plug on making further modifications that involved modifying the transmission arms or drive bracket as my research indicated that others had not needed to do this and therefore felt I needed to spend a bit more time researching (asking questions of people who have done this before) and experimenting on the bench ).

Your offer to remove your dash and take more photos shows you dedication to help fellow Mustang owners. Thankfully I think I have resolved the issue I was having so thanks again.

Thanks for taking the time to review my post and responding

Regards

Vaughan


Offline VaughanH

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Re: Changing windscreen wipers from LHD to the RHD position
« Reply #6 on: February 29, 2020, 04:28:23 pm »
Hi Big Al

Thanks for your response regards my question on changing windscreen wiper positions for a right hand drive car.

You are right simply rotating the bracket 180 degrees allows the wipers to operate satisfactorily.

I had done this but for some reason the wiper motor mount bracket ended up in what I thought was an unusual position and my son and I started to discuss having to notch the drive bracket or the transmission arms to get the wipers to work successfully.

Probably blindside me but my thought process went down a road that if you made a mirror image drive bracket and set the wiper drive to start such that it would sweep anticlockwise (rather than clockwise) then this would work which it does but means you have to re-position the park switch. Unfortunately the wiper motor gearbox inner workings means you cannot re-position the switch in this manner. I had thought of an alternative way to re-position the switch but thought as you have stated maybe this is re-inventing the wheel.

Remaking the drive bracket does provide some advantages such as the ability to increase the sweep range of the wipers.

No butchery was involved in this job, I was simply asking a question regards doing a left to right hand drive windscreen wiper conversion and thought that the Mustang forum might be able to help with advice based on other peoples experience as has turned out to be the case.

Regards

Vaughan



Offline unilec5544

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Re: Changing windscreen wipers from LHD to the RHD position
« Reply #7 on: February 29, 2020, 10:15:29 pm »
Hey Vaughan, glad to hear you are finally getting there, any more problems do not hesitate to ask. Unfortunately we have to deal with a lot of negativity on forums such as this on, but just carry on with what you are doing and feel free to ask questions on anything you want to know. :thumb:

Offline big al

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Re: Changing windscreen wipers from LHD to the RHD position
« Reply #8 on: March 05, 2020, 08:54:04 am »
Vaughan,

there is no need to re-engineer anything really
Just undo the nut that holds the arm on to the motor shaft and rotate it 180 degrees. Now this applies if you have a single speed motor only
If you have a 2 speed wiper set up, then that arm also requires modification
Which do you have?
Also, the wiper motor mount bracket does not get altered for either set up
And when I use the term butchered, I have been converting these cars to RHD for over 20 years now, and have forgotten how many I have done, and how many I have rectified due to butchery.
Let's just use the word butchery loosely, as I've seen all sorts of right hand drive conversions

Hope the little bit of info helps

Al

Offline big al

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Re: Changing windscreen wipers from LHD to the RHD position
« Reply #9 on: March 05, 2020, 09:06:48 am »
Hey Vaughan, glad to hear you are finally getting there, any more problems do not hesitate to ask. Unfortunately we have to deal with a lot of negativity on forums such as this on, but just carry on with what you are doing and feel free to ask questions on anything you want to know. :thumb:
And Neill,

What negativity is it exactly that you are referring to?

My experience, and knowledge of RHD Conversions, along with my sponsorship of this page, and also the assistance that I provide to the many members of this page over many years speaks for itself.
And in actual fact, I find your comment unwarranted, unnecessary, derogatory, and suggest that you keep comments like this to yourself

Now have a nice day.

And if you would like some real good, and fully qualified guidance on your own conversion that you've in your photo, don't hesitate to ask,  I'm only to happy to help as I can see some areas of real concern there.

Al




Offline unilec5544

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Re: Changing windscreen wipers from LHD to the RHD position
« Reply #10 on: March 05, 2020, 09:37:07 pm »

I can assure you I do not need any “fully qualified guidance” from you, but thanks for the kind offer. I have converted my 65 mustang to RHD already and every part of the conversation was done with a high degree of thought and calculations. I am also experienced in all types of welding and metal fabrication, so no need for your help. Even the firewall is constructed in one piece sheet metal without any joins and NOT cut into 4 or 5 pieces and then welded back together, looking like a metallic patchwork quilt, which seem to a common practice with converters. If you have any customers here in WA, I would be more than welcome for them to come to my place and see how a RHD conversion is done properly, (just let me know). This by far not my first conversion and not just Mustangs, but I also have a beautiful RHD Corvette stingray, converted by me, parked next to my Mustang, which runs and performs without fault.

As for your negativity, your accusation of butchery and trying to reinvent the wheel was also a comment that was completely negative and inappropriate, as well as being insensitive and in no way helpful to the OP.
So having responded to you question, I wish you a very good day.

Offline big al

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Re: Changing windscreen wipers from LHD to the RHD position
« Reply #11 on: March 09, 2020, 09:46:09 am »
Neill,

Thanks for your reply.

I can assure you that I in NO WAY would ever be referring anyone to you for any guidance as the picture showing your attempted dash conversion speaks volumes in itself.

For a start, your lines are out, and the methods you use to support the dash whilst attempting to convert the dash frame also speaks volumes about any attempted guidance

Now, I hope you have a nice day, and we shall just leave this here before it gets any worse!

Al