wiper reversal

porsche911girl · porsche911girl's Garage

If I decide to reverse the wipers on my SC, would it be better to use the existing ones and bend them to fit, or get a pair for a RHD (right-hand-drive) car? That's assuming that RHD cars have their windshield wipers opposite the LHD (left hand drive) ones...I haven't checked...

Only reason I'm asking is because I'd hate to break mine by not knowing what I was doing, and then have to buy another set...and I don't know how much it would cost to have someone else do the bending for me...

Oh, and if anyone has a used '101 Projects' book, I've been told I really need to get one of those...

Evans, Marv · 02-10-2007, 03:13 PM

First of all, you don't "bend" anything to reverse the wipers. It's a pretty monumental job. First you have to remove everything from in front of the wiper motor & mechanism to get to it. Then you have to contort yourself to get up in there behind the motor assembly to undo the drive arm & rotate the arm 180 degrees. I did it on my '67 912 & it didn't have anywhere near the amount of junk to remove as your car. If it were me, I would "decide" against it.

stormmaster · stormmaster's Garage

according to the 101 projects book one arm has to be bent....i think the wipers are a design on late model (short hood) cars over long hood

Por_sha911 · Por_sha911's Garage

PorscheGirl: you don't have to be afraid of DIY projects and you are using some wisdom to plan ahead. My suggestion is to buy another wiper arm and bend it so that if you decide you don't like it (or decide to sell the car) you can put the original one back on. This also gives you some peace of mind that if you screw something up you still have your original wipers in tact. I assume you are wanting to do the reversal to be able to see better (I seem to remember you saying that you are vertically challenged). The reversal will give you some additional vision but IMO the wipers parked in front of you give an aerodynamic advantage in that they deflect the air up over your windshield (ie: less bugs splattering right in front of you).

84toy · 02-10-2007, 04:38 PM

I'm short as well and I really like the relocated arms. (now my wife complains about them)

Bending the arm is really easy. Take a piece of wire and bend it to the existing shape. Clamp the arm in a vice with some wood to protect the finish. Bend the arm the opposite way using the wire as a template.

Don't forget you have to flip the arm on the wiper motor.

Here is how they look.....

porsche911girl · porsche911girl's Garage

Paul--now see that looks very nice. It's just bending the arms and getting a vice that has me questioning whether or not I should attempt it...or let someone else do it.

What are the prices like for new arms? If they're fairly cheap, I might pick one (or two) up...

island911 · 02-10-2007, 05:13 PM

..for a right-hand drive car.

Won · 02-10-2007, 06:50 PM

You can get to the wiper motor through the dashboard by pulling out the clock and speedo, instead of completely dismantling the air unit in the trunk. There's a flexible mount for the wiper motor in the way, just undo the 2 bolts on top and fold it away. Now you're looking at the motor with the linkage arm that you need to undo. Undo the nut, pull the arm off the motor, turn it 180 degrees. Disconnect the ground on the battery first to avoid accidental operation of the wiper and getting something stuck in the linkage. I made that mistake and it wasn't very fun

Here's a picture after the reversing:

I didn't bend the arms as they were not as pliable as I would have liked in order to bend them without having to worry about breaking. Instead I just parked the wipers as low on the windshield as possible to test them out. One thing I noticed was if they were to actually clean the lower part of the windshield on the driver's side, they must be park quite a way up on the other side. I imagine if the arms were parked correctly as on RHD cars, they would cover even less of the lower section. Try the wipers on your car and see just how much of the passenger side windshield is left uncovered with the current configuration. I don't know how often you have to use the wipers in NC, but if it's anything more than occasional showers I don't think it's worth it to compromise the wet visibility for marginally better dry visibility.

One thing I did, after putting everything back in the original location, was to pull the wiper hands and reattach them so they sit as low as possible on the driver side. They're actually touching the windshield trim, but not pressing on it with any force. I'm 5'6" and the wipers don't really block my view. Most 911s I see don't have the wipers parked at the lowest possible position so if this is your case, it might be enough to get a better visibility.

Good luck!

Evans, Marv · 02-10-2007, 08:18 PM

Removing the clock & speedo sounds like a pretty good trick. Wish I'd known about it or tried it when I did mine!

gulf908 · 02-10-2007, 09:28 PM

...If they're fairly cheap...

I just paid AUS $58 for the bent one from my local Sydney dealer this last week.
You may be able to get one from the UK a bit cheaper.

Cheers,
Dennis.

Won · 02-10-2007, 09:36 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Evans, Marv
Removing the clock & speedo sounds like a pretty good trick. Wish I'd known about it or tried it when I did mine!

I, too, only realized it as I was staring at the motor and the backside of the gauges after I took everything out of the trunk. Everything I do about the car seems that way - learn it the hard way first...

cygtoad · cygtoad's Garage

Personally, I don't understand why one would want to do this to their 911. The wiper configuration is just another thing that makes the car unique.

I guess the reversal looks nice in a familar kind of way. That is, if you want your car to be familiar, like a Toyota or a Ford.

Maybe the next project we will see is ... reverse mounting the foot pedals so they are like every other car.

Never mind me, I am just being a little grouchy today.

rnln · 02-11-2007, 12:35 AM

Has anyone done this on an 87-89? I have tried to look in there through both the trunk and the dash/clock but there is somethings in there to cover the whole area. I can't even see any arm in there. When I look fom the trunk, I could only see the bottom of the motor (if my memory sreve me corectly). From the dash, I graped and yanked it to see what it is and found that it mount very tight in there.

felix_browne · 02-11-2007, 02:38 AM

if you haven't done this before i would suggest going in through the trunk and temporarily remove what you have to to get to the wiper motor. It will really help to see clearly what you are doing if you don't understand how the mechanism works. it shouldn't take more than a few minutes to loosen up the hvac stuff enough to get it out of your way.

Por_sha911 · Por_sha911's Garage

Look for an extra arm at the local Porsche dismantler.