ok, got the Mini back from the auto sparky and everything is working just great.. cept the wipers. He figured Id like to sort them out myself (ha ha, he didnt want the job more likely). anyway...

So, I scavenged another wiper motor from the 7 mini graveyard, in the hope it just might work, but opened it up to find it was in worse condition than mine.

All mine needed was a good cleanout, fresh grease, and one of the little springs that pushes those little graphite?? thingame dooveys that touches the bushes? inside the motor.

So I replaced the spring, got the graphite thing back in, attached its little wire (at the right lenght), then put it all back together, with the circlips in, attached the wiring plug and the motor works! But then it stopped.. so I pulled it apart again to find the new graphite bit I put in was sticking so thought Id fixed that, put it all back together again, lid on and wipers connected, tested with power and it worked again.. for 1 second, then stopped.

So, its either sticking that little graphite thing again, or - the cable that comes out of the wiper motor and goes to the wipers is seized.
Question: When the wiper motor is out, should you be able to push the cable in and out? I can wind it in and out but it doesnt slide within its casing, and I figure it should.

Can anyone shed any light on reinstalling a wiper motor to get it to work. The motor itself appears to be good, but getting the wipers to move is proving difficult

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78 van 1300 cam extractors weber, 12" Superlights Metros Konis HiLos MP3 Amp Sub Alpine speakers and lots of fur
www.crazybitchracing.com

Yes Jill, with motor off you should be able to push/pull the cable thingy.
Try moving the wiper arms with the motor off. It should move the cable in/outsmoothly. If not it needs a strip clean and regrease too.

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

oh beauty. I didnt want to pull it apart until I knew what was wrong

Thanks drmini...

off to pull them apart.. AGAIN!!

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78 van 1300 cam extractors weber, 12" Superlights Metros Konis HiLos MP3 Amp Sub Alpine speakers and lots of fur
www.crazybitchracing.com

When I say `motor off' I mean not attached to the cable....

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DrMini- 1970 wasaMatic 1360, Mk1S crank, 86.6HP (ATW) =~125 @ crank, 45 Dellorto (38 chokes), RE282 sprint cam, 1.5 rockers, 11.0:1 C/R.

yeah that wasnt the problem.

I took the motor off again, after disconnecting the cable... I wound the cable/worm out of the two wiper housings and the supporting metal hose.. but the wipers still dont spin/move at all. After WD40 and multigrips I can get them to "move" but they are very reluctant.
So it was clear I had to pull the bits out of the bodywork, the bits that hold the wiper blades. This wasnt to be so, they arent going to budge.

I ended up breaking the plastic angled surround around one, and still cant get the 11/16th nut off that holds it to the body.

How are you supposed to remove those from the body? Is it that 11//16th nut that HAS to come off? and if so is it in the normal direction to come off (I tried both, but guess it will be anticlockwise)

hmmmph bloody wipers!

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78 van 1300 cam extractors weber, 12" Superlights Metros Konis HiLos MP3 Amp Sub Alpine speakers and lots of fur
www.crazybitchracing.com

Those things that have the splines are called wheel boxes. The nut is all that holds them in. These things wear and can be turned to use the unworn part and doing this takes a lot of slack out of the system. You will see what i mean when you get them apart. The wiper rack (the long cable) can also be turned over for the same reason.

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Chris

Everything I like is either
illegal, immoral or fattening.

I can't get the wheel boxes out. Can we buy replacement wheel boxes?

I found a couple on the Mini wrecks at the 7 Mini graveyard but I think they are all an older type (they dont have the same mounting plate and locating lugs that fit into the little recesses in the bodywork)

I will go take a pic to show you what I mean... brb

these two locating notches

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78 van 1300 cam extractors weber, 12" Superlights Metros Konis HiLos MP3 Amp Sub Alpine speakers and lots of fur
www.crazybitchracing.com

Jill i had exactly the same problem it just wouldnt budge no matter what.. in the end i had to cut it off..not so bad as wiper motors dont seem to be in short supply if your not worried about the date on it..If you do get it open then do as chris said and spin the drives (wheel boxes) 180 degs, and reposition the arms accordingly when you refit them

editing to add
if you have to cut them off be carefull of the rubber angled spacer thingo it cooks easily..., but by looking at your pic thats not an issue

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No longer Ms Westwoods mini outside her original kings road shop

I cannot see any of Jill's images. Why not? Itried two different browsers with no success. I even tried IE and that's getting desperate.

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Chris

Everything I like is either
illegal, immoral or fattening.

i find that sometimes with some peoples posts it was worse with ie, but with fire fox sometimes i have to rightclick the little square thing to open the pic

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No longer Ms Westwoods mini outside her original kings road shop

yes, well.. I cut the pesky nuts off (why did all the boys just cringe? ) but I STILL cant get the wheel boxes out of the frigging bodywork.. what is with that? Do you have to pull the wheel box apart while its under the engine bay cover bit to get it out??

Sheesh, and I thought I had one incy weency little problem left... *only the wipers to go Jill* faaaaaark

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78 van 1300 cam extractors weber, 12" Superlights Metros Konis HiLos MP3 Amp Sub Alpine speakers and lots of fur
www.crazybitchracing.com

i'll have a look at bad boy clubby tomorrow just to make sure hes the same as bella..and let you know what i find out.. they just fell out of bella once the nut was hacked off.

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No longer Ms Westwoods mini outside her original kings road shop

well in the 78 Clubman I just cant see how you can get the wheel box out with the spline bit and housing all in one. I twisted it, shifted the plastic housing underneath to try and get a better angle.. it just wasnt going to fit out through the bottom... there must be a trick to it... any help would be appreciated.

I've found out you can buy new wheel boxes, but mine look in good condition (even though they are currently seized up, they dont look rusty or badly damaged) and with new ones at $45 each, and the plastic surrounds at $28/set, thats still no use to me if I cant get the damn things in or out.

Im sure I'll be able to get my existing wheel boxes working again once out.
There are two bolts holding the wheel boxes together, I tried to get these off but its pretty difficult to get to. Not impossible though, if thats the only way to get the wheel boxes out, then I'll pull them apart under the bodywork

I will get them working

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78 van 1300 cam extractors weber, 12" Superlights Metros Konis HiLos MP3 Amp Sub Alpine speakers and lots of fur
www.crazybitchracing.com

hi Jill - I have just done this manouver on mine and there's a bit of a trick to it. I found this one by accident, luckily it was farely soon after starting to figure it out.

Imagine - A line running across the car through both wheel boxes. You have to rotate the entire wiper mechanism around this axis.

So - with motor unbolted from firewall and both nuts off the tops of the wheel boxes, rotate the motor assembly forward and up. This rotates the wheel boxes down and forward. Contin ue rotating the motor assembly up and backwards as far as it will allow, this rotates the wheel boxes forward then up out of the engine bay.

Hope it helps
Dat

yep i just tried on Bad boy clubby and although i only took of the drivers end one it did look like it would remove completely by the rotation method but it did snag on the tip of the thread on the bolt that holds the dash surround thingo on. if that bolt was any longer than mine you wouldnt get it out without loosening that bolt.

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No longer Ms Westwoods mini outside her original kings road shop