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I purchased a beautiful 1963 Mk2 3.8 from B.A.T. a few months ago and I'm loving the car. It continues to remind me of the days of 'analog' ownership in mostly positive ways. But there are a number of idiosyncrasies that have got me scratching my head.
The car was rebuilt by an enthusiast several years ago and the majority of the work was done very proficiently. There are ample receipts and invoices from the rebuild that tell me a lot about what components were replaced and upgraded but I'm still not positive what auto transmission I have! I'm pretty sure I'll be able to figure that out once I find a part number somewhere.... but you get my drift.
The somewhat hilarious situation I encountered a couple of days ago, was when I used my wipers for the first time and found them wiping the passenger side (right) of the windshield and then parking to the drivers side. I am assuming there must be a RHD version and a LHD version of the wiper motor? Can someone verify that I need to go shopping?
You indeed get a Left hand park & Right hand park side of the Lucas wiper motors designated by a row of arrows on the casing. But you can modify them to park the other way by some basic wire swapping. I just need to find it. Give me a chance. All they did was change the cover. You don't need to go shopping. You can make them park to your preferred side.
You say the wipers are on the wrong side but if the car is left hand drive the wipers park on the left (Drivers side) and if the car is a RHD then the wipers park on the right side (Drivers side) of the screen. Below is a photo of my Cream RHD S Type with the wipers on the right and a photo of a Red LHD Dutch S Type which has the wipers parked on the left side.
Two RHD S types with wipers parked to the right. LHD Dutch S Type with wipers parked on the left.
That Red S Type has some strange mods to its park & fog lights. (Mk2 fenders fitted sans park lights & chrome strips ????). And no chrome strip below the grill. Fograngers are slightly smaller than our FT6's.
Last edited by Glyn M Ruck; 06-30-2023 at 05:14 AM.
That Red S Type has some strange mods to its park & fog lights.
Off subject slightly but yes indeed. Saw this at the Beaulieu Auto Museum several years ago now (2014) in the public car park but did not speak to the owner. Here is another view of the front lights. Looks like a set of side lights from a Mk2 have been added along with the fog rangers rather than the original S type fog lights.
It also had the red rear indicator lenses rather than amber and clear front indicator lenses. The front seats were also altered to have head restraints.
Very odd! ~yes OT I guess, but so are S Types slightly . The Fograngers are smaller than FT 6's with shallower depressions. Hence suspicion of Mk2 fenders.
Last edited by Glyn M Ruck; 06-30-2023 at 05:45 AM.
Apart from where they park, the area that they actually wipe is much the same for LHD and RHD. There's a small effect due to the difference between LHD and RHD wiper arms. Note that if you modify the drive, the arms should also be swapped for the wipers to sit nicely at the bottom edge of the screen.
Apart from where they park, the area that they actually wipe is much the same for LHD and RHD. There's a small effect due to the difference between LHD and RHD wiper arms. Note that if you modify the drive, the arms should also be swapped for the wipers to sit nicely at the bottom edge of the screen.
Yes spot on Peter. There is how they came out of the factory & there is personal preference plus arms.
The front indicator lenses, amber or clear, are usually flat rather than cone shaped. These look more like the lights from an old Mini (or classic Land Rover?)..
The front indicator lenses, amber or clear, are usually flat rather than cone shaped. These look more like the lights from an old Mini (or classic Land Rover?)..
I was thinking more of the colour being USA market, not the type of lamp. The front ones are certainly non-standard.
Jagboi, I didn't mean to disagree, more to say that the lights in the position of the Mk2 turn signal (S type side/parking lamp) aren't Mk2 shape. Compared with a Mk2, I quite like the idea of moving the parking lamp down there, though I'd prefer side and indicator behind the same clear lens. The arrangement on this car doesn't flow.
Brilliant response guys. Thank you. However I have to explain my predicament better I think. The car is left hand drive and the wipers do park nicely on the left-hand (driver's) side but my dilemma is that during operation the driver's side wiper is barely making it past vertical as it sweeps to the left. Consequently the majority of the screen in front of the driver is left un-wiped. The only time that part gets wiped is when the wipers are turned off and they sweep that part on the way to their parked destination. Phew!! that was a long explanation... sorry.
If I was sitting on the right hand side of the car, I would be happy, as that side is wiped all the way across. Does that make sense?
Fascinating discussion on light bulbs by the way......
Right understand what you mean now. The wipers as you possibly know work on a worm drive. A long tube with a spiral shaft driven by the motor. The spiral shaft turns 90 degrees one way and then 90 degrees or so back to the other side moving the wiper blade spindles and then the wiper blades across the screen in an arc. The park is a second setting which can be adjusted once the arc of the wipers is set up correctly.
I have never had to adjust mine so could not tell you exactly how to do it but it might be that you have to remove the wiper blade arms so they can be replaced on the spindles so they arc the full screen and then adjust the park so they sit correctly when turned off. When I turn mine off they do a little jig and only go to the vertical to the left (not a full sweep) before dropping down to the right and sitting correctly at park.
Someone will be able to come up with the correct procedure for setting them up which might even involve an adjustment in the motor housing that I am not aware of. I have looked at the service manual for the S Type and it only mentions the Knurled nut located next to the cable outlet for adjusting the park setting.
If you have to strip the worm drive out it is not a nice job as access to the back of the spindles which are right up behind the dash is not easy and means taking the dash top off.
Here is the parts page for the wiper motor which also shows the front side lights for the Mk2. lol.
As Cass said, the parking process on these old Lucas wiper motors is somewhat complicated. When the switch is moved to the off position, the rotation of the motor is reversed and the cross head and crank should slide into a different alignment. The result is that the arc of the wipers is moved around and the wipers stop when a micro switch is opened. I can think of two things that can cause your problem. One is that someone has swapped connections on the dashboard switch (or swapped to a different motor and not wired it correctly). The other is dirt and dried out grease in the crank mechanism making it stick in the park alignment. I'd investigate both.
Sorry my explanation is not very clear.
An important precaution when adjusting things, especially the park position which involves moving the micro switch, is to take the wiper arms off and replace them with paper pointers. The system can go onto an unexpected arc such that the wiper arms scrape the paintwork below the screen.
After reading post 16, I would suspect a worn gear box or wheel box (number 74 in the diagram) on the drivers side.
If the passengers side is getting the full sweep that would indicate that the gear reduction mechanism in the wiper motor itself and the "rack" are working as it should _ this points the the wheel box up on the wind shield.
The wheel boxes always wear first as the rack that drives it is spring steel _ probably designed that way.
It gets parked properly because when the motor turns the rack in reverse; the park mechanism uses an unworn area in the gear box, and you get a full sweep only when the wipers are shut off.
Easy enough to check by removing the top dash with a 7/16 wrench _ this will expose the wheel boxes and if memory serves, there are two slot cheese head screws that are removed so the cover of the wheel box comes off to inspect the drive gear.
Cass, I don't remember the top dash being that difficult to remove _ there are two 1/4 inch bolts on either end that are undone.
The steering wheel is then set in its most outer position, the dash should rotate and be angled out in such a way to free itself form the car, but I can't remember if the windscreen pillar wood needs to be removed.
Some times the cheese head screws can come lose and cause improper engagement of the rack onto the gear box.
Unfortunately if this happens and is left this way for many years, this can cause a bad wear area on the gear, so even putting things right again may not remedy the problem.
You could also remove the wiper on the drivers side to check for wear. Once the wiper is removed, turn on the wipers and grab hold of the splines with a firm grip, but not so much to try and stop it, see if there is excessive play in its action as its running _ there should be very little.
I forgot the wheel boxes. If they are worn, they don't need to be replaced. It's usually possible to take them off the rack and put them on again with the wheels rotated to use a section in good condition.