Windscreen Wiper Direction

[Shinsen774]

Why is it that some 2-wiper MGBs have wipers that go from right to left while others go from left to right? I have looked at a bunch of pictures on this website and others. Doesn't seem to be related to right hand or left hand drive. Look at Eric M's '64 MGB and then mine (links below). Same year, but wipers go the opposite direction. A search revealed no answers.

https://www.britishcarforum.com/bcforum/photopost/showfull.php?photo=2417

https://www.britishcarforum.com/bcforum/photopost/showfull.php?photo=1267

 

[Deleted member 3577]

I'm gonna make a WAG....

They were intended to be handed, but nobody at Abbington cared when they were assembling them. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/confused.gif

Good question though.....I'll give it more thought /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif

 

[tony barnhill]

I'm gonna take a wild guess here & toss out that your car has been disassembled at some time in its past & the wipers were reassembled incorrectly.....his wipers are correct for all cars whether LHD or RLD.

 

[DrEntropy]

You can adjust the motor to park 'em about anywhere in their travel, including straight up-an-down... they "should" be parked to the right to be as Abingdon shipped 'em, as Tony said.

 

[Deleted member 3577]

Don't the top of your wipers have a little kink in them?

(so that they have to be parked one way?)

 

[DrEntropy]

Ahh... that had me confuzzled for a tick. You mean the wiper ARM ends. On a B they're both die-straight, IIRC.

 

[Deleted member 3577]

You mean the wiper ARM ends.

Yea...That's it....

Where they mount to the wiper....

Mine have a little bend in em.

 

[tony barnhill]

The earleir 2-wiper systems didn't have that much of a bend like the later 3-wiper arms....though there is a left & a right, they can be fitted either way.

 

[Deleted member 3577]

Mine are about as effective in serving their intended purpose as chicken wings are to flight.

Better living through chemistry...(Rain-X)

Is this kind of an academic question?

It doesn't really matter where the wipers are....right?

Or did they get it right by the time the B came out?

Do they have 4 wipers on the MGC?

 

[tony barnhill]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]Do they have 4 wipers on the MGC?[/QUOTE]

Nope, same as MGB's & GT's

 

[Steve_S]

1. The arms are different between LHD and RHD cars. The bend in the top goes the opposite direction.

2. The wipers always park toward the driver's side.

3. MGB and MGC all have two wipers with the exception of a short run of NA MGBs in the early 1970's.

(correction: mid 69-80 MGB had 3 wipers, thanks Tony)

If a set of wipers parks toward the passenger side, then they are wrong. Why, you ask? Look at the pattern made by your wipers next time you turn them on. The side they park on gets far more water clearing than the opposite side. Obviously you want maximum visibility on the driver's side.

If you fit the incorrect arms to the car, the wiper blades will stick up when parked and look stupid. Check for a red "restored" MGB on eBay from about a month ago for a perfect example.

 

[tony barnhill]

1. The arms are different between LHD and RHD cars. The bend in the top goes the opposite direction.

Don't think so, Steve...all cars park to the same side regardless of LHD or RHD - take a look at every photo in "The Original MGB".

2. The wipers always park toward the driver's side.

Only on a RHD car.

3. MGB and MGC all have two wipers with the exception of a short run of NA MGBs in the early 1970's.

All North American MGB/C's from the start of the 1969 model year until the end had triple wipers.

If a set of wipers parks toward the passenger side, then they are wrong. Why, you ask? Look at the pattern made by your wipers next time you turn them on. The side they park on gets far more water clearing than the opposite side. Obviously you want maximum visibility on the driver's side.

Again, check every photo of an MGB in "The Original MGB" - they all park to the right side of the car (passenger side in North America).

If you fit the incorrect arms to the car, the wiper blades will stick up when parked and look stupid. Check for a red "restored" MGB on eBay from about a month ago for a perfect example.

"If its wipers parked to the North American LHD side, it isn't a perfect example."

 

[Steve_S]

If the arms are not straight, then left and right hand drive arms are different because they park to opposite sides.

Here are photos of the correct setup. Notice the angle of the wiper blades to the arms. If parked opposite, they will stick up in front of your face. MGAs also park to driver's side as MGBs do.

LHD 1965 MGB

RHD 1967 MGB

RHD 1969 MGC

 

[jjbunn]

1. The arms are different between LHD and RHD cars. The bend in the top goes the opposite direction.

2. The wipers always park toward the driver's side.

3. MGB and MGC all have two wipers with the exception of a short run of NA MGBs in the early 1970's.

If a set of wipers parks toward the passenger side, then they are wrong. Why, you ask? Look at the pattern made by your wipers next time you turn them on. The side they park on gets far more water clearing than the opposite side. Obviously you want maximum visibility on the driver's side.

If you fit the incorrect arms to the car, the wiper blades will stick up when parked and look stupid. Check for a red "restored" MGB on eBay from about a month ago for a perfect example.

This makes perfect sense to me. I asked about the same thing a while back in this forum, but never got a satisfactory (to me) answer. The wipers should park on the driver's side, so that when the wipers are turned on, that side gets wiped first ... right? Changing the park position by fiddling in the motor is not sufficient: you also need wiper arms that have a kink in the opposite sense. On my MGB GT, Harold, the wipers park on the passenger side, and I find that set up unsatisfactory, if there's a choice

On the other hand, what makes "sense" and what came out of the factory aren't necessarily the same thing!

 

[Steve_S]

It isn't a matter of which side gets wiped first, it's which side gets the most thorough wipe. The "park" side gets a full swoop from bottom of glass to past vertical. The center of the windscreen gets the same. The opposite side gets less coverage.

 

[Steve_S]

Further clarification...

Consulting an original, factory parts book (printing code AKD 1579 + 3227), the following parts are listed on page N9:

Arm - wiper RHD / Part Number BHA 4320

Arm - wiper LHD / Part Number BHA 4321

From 6917, part numbers change to:

RHD: BHA 4394

LHD: BHA 4396

It is possible of course that M.G. changed how the arms function in later cars. I'm not really up on such details of later model Bs. If they did switch to parking on one side only, then it was surely done to save money, even at the sake of function.

All North American MGB/C's from the start of the 1969 model year until the end had triple wipers.

Indeed, these are surely correct numbers. As I mentioned, I'm not up on the little details of late model Bs! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/shocked.gif

 

[tony barnhill]

NO!!!!

ALL MG wipers park towards the right side!!

ANY production MGB that has its wipers parking to the left side is incorrect!!!!

Go to "The Original MGB" & go through it page by page & let me know when you find a photo of an MGB or MGC or MGB GT or MGC GT with the wipers parking to the left side!! Granted most of the cars in that book are RHD but even the LHD's are parked to the right (& my '79 that I bought brand new has 3 wipers parked to the right - just like the photos in the sales literature).

Some early photos of preproduction cars show the wpers parking on both sides depending on which drive it was, LHD or RHD...but all the original post-production photos I've seen (& all the non-restored, original cars) have the wipers parked to the right.

The main difference in the wiper systems of the LHD & RHD cars is where the wiper motor is located.

 

[tony barnhill]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]Further clarification...

Consulting an original, factory parts book (printing code AKD 1579 + 3227), the following parts are listed on page N9:

Arm - wiper RHD / Part Number BHA 4320

Arm - wiper LHD / Part Number BHA 4321

From 6917, part numbers change to:

RHD: BHA 4394

LHD: BHA 4396[/QUOTE]

I also have those same parts books & the differences in the numbers are there because the styles of wiper arms changed - annodixed, bright, matte black, simple for the early arms where the wipers mounted differently than mid year 2-wiper systems & then the later 3-wiper years (& on the different style arms, the heads where the blade mounted was angled differently based on the type wiper going on the arm)

Edit: Oh, there is a right & a left wiper arm - has to do with difference in length & tilt of head.

 

[Steve_S]

When that book was published (11/63), there were no different finishes. All arms were polished stainless.

The difference in the part numbers posted is LHD and RHD. Not the finish or style of the arms.

Left and Right arms, (or near side and off side) were the same on early cars according to all parts books. There has been speculation that there may have been different arms at one point, but replacement parts were all listed as universal, even back then. So I have doubts there were ever differences. I can pull out my originals and compare tomorrow, but it may be difficult to detect a difference.

On GTs, I believe there actually were different left and right sides originally but they also are listed as universal in modern parts books. I may have to dig out an original book to see if it lists them differently.

 

[Steve_S]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]NO!!!!

ALL MG wipers park towards the right side!!

ANY production MGB that has its wipers parking to the left side is incorrect!!!![/QUOTE]
Easy, Tony! Don't blow a gasket! There may be a change in the line between early and later model cars leading to this confusion.