Wipers back to square 1

Orientation options

Wiper rotating posts are symmetrical, so it is possible to orient wiper arms pointing to the left or right side. US exports typically have wipers mounted on the left side (top illustration) which somewhat obstructs the driver’s view.

An alternative is shown in illustrations A and B (for RHD and LHD respectively). To us, this seems to make more sense because the wipers are tucked away out of the sight lines of the driver.

Windshield wipers have improved greatly since 1972. The XJ6 Lucas system is rather inefficient and perhaps most galling of all is the fact that the wiper blades don’t completely rest on the windscreen glass. But at least we can change the orientation.

Like other US exports, our XJ6 pointed the wipers to the left on the driver side. Changing the orientation to point right unfortunately isn’t just a matter of swapping wiper arms. This is because the passenger arm is tilted, not straight, so that the wiper blade rests along the bottom of the windscreen.

Passenger wiper arm with end tilt for blade

We have a left-hand passenger tilt (C12444) but now need a right-hand tilt (C12443) … very hard to find at this point. The alternative is one with “universal” tilt, allowing small angle adjustments on both the driver and passenger sides.

Adjustable tilt ANCO 41-03 wiper arm

Adjustable tilt, like ANCO 41-03, adapts to a RHD passenger configuration by simply moving the end tab to a suitable angle.

Regrettably, the ANCO 41-03 does not fit the wheelbox’s rotating splined nib that protrudes out and attaches to the wiper arm. If the wheelbox were out of the car, it might be possible to pull off the OEM press fitting and replace it with one that fits the ANCO unit, but with the wipers already installed, this isn’t possible. So much for “universal” fit.

We did located the proper C12443 right-hand arm so the wipers will look completely stock … well, not exactly.

The C12443 replacement, while manufactured by the same TEX company in the U.K., did not match the original specification. First, the top parts had a bright nickel finish instead of the original buffed appearance. Second, instead of a gentle curvature in the arm to match the profile of the windshield, there is a harsh bend in the arm. But the critical problem is this: the spline “cap” is more coarse than the original splined nib of the wheelbox, so the arm doesn’t rotate properly.

Back to square one

But we also discovered a second unrelated issue, namely incompatibility between our Series 3 wiper motor and the Series 1 and 2 wheelboxes installed (one original Series 1 wheelbox was damaged, so we replaced it was a new Series 2 aftermarket one).

The Series 1/2 motors versus the Series 3 version have significantly different throws. The result is that a Series 3 motor with Series 1/2 wheelboxes moves the arms well past 180 degrees, thus running off the windshield entirely. The only solution is to go back to a Series 1 motor.

Now that a refurbished Series 1 motor is installed with LHD parking, we’ve decided to just leave well enough alone. Back to square one, and pretty happy about it.