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MG MGA - Wiper conversion

I have a RHD converted car, but the wipers are still parked to the left as should be for LHD. Is there a simple answer to park them to the right?
Pete Davies

The park position is adjusted by loosening the cover plate screws and turning the domed section. I have seen other methods described here but that is the proper way. The screws are a bit hard to get to. You might want to remove the arms for the first try or they could damage the paintwork if not set right.
John DeWolf

Pete,
I believe there is also a difference in RHD wiper arms and LHD wiper arms so you may want to make sure to get RHD arms that are bent a little different from the LHD units that the car came with.

-BMC.
BMC Brian McCullough

Having done this conversion in both directions (LHD-RHD-LHD again), sweep direction is the first thing you have to change. This is not done at the motor, but at the wheelboxes . You do this by removing the plate under the wheelbox, allow the rack to hang loose, then rotate the wheelbox 180 degrees (loosen the chrome nut on top) and refit the rack so that the cable runs on the other side from where you are now.

It's a swine of a job, you may have to remove demist vents/tubes or radios to get to the "easy" one, and the one over the gauges and steering is a true contortionist job.

As Brian also comments, you need to replace the arms with RHD versions or re-bend the ends of the LHD arms to allow the blades to park parallel to the bottom of the screen. Blades are universal

Remove the arms before you start any work. Before you refit the arms, operate the wiper motor and allow it to park before refitting the arms and blades in the rest position. Then turn on wiper switch and operate the ignition key to check sweep and park - if things are wrong you can stop in an instant on the ignition, whereas the wiper switch will just allow the wiper motor to continue operating till the park position is reached.

You will have possibly have to reset the park position as John describes, but so far I have never had to do this when replacing a wheelbox. I find it's easier just to set the arms in the right place as I describe. On a RHD car you can at least get to the wiper motor, on a LHD car it's almost impossible because of the MC.

All in all, it's probably a two or three hour piece of fun, mainly spent swearing on your back, and it's definitely a job where the backs of the hands suffer on all the sharp bits you can find under the dash. Before you start, refer to Barney's site for the ultimate solution for a B motor, A rack and wheelboxes, and two speed wipers that are actually effective!
dominic clancy

Remove LHD wiper arms. Rotate the parking commutator on the gearbox 180 degrees to make the cable park at opposite end of stroke. Install RHD wiper arms in the appropriate park position. No need to fiddle with the wheelboxes.
Barney Gaylord

The arms on mine are straight with a setscrew adjustment on the tip to set left or right rake. Perhaps they are not original. The blades are marked 'Rainbow, made in England' and have replaceable rubber wipers'
John DeWolf

John
Orig arms are lhd or rhd. They are shaped so the arm is parallel with the bottom of the windshield when parked. they are clipped on, no tools used. When the serrated round drive piece the arms fit onto become worn they can spin in the arms and not move them. Your PO was probably po'd at the slipping arms and used the set screw type.
R J Brown

While we are on the subject of wipers....

The wiper tube flares fit in the 1st groove of the wheelbox, but when I tried attaching the tubes after I installed the wheelboxes, the middle tube will only fit if I put the flare in the second groove or inner groove of each wheelbox. In other words, the center tube is too long. I have another middle tube from another car and it's exactly the same shape and length.

Has anyone else had this problem?
Fred H

This thread was discussed between 05/08/2006 and 06/08/2006

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