ACS Mono Wiper Fabrication

[ngampleh]

Did you grind or press out the pins?

no, just cut between pin and shaft
add 10mm then TIG weld it
stock length was 29.8mm, from center pin to center shaft (you can clearly see it)
after mod is 39.8mm
I use my RHD linkage/plate to increase the length

[IronmanE30]

thanks for sharing..
I just did it full sweep and center stop on RHD e30

so, excited after failed with RHD linkage
I did this rice project since March, 2014..
and succeed after read this thread..

I am glad that this thread helped you get your mono-wiper setup. It's was a fun project.

Cheers,

Jim

[TimeMachinE30]

Did you grind or press out the pins?

[ngampleh]

thanks for sharing..
I just did it full sweep and center stop on RHD e30

so, excited after failed with RHD linkage
I did this rice project since March, 2014..
and succeed after read this thread..

[IronmanE30]

that is awesome. thanks for sharing...

Thanks, I'm glad you like it.

Great work Jim. Can't wait to see it next week.

Thanks Robert,

It will be nice to see you and your little puppy at the SoCal Vintage event. My work has picked up so it's all I can do to get the car ready for the show. I won't have time to get the mono wiper on the M3. I will finish off the M3 once work slows back down. It will be nice to see what you have done to your car since last year.

Cheers,

Jim

[robrez]

Great work Jim. Can't wait to see it next week.

[Skunkworks]

that is awesome. thanks for sharing...

[IronmanE30]

nice job!!! do you have a part# for the euro grill or the cap

Thank you,

Here is a picture of the Euro air vent grill with part number, as far as the plug goes I would guess that any good hardware store would have them.



Cheers,

Jim

[prada88m3]

nice job!!! do you have a part# for the euro grill or the cap

[IronmanE30]

I made a bracket to support the drivers’ side of the wiper assembly.



I use some aluminum that I had in the shop but bending it created a crack.





Then I tested all of the assemblies with the stock long arm wiper blade. The colors for the different assemblies are the same as yesterdays post. You will notice that I was able to make the wiper stop in the center of the window. I can also change the docking to the passengers’ side like the original ACS cars were made.



Then I compared the sweep difference between the stock wiper arm and the ACS wiper arm. I found that you loose a little bit of area seeing that it is shorter than the ACS arm but the unit would still work for a Hartge setup which is good news. The blue tape in this picture is of the ACS wiper arm compared to the Red which is the stock wiper arm. The Mtech has a Hartge theme so I will use the stock arm on that car and use the ACS arm on the M3. As you can also see in this picture the ACS wiper arm needs a little different timing on the motor stop position than the stock wiper blade.



I made another bracket for the drivers side of the wiper assemble. After some research I found out that what I did wrong was to use the vise to bend the aluminum and your radius should be 1 to 2 times the thickness of the material so it won’t crack. So I used an old wrench that had the proper radius and made the second bracket. It worked perfect. ACS drilled a hole in the back lip of the gutter at the top of the firewall. Others drilled the hole in the bottom of the gutter which would be easier but would also be in an area where water gathers so I will go with the ACS design once again. I still need to drill the hole but with the bracket is fitted correctly the wiper assembly does not move however without that last bolt I am sure it would develop a rattle. So I have to drill a new hole in the body which is not my favorite thing to do. Then I timed the motor to stop the wiper blade on the passengers side put some soapy water on the windshield and did the final test. It’s hard to see in the picture but the blade stops at the rubber molding on each side of the windshield so there is no need to lengthen the spacer in the wiper assembly arm.



All I need to do now is to take out the prototype wiper arm assembly to use it as a template to fabricate another one for the M3 and then button up both cars. Hopefully I will have it installed on the M3 for the SoCal Vintage meet next month. I hope to see you guys there.


Cheers,

Jim

[IronmanE30]

I made another bracket to support the drivers’ side of the wiper assembly.



I use some aluminum that I had in the shop but bending it created a crack.





Then I tested all of the assemblies with the stock long arm wiper blade. The colors for the different assemblies are the same as yesterdays post. You will notice that I was able to make the wiper stop in the center of the window. I can also change the docking to the passengers’ side like the original ACS cars were made.



Then I compared the sweep difference between the stock wiper arm and the ACS wiper arm. I found that you loose a little bit of area seeing that it is shorter than the ACS arm but the unit would still work for a Hartge setup which is good news. The blue tape in this picture is of the ACS wiper arm compared to the Red which is the stock wiper arm. The Mtech has a Hartge theme so I will use the stock arm on that car and use the ACS arm on the M3. As you can also see in this picture the ACS wiper arm needs a little different timing on the motor stop position than the stock wiper blade.



I made another bracket for the drivers side of the wiper assemble. After some research I found out that what I did wrong was to use the vise to bend the aluminum and your radius should be 1 to 2 times the thickness of the material so it won’t crack. So I used an old wrench that had the proper radius and made the second bracket. It worked perfect.
ACS drilled a hole in the back lip of the gutter at the top of the firewall. Others drilled the hole in the bottom of the gutter which would be easier but would also be in an area where water gathers so I will go with the ACS design once again. I still need to drill the hole but with the bracket is fitted correctly the wiper assembly does not move however without that last bolt I am sure it would develop a rattle. So I have to drill a new hole in the body which is not my favorite thing to do. Then I timed the motor to stop the wiper blade on the passengers side put some soapy water on the windshield and did the final test. It’s hard to see in the picture but the blade stops at the rubber molding on each side of the windshield so there is no need to lengthen the spacer in the wiper assembly arm.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f14/Ironman1256/Mono%20Wipe/MonoFinalFitment.jpg

All I need to do now is to take out the prototype wiper arm assembly to use it as a template to fabricate another one for the M3 and then button up both cars. Hopefully I will have it installed on the M3 for the SoCal Vintage meet next month. I hope to see you guys there.


Cheers,

Jim

[IronmanE30]

Today I was able to test the 3 mono wiper arm assembly’s. I used the ACS as the bench mark for the testing.



Then I tested the one I am fabricating.



Then I tested the one I was told that is Hartge.



The last one tested was the one that was produced by Gadget Guy that I bought to use as a test for this project.



Here is a close up of the tape marking that I used to compare the three mono wipes. Blue = ACS, Red = mine, Yellow = Gadget Guy and Green is the Hartge mono wipers at full sweep.



Using the ACS wiper blade for all testing I found that the one that I am fabricating has about 2 centimeters less sweep than the ACS assembly. ACS had to notch a couple of other areas that made contact on the wiper assembly which was not necessary on the one that I made. This gave me a clue that I was not going to get as much sweep as the ACS even though I made a jig. I am thinking about adding a millimeter to the next assembly arm that I fabricate to see if this gives me the additional sweep but I am not sure if it is worth having to modify the other parts. I used a dry windshield so with water lubricating the windshield the sweeps may increase. It should be noted that Gadget Guy and what I am calling Hartge used a stock wiper arm which would reduce the sweep.

One of the other items that I was concerned about is the mounting for the drivers side of the wiper assembly. It appeared that the Hartge assembly did incorporate one into their design, Gadget Guy used the original mounting point (the wiper shaft) but this required a cap on the stock air vent and ACS fabricated a bracket that requires drilling a hole in the channel at the top of the firewall. I want to use the Euro air vent so I can eliminate the cap on the air vent. What I found was that because the motor is on the drivers side of the assembly it allows movement in the Hartge and my assembly when the wiper is used. I believe that over time this will put stress on the other two mounting points so I am now going to fabricate the bracket that ACS used in their design. Tomorrow I will work on the motor timing to allow centering the wiper blade to see if I can get this question answered and check the sweep using the stock wiper arms to see if the sweep is acceptable for a Hartge style mono wiper.



I just noticed that the wiper arm starts on the opposite side of the car in the first picture. This should easy to adjust. One more thing to test tomorrow.


Cheers,

Jim

[IronmanE30]

Subscribed!! Awesome, and thank you!

Thanks!

Work looks good and maticulous., keep at it Jim. :up:

Thanks Edwin! Install scheduled for tomorrow.

Cheers,

Jim

[IRON-E]

Work looks good and maticulous., keep at it Jim. :up:

[Gooch]

Subscribed!! Awesome, and thank you!