Friday 26 December 2014

Christmas Present - Pirelli Calendar

One of my Christmas presents was a vintage 1998 Pirelli calendar, cunningly selected so the days & dates will line up correctly in 2015.

Just in time for the new year and will add to the whole slightly retro 7 garage feel..

Its bad luck to open calendars before January though!

Flick Wiper

I found the most useful mode on the wipers is a single wipe; i.e. generally due to the screen size & type of weather a simple - push once for one wipe - is perfect to keep visibility clear;

This was the final circuit, double checked on RhoCar, Simon @ GBS and during build.
The switch over relay temporarily disconnects slow wipe from the park switch and over to 12v instead. A momentary push button to ground will energise the relay and wipe while pressed leaving the column stalk functionality to work as normal.

Red labels showing the wiper plug/socket lines,
Blue labels the relay connections.


Reference shot of the wiper motor plug before any changes...

...and the relatively simple loom insertion into the blue (12v) and green (slow wipe) lines. The trailing black line goes to the momentary switch to earth.

The relay will tuck securely next to the wiper motor.

Update -
My stalks didn't have an appropriate momentary switch, so I went for the Aux panel: a push button installed under the existing DRL & Fog light buttons in a position I can find with gloves on and without looking - so should be ideal.

Update - later moved the switch onto the steering wheel.

Hindsight - Should have broken the white line instead of green, that would mean the flick wipe would not work when the stalk is fully off, and only work when the stalk was in the park position. Currently any time ignition is on the flick wipe button will activate the wipers - but only park if the stalk is one click up.

Saturday 20 December 2014

Wet Feet - windscreen run-off fix

I dont mind my top half getting wet, but wet feet and damp floor is not ideal.

I cut my bottom windscreen rubber slightly short, combine that with the oval adjustment holes for the windscreen mounts mean rain runs down the scuttle through the hole and drips on my feet.

I made some gaskets out of an off-cut of window rubber surround cut to size using the window uprights as templates. The holes in the rubber seal drilled 1mm smaller than the bolts & a lightly greased surface will hopefully make it watertight:

I should have cut the top edge simply straight; it will probably be ok though - any water build up in the middle of the triangle will just run out the side.