Heard
Well-known member
I wanted to put a good set of wipers on my '36 coupe before I got too far along on the interior. My car came with only one wiper from the factory. The original had long since disappeared and the PO had installed a cheap Chinese model. No way was that thing going to fit behind any header panel.
I heard about the Newport Engineering wipers from a fellow Barner. Expensive, but I bit the bullet and decided to try it out.
Let me say, this is one very well built wiper system. The parts seem to be very good quality. I was concerned about a couple of things with my coupe. First, someone cut out the vertical braces behind the header. I’m guessing they did this when the top was filled in. I was concerned the wiper system needed to mount to this somehow. After a quick call to Newport, I learned the only thing holding the system to the car is where the transmissions go through the roof and are held by the large nut on the outside of the car. I was skeptical about this thinking the weight of the motor may be an issue. Second, I was nervous about drilling that second hole in my roof. This turned out to be a non issue as well due to this handy template they provide.
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The idea is to mount this in the existing hole with the provided bushing and bolt. Then mark and drill the other side. This worked out beautifully. Then just mount the template in the new passenger side hole to mark the larger hole for the driver’s side. Remove the template and enlarge the holes. These holes are quite a bit larger than standard although I don’t recall the exact size. I drilled them progressively larger until I ran out of bits. Then just used a rat tail file to finish them.
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Next, most folks would need to disassemble the drive mechanism so it can be slid behind the braces. My car doesn’t have those braces so it just went right into place without any issues.
It may be a little hard to see here, but the motor just mounts up to the rest of the mechanism and a little flange on the motor sits just behind the brace above the passenger side. It is not mounted to this brace in any way.
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The wiring provided looks like they expect you to route it to the passenger side and down. I didn’t think it was long enough to do that so I routed it back to the driver’s side and down. I had to whittle out some of the wood strip in the pillar for the wires, but all is good.
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I mounted the switch under the left side of my dash. I did not cut any excess wire off and there was not a lot of extra. I opted just for the 2 speed switch instead of the variable speed unit.
Some of you may be concerned about the wind blowing off the wipers at speed. I don’t think you need to worry about that with this unit. This little nub thing holds the wiper to the arm very securely.
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And this very strong spring will keep it in contact with the windshield.
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After getting it all hooked up and tested, I turned it off so I could install the wiper arms to the transmissions. I installed them, turned it on, then off. It stopped here.
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I think the weight of the wipers was making it stop short. I had to fiddle a bit with removing the arms and re-installing before I got it to stop in the right place like this. So don’t push the arms completely on the transmissions until you test this.
Overall, my impression is very positive. Keep in mind that mounting in your particular car may be an entirely different experience.
Pros – very well built. Easy to install. Tech support was easy to reach.
Cons – pricey but maybe not so bad considering you are buying the entire wiper system. Somewhat short wiring harness although it may be entirely different for different vehicles and would be easy to extend if necessary. The biggest downside for some might be that the wipers don’t sweep past about 6 o’clock. You can see here the left side of the driver’s glass is not going to get wiped. This is not a big issue for me.
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Now if I can just figure out how to make some braces for the header panel...
Cheers!
I heard about the Newport Engineering wipers from a fellow Barner. Expensive, but I bit the bullet and decided to try it out.
Let me say, this is one very well built wiper system. The parts seem to be very good quality. I was concerned about a couple of things with my coupe. First, someone cut out the vertical braces behind the header. I’m guessing they did this when the top was filled in. I was concerned the wiper system needed to mount to this somehow. After a quick call to Newport, I learned the only thing holding the system to the car is where the transmissions go through the roof and are held by the large nut on the outside of the car. I was skeptical about this thinking the weight of the motor may be an issue. Second, I was nervous about drilling that second hole in my roof. This turned out to be a non issue as well due to this handy template they provide.
The idea is to mount this in the existing hole with the provided bushing and bolt. Then mark and drill the other side. This worked out beautifully. Then just mount the template in the new passenger side hole to mark the larger hole for the driver’s side. Remove the template and enlarge the holes. These holes are quite a bit larger than standard although I don’t recall the exact size. I drilled them progressively larger until I ran out of bits. Then just used a rat tail file to finish them.
Next, most folks would need to disassemble the drive mechanism so it can be slid behind the braces. My car doesn’t have those braces so it just went right into place without any issues.
It may be a little hard to see here, but the motor just mounts up to the rest of the mechanism and a little flange on the motor sits just behind the brace above the passenger side. It is not mounted to this brace in any way.
The wiring provided looks like they expect you to route it to the passenger side and down. I didn’t think it was long enough to do that so I routed it back to the driver’s side and down. I had to whittle out some of the wood strip in the pillar for the wires, but all is good.
I mounted the switch under the left side of my dash. I did not cut any excess wire off and there was not a lot of extra. I opted just for the 2 speed switch instead of the variable speed unit.
Some of you may be concerned about the wind blowing off the wipers at speed. I don’t think you need to worry about that with this unit. This little nub thing holds the wiper to the arm very securely.
And this very strong spring will keep it in contact with the windshield.
After getting it all hooked up and tested, I turned it off so I could install the wiper arms to the transmissions. I installed them, turned it on, then off. It stopped here.
I think the weight of the wipers was making it stop short. I had to fiddle a bit with removing the arms and re-installing before I got it to stop in the right place like this. So don’t push the arms completely on the transmissions until you test this.
Overall, my impression is very positive. Keep in mind that mounting in your particular car may be an entirely different experience.
Pros – very well built. Easy to install. Tech support was easy to reach.
Cons – pricey but maybe not so bad considering you are buying the entire wiper system. Somewhat short wiring harness although it may be entirely different for different vehicles and would be easy to extend if necessary. The biggest downside for some might be that the wipers don’t sweep past about 6 o’clock. You can see here the left side of the driver’s glass is not going to get wiped. This is not a big issue for me.
Now if I can just figure out how to make some braces for the header panel...
Cheers!
