Thursday 10 July 2014

Rear Wiper Delete

Whilst the car was at the paint shop one of the tasks was to remove the rear glass. This meant also removing the Rear Wiper Assembly, for which the external nut holding it in place had unfortunately corroded beyond a point of saving it. So faced with the option of finding a new nut I decided it would be as easy to bin the whole assembly and do away with the rear wiper arm altogether.

Interestingly enough I read somewhere on the internet that the rear wiper was an option. Although I do put this down to the 'don't believe everything you read on the internet' scenario.

So with the rear wiper assembly removed, there are a couple of holes left to fill. One for the wiper arm itself and one for the washer jet. The wiper arm hole is about 30mm and the washer jet hole about 10mm (Shamefully I never measured them!).

Many of my contemporaries out there in the UK Skyline world, have solved the plugging of the hole by latching onto a firm sending out free samples, which just so happens to be the exact fit required for the rear window! You would think that the firm would get suspicious of all these free samples flying out of the door!

However I wanted something a little more permanent that didn't look like a rubber grommet pushed in the hole which some miscreant would just as likely remove from the hole!

After a bit of hunting I came across the ideal solution (for me) in the good old US of A. This was in the form of a 'Password JDM Rear Wiper Delete Kit' (well of course it would be, wouldn't it?).
I was taking a little bit of a leap of faith on this kit, as being an American supplier in a land where R33 Skylines do not actually exist in abundance, it was not listed on the fitment guide. In fact the only cars that were listed were the Acura Integra, RSX and Civic Si.

Hardly needs instruction! 

So I surfed my way to Vex Motorsports (they also sell on eBay). Including postage it actually worked out at just over £30 so an expensive gamble if the part didn't fit!


The exciting range of colours.. Bleegh! 

Interestingly they come in many exciting colours, I not being easily excited opted for black. However the part that arrived I would describe as more grey than black (although I'm being picky now).

Delete kit in place with mystery trim plug for washer. 
Fitting the part is pretty simple, you can use sealant or the o-rings provided, tighten up the nut and your done!

For the washer hole, I was not sure what I was going to do and did look up rubber grommets again. The old washer jet fitting simply unscrewed from a nut, leaving me a small 10mm hole. I mooched around in the garage looking for something suitable, that like a cowboy I could 'silicone into place'. However I got lucky and found what I think was a push fit trim clip for the rear bumper. On trying it for size and giving it a tentative 'push', it went home with a reassuring 'click' and it was just as well it looked good as it is never coming out and is in there solid.
So basically if your removing the rear washer... I'm no help at all!

So cross one more item off the list and we are yet another step closer to the finish!