Okay, okay, so it was me all along, which might surprise some of you

With big, BIG thanks to Adam (Hull BA) I spent my day today at Stormwipers Worcester HQ with director Nick Sanders, a top TOP bloke, and a fab engineer to boot

I know there's been some mixed opinion on single wipers on the forum, and even I was only 75% sure last night, but I have to say, I am totally bowled by the results of our (mostly Nicks) hard work today :D:D

The day started just before 11am, when I rocked up, and finished just after 6pm, involving much measuring, testing, discussing and two different designs

We started off with design 1, using the existing centre-ish wiper mount, but having fabbed up the whole mechanism, we decided it just didn't sit or look right, and the sweep wasn't ideal either

So, onto design 2

Using an existing square hole usually used to hold a plastic tab for screwing down the plastic cover, we enlarged it to take the spindle and Nick created a nice strong bracket to firm it all up, now its even stronger than the OE mounts, the spindle uses the 'screw hole' in the plastic cover, slightly enlarged as well, and looks very neat, all the OE holes are covered with nice big grommets :D

Nick decided on a combination of an 18" banana wiper arm, and a 22" blade, to give us a total sweep of 28" from the spindle, which takes the tip of the blade to just shy of the A pillar on either side and just clears my sunstrip

The arm at rest, sits almost flat and slightly lower than the origional arms I have it at rest on the passenger side, but it can easily be adjusted to sit on the drivers side, or if you so wish, vertical, touring car stylee

Nick was also kind enough to fit one of his new design blade mounted washer jet systems, which I have to say, works a bloody treat :D

All in all, a very, very enjoyable and satisfying day, can't thank Nick enough for all his hard work and innovation, Adam (again) for setting it up, and Nicks girlfriend for the wonderful chicken tikka salad sarnies and potato pie

As for the quality of the kit, well, you all know i'm a fussy bugger, and I am WELL impressed with the quality of materials and craftsmanship, and as Nick demostrated today, the thorough professionalism in his work :D

Now then, time for the pics (phone pics so excuse the quality), here's some stills of the mechanism and finished wiper kit (bear in mind, this is the prototype and the production kit will be properly coated against the elements, not that I have any worries, since mines sprayed with Nicks wonder zinc paint)......


Linkage, sparayed and ready to fit.


Centre bracket and half of the linkage in place and ready to be bolted up.


Linkage in place and bolted up.


Plastic cover back on and spindle showing through a nice neat small hole


Wiper in place at rest, gotta say, it looks great


Yup, it does look like it was supposed to be there :D:D

And here's a short clip of it in action.....


Proper Job :D:D

So, whats the damamge then guv'nor, i hear you ask

Well. the kit is going to be priced at £99.99, and there will be discounts for both Gold Club members and normal members, Gold Club members getting a better discount (more incentive for you lot to pay up and join the Gold set )

I will confirm the discounts in the morning with Nick

Also, the washer jet system (as used on TVRs) is available for £4.99 each and will fit normal wiper blades/arms, but you'll need two

There's also a new 'Smoove' cover for the arm if you want, at about £20, i'll confirm that price tomorrow too :D

As a last footnote, Nick really knows his wiper stuff, he designed the wiper linkages for the TVR Cerbera, Tuscan and Sagaris, hows that for a recommendation

sweet andy! good job! i miss my single wiper of my ax, though f does hav its advantages lol! will it be long b4 they hav ready to sell, coz wudnt mind goin single again

I'll check with Nick tomorrow chap

Bloody hell mate - looks awesome! Envy you now gettin that for free Thought I was the first one with the BA replying to Adam's thread in the gold members section but obviously not Well done dude

Looks spot on Andy . You can tell it's professionally fit

Gotta say I'm impressed, nice write up too fella. Guess you'll be looking for a 22" PIAA blade now huh.............................

yeah because the sponsors sticker appears in the pictures before the wiper blade

looks great and sounds great!

Niiiice one Andy..... Top Mod, Top work too

tee hee, how did you guess

Nicks blades are pukka tho, works absolutly fine, AND you can fit aero blades to it :D

Sorry, i got carried away

Looks great Andy, looks like its come from the factory like that!!!

Looks like a nice bit of kit mate - decent quality.

Maybe not to my liking, although I may change my tune when I realise my sunstrip covers all of those unwiped bits

not my thing, but looks great quality, love where you stuck that sticker though, great contrast from the black and white

looks good ! but I was expecting it to sit in the centre of the screen But like I said looks good and very well made!
AND also a good price as Mazda charde my dad over £100 of a standard linkage.
GOOD JOB.

It can easily adjust to sit there chap

You know i DID mention that to Nick as it goes chap

Looks good Andy, the bloke done good job!

It WAS mostly Nick, I enlarged the hole, with a file and drilled the holes, and I did manage to come away with some nice cuts and scrapes, and a cracking bruise on my head

in my opinion not my cup of tea - but well made

i cant place my finger on what it is i dont like yet - i like the idea of it though


with those on wiper washers - when do they start and stop spraying??

do you end up spraying off your screen as the wiper comes over to the drivers side??

LMAO, make something up then



Er.... when you let go of the button

Sorry chap, couldn't resist



Nope, nope and nope :D

In fact, I forgot to mention, an important design flaw has been solved :D

As we all know, if you happen to open your window a crack when its raining, you end up with a presistant dribble of water all over the window controls and your leg, NOT ANYMORE :D:D

nice Job there Andy .. looking good ...

Again as I told you the other night, not reallymy thing but still a good mod for those that beleive there "should be only ONE"

Be good to see it in the flesh .... by the way a donation of your old PIAA blades to me would be good :P

damn! why didn't i think of that!

Glad it all went well buddy, looks absolutely fantastic and actually quite similar to how i did mine!

Cheered me up to hear it went so well, and I'm glad you like it! I ws so sure it'd look good on her, and I think Nick's proved me right!

Ad

Cheeky bugger :D:D LMAO, I actually feel a pang of affection for them i've had 'em so long



Pleasure was all mine mate Many, many thanks for thinking of me, i owe you one

Nice innovation and design work ... not the first, but great all the same to have it accessible to the masses




Mark

Deffo cant wait for tomorrow now mate! that looks like the mutts nuts!!

Looking forward to seeing the results, Mazz!
All I gotta do now is find a BJ for Nick to work on, then my mission is complete...!

Ad

i just noticed this topic, a strange coincidence, i've finishe designing mine, the only mods needed are a 10MM hole drilled, and a hole drilled in the scuttle, and im taking the plans to a machinist tomorrow

Like to see how thats going chap

Had the chance to take some better pics now, even managed to lock myself out of the car for over an hour, on the coldest day of the year

And here's a vid of it in action, better quality now