Suggestions or ? about aftermarket intermittent wipers for my 1972 240z...

[dogma420]

I'm interested in installing intermittent feature for my wipers on my 1972 240z.

Not really interested in doing the upgrade to 73, as I want more than just 1 setting, kinda like my 94 dodge van has like 10 different intermittent settings.

I've found this one (yeah, I know, JC Whitney, but hey, I've bought stuff from them before)...

http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Product/tf-Browse/s-10101/Pr-p_Product.CATENTRY_ID:2004485/showCustom-0/p-2004485/N-111+10201+600003811/c-10101

looks reasonable, any comments?

Any first personal accounts of installing anything like this would be helpful.

Thanks everyone, for reading my post.

[Ricklandia]

Question: Are intermitant wipers all that necessary, especially if it means possibly butchering the wiring?

If I might make a suggestion - living in South Florida, during the rainy season (6 months out of the year) it will rain virtually every day; from a quick light drizzle, to uber-rain, to everything in between. Because of this, I am a firm believer and longtime user of "Rain-X" windshield glass treatment. Not only does it tend to keep the windshield cleaner (IMHO), but it also makes the wipers basically unnecessary at speeds over 45mph. Even at lower speeds, it makes the need for wipers "an occasional thing". Frankly, most of the time I never both to use my wipers at all, and I can tell you from experience I pass people constantly who have thier wipers on high and STILL cant see as well as I do with mine OFF. JMHO

[Arne]

I installed similar boxes in my cars back in the '70's. Yeah, they work. Shouldn't require too much in the way of wiring mods, IIRC. Never cared for the add-on look, even back then. I'll probably either use Rain-X or PIAA wiper blades (which have a Rain-X like coating on the blade) on my 240Z.

[EScanlon]

Rain-X for the exterior of the glass is an outstandingly EXCELLENT product. I use it and heartily recommend it. This is the stuff in the YELLOW plastic bottle.

On the other hand, the "Anti-Fog", in the BLACK bottle, for interior windows is literally....garbage.

I used it on my daily driver Acura some years ago. It never worked as advertised, caused glare at night AND during the day, and was totally IMPOSSIBLE to remove from the interior of the windshield. When my windshield finally cracked due to a rock chip that went too far was when I was finally able to get rid of it. So, voice of experience here, do NOT use the interior Anti-Fog or you WILL regret it.

But as far as whether you need to have the intermittent wipers or not, granted that the boxes are ..... well, ugly, here in the Pacific North West, we don't really get .....Rain. We get more of this constant drizzle - mist - light spray. Just enough to thoroughly coat a windshield (with or without Rain-X) with tiny little droplets that .... eventually, coalesce into a few drops that can be whisked away. The Rain-X does a great job in that they'll whisk off at lower speeds than if you don't have it, but you STILL find that wiping is more of a necessity than an option.

The intermittent wipers would be a good idea, but be careful that you don't rob the motor of any current. It's slow enough as it is, and a system that operates within the same circuitry may rob it of what little current it gets.

Maybe this is Dave's next Relay Harness upgrade? Then we can upgrade our wipers from Slow and Slower, (aka: "Are you sure they're moving?") to a more respectable speed, and if Dave does his usual good job, he'll toss in intermittent wipes!!!

E

[dogma420]

I didn't ask for anybody to talk me out of something I want to do. More than likely, I'll improve the wiring on my car. Don't need any lectures. I personally couldn't car less if my wiring is stock; its 30+ years old anyways--that in itself means its not the best wiring to begin with. I'm not showing it.

Wipers are only slow on my car under 1500 rpm...otherwise, they're as fast as any other car I've ever driven. I'm going to get an aftermarket alternator, and then at idle they will be as fast as anything. If you take apart the motor and regrease and clean the linkages, it helps a lot.

I've asked dave about this being an upgrade, and he simply mentioned about the fact that the stock alternator doesn't work under 1500 rpms as well as we'd like. So I don't know.

[Arne]

As I said, Dave, those boxes do work. Or at least they did in my past, so I assume they will today. I wouldn't think connecting them to a 240Z would be hard, although on my Series I the wiper parking routine might be an issue. Don't know if your '72 is any different.