wipers & wiring harness

In order to properly treat the surface rust under the dash I needed to remove as much of the inner workings as possible. Next up was the windshield wipers and the internal mechanism. The exterior wiper blade arm is easy to remove - as long as you know exactly what you are doing! I researched this on the VMF forum, and decided to try the claw hammer method. First you have to lay some towels or similar padding over the cowl area to prevent damage. Then position the claw of your hammer under the wiper arm and gently pry upwards.

If you take your time this is a straight forward way to remove the wiper arms.You can then remove the wiper motor and mechanism from below the dash.

Next it was time to remove the wiring harness. There are two clips in the front of the area behind the cluster which are held in by sheet metal screws.

Since most of the other components that connect to the harness have already been removed, this is just a matter of wiggling the wires loose.

I am probably going to replace the wiring harness, but in any case it is good practice to label as many connectors as possible, as this will make the re-install much more straightforward.

The dash area is now looking very bare, with just the steering column and clutch mechanism still in situ.

The under-hood wiring harness was next on the to-go list - removal is a little bit more involved, but is really just a case of undoing or removing the plastic hold-in clips below the radiator and feeding the wires through the holes in the bodywork. Again, it is an excellent idea to label every part of the harness, even if it is probably going to be replaced later.

The next victim was the radiator, which is held in by four bolts.

The fan is held on by four bolts - it is extremely unlikely that the weeny stock fan will be going back in.

Like so much of the car below the surface, the pulley behind the fan was caked in a thick layer of baked on grime which has been building up for many years.

I plugged up the radiator hose inlet and outlet with a couple of old champagne corks. At this point I'm hoping to do most of the work I need to do under the hood without pulling the motor - we'll see how successful this plan is in due course.