Introducing Myself

[Broomy72]

Hi Guys I am David 51 years old and have just acquired BRU 553K a 1971 Damask Red 1.3 Deluxe ,it needs work (don't they all lol), mainly an interior,new tyres and Wiper arms but is Running and Driving ,will post Pictures when the weather is more friendly

[MarinaCoupe]

Welcome David, pop some pics up if you can. You’ll find that we know many of the cars and several of us on here have good used parts stashes, along with the other benefit of giving advice on the correct parts (and what other cars used them) and how to fit them.

[Broomy72]

Thanks for the welcome to be honest the most desperate need i have at the moment is a set of wiper arms preferably with blades as mine have been misplaced by the garage who started the refit after the respray,alternatively what other wiper arms will fit as I have been offered a set of tr7 arms but I am not sure if they will fit

[JoshWard]

As far as I know the wiper arms were unique to early Marinas. Part number CZK 3280. I have seen them surface on eBay from time to time. I don't have any spares. Might be worth asking round on the Facebook groups but I haven't seen anybody breaking a car with early wipers for a while.
Nice to hear AKT/BRU is still around. A couple of pics of it from a few years back!

[Broomy72]

Thanks Josh btw do you have any more info about this car IE why the two registration numbers,it explains why it has a keyring from a Morris Dealership in Kent tho KT obviously being a Kent Registration,but it also explains why the guy ( my friend the MOT tester) I bought it from got it from Southampton as RU is a Bournemouth Plate

[JoshWard]

I'm afraid I don't. I can only assume the original reg was sold as a private plate (possibly somebody's intials). It's not currently on a vehicle, so it would be possible to buy it back and refit it if you can find out who owns it. Has happened to quite a few Marinas (including one of mine). When the original reg was removed it would have been given a 1971 plate, but one that was never issued. You can see it quite a lot on pre-War cars which often have BS registration numbers (BS was Orkney, so not a lot of registrations were issued there originally!).

[Broomy72]

Actually I have done a vehicle score and it seems you are totally correct Josh it's had a cherished plate transfer and an age related plate put on

[locost_bryan]

I thought there were only two wiper arms for Marinas, "sided" to either sweep to the left or right windscreen pillar? Iirc early English cars had "sweep to the right", until BL discovered the wipers lifted at motorway speeds and they swapped to "sweep to the left". So, to get the early wipers, you could just source them from Europe or US? Try Skip or Nate Harris in the US http://marinaman.org

As a side note, Australian and South African cars persisted with "sweep to the right".

[david painter]

I have heard the wiper lifting story before. Not sure I really believe it myself. The early cars that had RHD did indeed have the wipers the correct way around. The shell already had holes punched in scuttle for both LHD and RHD the holes were even in both flitches for wiper on either side the holes in the scuttle wire filled with grommets which remained, from memory till end of production of the Ital. BL seemed to make everything for easy LHD to RHD as possible, dash top pedal box holes in bulkhead etc. As a car is identical from left to right swapping the wipers to LHD would just transfer the problem to the opposite side. Perhaps transferring the wiper just meant the passenger could not see where they were going.D driver visibility is also reduced due to decreased swept area. Or may be if you bought a LHD car you were expected to put up with lifting wipers to end of production. I suspect the swap was more in line with the case of reducing costs only one wiper system needed for both markets. As shown by Locost Bryan the Australian and South African markets stayed with the RHD set up. As shown by KWS excellent wiper picture shows how UK parts and Australian are not the same and not compatible, this is likely to be local parts content along with no LHD markets on the doorstep. I think its another cost saving by the factory. If someone has driven both types in heavy rain and find wiper lifting is a problem I stand corrected.
Dave

[locost_bryan]

Can confirm the Aussie cars suffered from wipers lifting, fitted the clip-on airfoils that were a thing in the 80s, did help a bit, but not perfect.

[JoshWard]

An original news article shows several possible reasons: https://www.aronline.co.uk/cars/morris/ ... en-wipers/

The issue would also have been exacerbated by the use of the Trico Speedblade (wire type) wiper blade that was fitted to early UK cars. A heavier wiper blade was introduced to replace that, sometime in 1971 or 1972.

'LHD' fitment was standard on several other BL cars e.g. the Dolomite and the Allegro, so there may be other reasons.

[locost_bryan]

'LHD' fitment seems to have been standard on most BL vehicles, certainly seems to have been the case for all Triumphs, the Minor and the MGB.