Wipers

@Eric Marshall Green BRILLIANT! 

Now you've thrown off the carefully planned and seldom thought of E-W weight distribution. Cornering will be terrible 

Odd, eh?  Even 911s!

I put mine on the passenger side too.  Other than appropriate wiper arms, it is just a matter of how you arrange the linkage.

Eric, do you have any evidence of total effective swept area with the wipers set the factory way compared to your way ?  I can see the want to have the wipers out of your sight when stowed but I can't see on mine at least, that the total swept is as good as the original setup. 

I have good coverage in front of the driver's line of sight, decent overlap in the center and good coverage on the right. 

SAmeclearance.

Michael, I've never know ANYONE but me who did this.  Why did you?  I even did it in 1975!

Eric Marshall Green posted:

SAmeclearance.

 

Michael, I've never know ANYONE but me who did this.  Why did you?  I even did it in 1975!

 

Could you answer my question, Eric ?

@Eric Marshall Green, well I did it for the same reason you did.  I didn't want to look at them.  I did it only a few years after you did.  I started building my Speedster in 1983.

Hey, I hear that Porsche won't red flag eBay ads with Speedsters with the wipers on the passenger side (just kidding, please don't take the thread drift bait).

No I think it was some wanted to be PC correct, right leaning rather left leaning. 

David, I did answer your question, but my typing was poor.  SAME CLEARANCE.

Ray, but in the car, you're right-leaning.

Eric Marshall Green posted:

Ray, but in the car, you're right-leaning.

Only if you live in the UK or Australia/NZ.

Put a bear on a tricycle, and that tricycle leans whatever way the bear does.

Last time I checked we sit on the left  

Eric Marshall Green posted:

David, I did answer your question, but my typing was poor.  SAME CLEARANCE.

I guess you are equating my words "total effective swept area" with "same clearance". 

Your pic of the front of your Roadster at the beginning of this thread got my attention as it looks like a whole lot of windshield is not getting wiped in the 7 to 10 o'clock area as viewed by the driver. 

Just for fun I'll check my car out in more detail when I get it home. 

"Es machts nichts fur mich!" * On the second day driving my brand new shiny Vintage Speedster 430 miles from Hawaiian Gardens to its new home, I ran into a major winter rain storm. I immediately discovered why the speedster top was relegated to "Emergency Use Only."  I damn near drowned and it took several days to dry out the car's interior. I swore a solemn oath to NEVER again allow Speedy out even with dark clouds on the horizon...let alone in any friggin' rain!  That was December of 2008 and I've been faithful to that oath ever since. That's why "es machts nichts fur mich" what side the wipers are on, and...if it wasn't "probable cause" to be pulled over by CA CHP, I wouldn't even have wipers affixed!

*"It doesn't matter to me" im Deutsch

"I swore a solemn oath to NEVER again allow Speedy out even with dark clouds on the horizon...let alone in any friggin' rain! "

That's easier to do in CA than in other parts of the country.  Here in coastal SC we have pop-up showers pretty much any time during the warmer months.  The heat and humidity are such that all it takes is the right wind to squeeze the air a bit and a thunderhead forms out of nowhere.  You have to be prepared, and you have to accept that at some point you WILL get rained on.

Florida Panhandle from about June into August we have the daily drenching from about 2:30 pm until 3:15 pm. The rest of the day it's just hot and humid.

Then comes hurricane season. But, you now when those are coming.

January and February, it can get pretty cool, this morning 36 degrees and when it rains it can last for a couple days.

So I pay very close attention to the weather report.

Take them off and when there is a chance of rain--pop them back on. When not on--have color coded buttons on the posts.

Lane Anderson posted:

"I swore a solemn oath to NEVER again allow Speedy out even with dark clouds on the horizon...let alone in any friggin' rain! "

That's easier to do in CA than in other parts of the country.  Here in coastal SC we have pop-up showers pretty much any time during the warmer months.  The heat and humidity are such that all it takes is the right wind to squeeze the air a bit and a thunderhead forms out of nowhere.  You have to be prepared, and you have to accept that at some point you WILL get rained on.

The "usual" weather and accurate forecasts (thank you, satellites) are a couple of the FEW - and as time goes by, make that VERY FEW - reasons to live and stay in CA. For decades, all our weather was "blamed" on if we were having an El Nino or a La Nina year. Now, the "progressives" (Jeez, I hate that stupid term - they're "regressive," if anything) are claiming the weather is based upon "global warming" and we're doomed. Duh! What the hell was the earth's weather based upon when it came out of the freaking Ice Age?   Global Warming, that's what! ...and that was 11,552 years ago - June, I think.  I'm sorry...I digress. 

"  I damn near drowned and it took several days to dry out  " ….Years ago on a homeward bound trip from Carlisle as I exited down the Interstate ramp slowing to a stop at a light, I had to lift both feet off the floor as a %&*^# Tidal Wave came forward in the speedster.

Always carry a snorkle Alan!

IaM-Ray posted:

Always carry a snorkle Alan!

And that folks is why you can easily hang a soap on a rope to the rear mirror.

Up here in Oregon we've entered the time of year when you never leave the house without your sunglasses and a rain coat. You occasionally even need them at the same time!  Hence why a Pre-A coupe for me, plus I really-really like coupes.

I noticed that on the split window P-cars and the Pre-A cars through '54 the wipers are parked pointed to the outside on both sides, away from the V in the center of the windshield.  Then when they brought in the '55 Continental all the pictures I can find show both wipers parked to the drivers side with the passenger side wiper parked across the V in the windshield. That seems so dopey that I suspect an obscure DOT rule was responsible. Or maybe Max Hoffman got involved for reasons we'll never know.  But to paraphrase the President of Stanistan, build yours how you like it! No fussy little guy in a straw boater and a clipboard is gonna be climbing under it anyway.

RHD 356s have the wipers parked in front of the driver - ie the opposite of what LHD cars had. Presumably they thought it through, unless it was for some kind of regulatory reason..?

Tonyvan posted:

 

...RHD 356s have the wipers parked in front of the driver - ie the opposite of what LHD cars had. Presumably they thought it through...

Yeah, if they consciously moved the ignition switch to the left of the driver to save a tenth of a second in a Lemans start and if they prescribe the correct way to align the P logo on a wheel's hubcap, you can bet they calculated the perfect place to park the wiper blades.

I'm guessing if you're buzzing down the autobahn and the Mercedes you're overtaking splashes through a puddle, suddenly obscuring your windscreen, you want the first stroke of the wipers to clear the schmutz, 274 milliseconds sooner than the second half of that stroke would.

I have no doubt that somewhere in Zuffenhausen, engineers with stopwatches and slide rules spent weeks on those calculations and will insist that there is no other proper way to mount wiper blades.

Mitch, wakey, wakey.... We're not talking of speed here but rather the most effective / useful total area of swept rain from the windshield be it with the left or right set of the wiper blades from the driver's view.

David, I wonder if the speed and location of the first wipe is not the most important if you think about it.  

At least as the driver you are the First to SEE where your going compared to the passenger who has some delay.  As far as total area swept It must be IMO near negligible.  Just saying.

With my wiper arms at least, I think the swept area is the same with wipers left or wipers right.  The swept area pattern with left would be a mirror image of wipers right.

David Stroud IM Roadster D posted:

Mitch, wakey, wakey.... We're not talking of speed here but rather the most effective / useful total area of swept rain from the windshield be it with the left or right set of the wiper blades from the driver's view.

OK, sorry David. I can understand how cabin fever might be getting to you about now:

But the question seems to be why the gnomes of Zuffenhausen placed the wipers where they did and I'm wondering if it wasn't something other than swept area.

I don't know the answer. This is one of those unknowable answers. Like, "What is the sound of one wiper flapping?"

At any rate, sorry about the thread drift.

Oh damn, shouldn't have said 'drift', I guess.

Speed of who sees best at the first swipe is irrelavnt, Ray. Driver who sees most in heavy rain is most relevant. 

I understand where you're coming from, Michael and respect your opinion always. I'll get more into this when back home but will give it a break while cruising Cocoa Beach over the next four days. 

OK, forgot you're still in FL, David. Not cabin fever, then.

But I still can't see how total swept area would change if you flip the wipers. Maybe you mean the asymmetrical swept area clears more of the windscreen closer to the driver when the wipers are on the driver's side?

Sacto Mitch posted:

 

OK, forgot you're still in FL, David. Not cabin fever, then.

But I still can't see how total swept area would change if you flip the wipers. Maybe you mean the asymmetrical swept area clears more of the windscreen closer to the driver when the wipers are on the driver's side?

 

Aye. Well said. Closer and in an area more beneficial to the driver. Thanks.

Baaaaa, lol that took a while to fully elucidate.  

Reading all these posts about wipers, and to think I’ve never turned mine on since I owned the car; and there’s not a period of 14 days that goes by that I don’t drive my speedster. 

Which button turns them on?  🤣

Kevin, for cars built in California, it’s the one on the dash marked:

In case of emergency, break glass and pull lever down

I'm going with the time-sweep argument.  Porsche was concerned about the micro-second earlier to clear the vision, BUT staring through wipers is not worth that.  I love not looking through those damn wipers.  Besides, I'm never driving through filthy slush again.  Love the rain! 

Speaking of driving in the rain, while flying the Pacific leg of our trip home yesterday, I got up the guts to watch "The Art of Driving in the Rain." Good thing I had a cold or Marianne would have thought I was getting tearful or something... Wipers were factory aligned by Kleenex

I just watched it too. I was surprised that it was the most moving movie I had seen in some time.  You can rent it on Amazon.