1972 Passenger Side Wiper Arm

[Roger D.]

Folks:

Would someone mind posting picture of what a correct passenger side wiper arm looks like for a 1972 coupe? I know these arms had metal washer tubes attached to them. I am near certain that I have a correct driver side arm but the passenger side arm has a rubber washer tube. I am continuing the rebuild of my '72 and want to make sure I get the correct wiper arm.

Thanks in advance!

Regards,
Roger

[Terry M.]

Re: 1972 Passenger Side Wiper Arm

Roger
Just order a reproduction set from Keen Parts = they advertise in [i]The Driveline.[i/]

[Alan S.]

Re: 1972 Passenger Side Wiper Arm

Hi Roger,
Here's the right side wiper arm from my 71.
Regards,
Alan

[Roger D.]

Re: 1972 Passenger Side Wiper Arm

Roger
Just order a reproduction set from Keen Parts = they advertise in [i]The Driveline.[i/]

Terry. Thanks for the suggestion! I'll take a look at that. I also found someone who has a restored one he will sell me. Needed to make sure it was correct.

Regards,
Roger

[Roger D.]

Re: 1972 Passenger Side Wiper Arm

Thanks a lot Alan. Those are some great pictures. I really appreciate you taking those and posting them for me!!

Regards,
Roger

[Roger D.]

Re: 1972 Passenger Side Wiper Arm

Roger
Just order a reproduction set from Keen Parts = they advertise in [i]The Driveline.[i/]

Terry:

I just looked at the Keen website. How well do those reproduction wipers perform in judging ?

Regards,
Roger

[Joe L.]

Re: 1972 Passenger Side Wiper Arm

Folks:

Would someone mind posting picture of what a correct passenger side wiper arm looks like for a 1972 coupe? I know these arms had metal washer tubes attached to them. I am near certain that I have a correct driver side arm but the passenger side arm has a rubber washer tube. I am continuing the rebuild of my '72 and want to make sure I get the correct wiper arm.

Thanks in advance!

Regards,
Roger

Roger-----


Your passenger side rod ("arm") is the 1974-82 rod, GM #355340, which was also SERVICE for 1968-73.

[Roger D.]

Re: 1972 Passenger Side Wiper Arm

Hi Joe. Thanks for that info. I appreciate it!

Regards,
Roger

[Terry M.]

Re: 1972 Passenger Side Wiper Arm

Any question regarding how any item judges ALWAYS has to be tempered with the understanding that some judges are more skilled and/or observant than others. In practice the honest and complete answer to your question is -- "it depends"

There are some detectable finish differences between Tom's reproduction and originals, so a skilled judge will deduct 20% of the available originality points. A not so skilled judge will deduct nothing.

All that said, you will search for a long time for a rebuildable arm, and then have to put a bunch of work into it to make it presentable. Odds are that in the process of rebuilding it you will have to refinish it. Doing so under the best of circumstances will put you right at where you are with the reproduction arms because there is no way you, or for that matter anyone else, can duplicate the original finishes today. The plating process used in the early 1970s can no longer be done. And even if it could be done today, most of it was done before the parts of the arms were assembled. You want to try to do that? I thought so! End of story.

[Roger D.]

Re: 1972 Passenger Side Wiper Arm

Any question regarding how any item judges ALWAYS has to be tempered with the understanding that some judges are more skilled and/or observant than others. In practice the honest and complete answer to your question is -- "it depends"

There are some detectable finish differences between Tom's reproduction and originals, so a skilled judge will deduct 20% of the available originality points. A not so skilled judge will deduct nothing.

All that said, you will search for a long time for a rebuildable arm, and then have to put a bunch of work into it to make it presentable. Odds are that in the process of rebuilding it you will have to refinish it. Doing so under the best of circumstances will put you right at where you are with the reproduction arms because there is no way you, or for that matter anyone else, can duplicate the original finishes today. The plating process used in the early 1970s can no longer be done. And even if it could be done today, most of it was done before the parts of the arms were assembled. You want to try to do that? I thought so! End of story.

Thank you Terry. Those are some very good observations. I really appreciate your input.

Regards,
Roger

[Roger D.]

Re: 1972 Passenger Side Wiper Arm

Terry:

I just looked at the Keen website. How well do those reproduction wipers perform in judging ?

Regards,
Roger

Terry:

Sadly, I ordered the reproduction wiper arms last night from Keen Parts and then got a call from them this afternoon saying they don't have any right now. No ETA on when. Perhaps September or later.

I'm back to perhaps the source I found for a restored original passenger side arm. Only problem I foresee is not being able to reproduce the finish between it and my original driver side arm. Thus I would have mismatching finishes that may be obvious. oh well. Thinking cap on again.

Regards,
Roger

[Alan S.]

Re: 1972 Passenger Side Wiper Arm

Hi Roger,
I've had some mixed results duplicating the original finish, which I believe was dull Black Chromium, on the arm itself using black ink. It blackens the stainless steel without the build-up of material that black paint produces.
How well the results turn out to be depends in part on the condition of the overall finish on the arm to begin with.
The ink seems to do an o.k. job of duplicating the Black Sodium Dichromate finish on the rivets used to assemble the arm's parts too.
I'd be interested in hearing about the results you have if you decide to do some refinishing yourself.
Regards,
Alan

[Roger D.]

Re: 1972 Passenger Side Wiper Arm

Hi Roger,
I've had some mixed results duplicating the original finish, which I believe was dull Black Chromium, on the arm itself using black ink. It blackens the stainless steel without the build-up of material that black paint produces.
How well the results turn out to be depends in part on the condition of the overall finish on the arm to begin with.
The ink seems to do an o.k. job of duplicating the Black Sodium Dichromate finish on the rivets used to assemble the arm's parts too.
I'd be interested in hearing about the results you have if you decide to do some refinishing yourself.
Regards,
Alan

Thank you Alan for the info! If I have something of interest and benefit to the group regarding this, I'll follow up with that info on this thread.

Regards,
Roger