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Took a test drive after swapping the shock top mounts. It’s a few days until MOT time and this is obviously when things like to break. I had no wipers, no washer fluid pump. After some diagnostics found the 30amp fuse to the wiper system popped.
A few signs of issues on the wiper motor – black goop coming out one of the screws and around the casing. A plastic plug on the bottom looking a bit goopy / melted.
It didn’t smell to good either.
Not sure on the sequence of failure but the magnet was cracked, one of the brushes worn and some coils melted (which is where the smell and all the black rubbish came from).
Ordered a new one off eBay from Classic Landrover Parts, it's a Lucas wiper motor used in many classic British cars.
Swapped in the 90 degree cog from the old one and reinstalled. To make future changes easier, also order a plug/loom as originally we’d used spade connectors.
Nice to have fully working wipers again!
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Last year the MOT person mentioned there was excessive movement in the rear shock mounts. After some testing it was mainly the top mounts. They are from Gaz Shocks, purchased in 2005. They still have replacement ball joint parts but advised the top mounts have been upgraded significantly since my original purchase. Sadly the top mounts they sell are designed for OEM BMW where they offset the mounting position. In the Sportster the mount position needs to be in the BMW stock location. I’ve had some Powerflex mounts on order for quite a long time now, they had no stock so I’m waiting for them to manufacture new ones.
I’d already ordered new ball joints for the lower mount from Gaz, so I decided to install these and use the much less damaged old ball joints from the lower mount in the old Gaz top mounts. With the circlips out they still needed to be pressed out with some creative use of sockets and a vice.
Will see if the MOT tester comments this year or not, the movement is about as much as it was stock now.
Hopefully I will get the powerflex mounts soon (which will need some modification) so this can be finished properly.
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The ball joints in the gaz shocks were worn out, they didn’t have an upgrade unit available with stock BMW top mount/shock positioning. I therefore looked for an alternative which I found with the Powerflex PFR5-5630-10BLK. Ordered a set on eBay but ended up having to wait 2 months for the next production run (eBay seller was great at keeping me informed of progress, so if you need some bits check out Strutbracer). Worth the wait though it’s a nice set.
What I did know before ordering is that this set comes in 10mm and 12mm variants for different shocks, however the Gaz shock is 11m. I therefore ordered the 10mm version that I then modified.
With that done I swapped out the top mount
Need to do some driving make sure I have not clearance issues as the top of the shock can move more now than with the ball joint.
A few signs of issues on the wiper motor – black goop coming out one of the screws and around the casing. A plastic plug on the bottom looking a bit goopy / melted.
It didn’t smell to good either.
Not sure on the sequence of failure but the magnet was cracked, one of the brushes worn and some coils melted (which is where the smell and all the black rubbish came from).
Ordered a new one off eBay from Classic Landrover Parts, it's a Lucas wiper motor used in many classic British cars.
Swapped in the 90 degree cog from the old one and reinstalled. To make future changes easier, also order a plug/loom as originally we’d used spade connectors.
Nice to have fully working wipers again!
---
Last year the MOT person mentioned there was excessive movement in the rear shock mounts. After some testing it was mainly the top mounts. They are from Gaz Shocks, purchased in 2005. They still have replacement ball joint parts but advised the top mounts have been upgraded significantly since my original purchase. Sadly the top mounts they sell are designed for OEM BMW where they offset the mounting position. In the Sportster the mount position needs to be in the BMW stock location. I’ve had some Powerflex mounts on order for quite a long time now, they had no stock so I’m waiting for them to manufacture new ones.
I’d already ordered new ball joints for the lower mount from Gaz, so I decided to install these and use the much less damaged old ball joints from the lower mount in the old Gaz top mounts. With the circlips out they still needed to be pressed out with some creative use of sockets and a vice.
Will see if the MOT tester comments this year or not, the movement is about as much as it was stock now.
Hopefully I will get the powerflex mounts soon (which will need some modification) so this can be finished properly.
---
The ball joints in the gaz shocks were worn out, they didn’t have an upgrade unit available with stock BMW top mount/shock positioning. I therefore looked for an alternative which I found with the Powerflex PFR5-5630-10BLK. Ordered a set on eBay but ended up having to wait 2 months for the next production run (eBay seller was great at keeping me informed of progress, so if you need some bits check out Strutbracer). Worth the wait though it’s a nice set.
What I did know before ordering is that this set comes in 10mm and 12mm variants for different shocks, however the Gaz shock is 11m. I therefore ordered the 10mm version that I then modified.
With that done I swapped out the top mount
Need to do some driving make sure I have not clearance issues as the top of the shock can move more now than with the ball joint.
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