Are the fox CougarBird wiper arms the same as fox Mustang ones? I know they mount up the same, but how about length?
Mine are pretty faded and due for painting or replacement.
If they match the Mustang ones..... behold.
http://www.cjponyparts.com/wiper-arm-and-blade-kit-1981-1993/p/WWAK10/
$52 with a set of wipers..... not bad....
For only $52 even if they didn't fit correctly your not out a lot of money. I know my 88 has a problem with the drivers wiper lifting at highway speeds. Not enough spring pressure anymore I think. When I get some funds, I might be tempted to try this out.
would be nice to understand what vehicles are today equipped with the connector we have on our cars
Now that you mention it, fitting a set that folds up in the air to keep from icing wouldn't be a bad idea....
yeah I know,,,
I have seen so far about 12 renditions of "how a wiper arm is attached" and to tell you the truth,, KIA sucks the most,,,, followed by our cars.
ours only suck because when you do the locking tab to keep them up in the air,, they are not up enough to suit me.
X2 on Kia wiper arms sucking. Recent personal experience with just how shiznitty they are, I have acquired.
Pauly, I can check in the AM and compare the wiper arms...I have lots of both. For some reason, I seemed to have collected about 450 pairs of wiper arms...need to throw them out I guess, but not before I find the info you seek. Stay tuned.
;)
If you happen to have any 98-2011 Crown Vic arms, please measure the length as well. It would be much appreciated. ;)
Any word????
Poop. No, I do have the arms from my Tbird...well..IN my Tbird..something was jangling my nerve about it today when I was out there getting some swap parts that were stored in the mustang next to it. I'll get those shots tomorrow, I've got a bunch of stuff laid out to take pics of.
Ok, the Mustang wiper arms will not work on an '87-'88 Tbird/Cougar, unsure of the older years.
The Sport wiper arm (driver side) has a second bar that comes off and attaches of a little "pin" or protrusion at the base. I gather this is to keep the arm in proper geometry throughout it's travel. Since the Fox Mustangs do not have this, in addition to being shorter in wiper length, and in swept and arm length, I'd say you would likely not get as much swept area. I've got some pics of the areas, I'll upload them in a few minutes and edit this post with the PB links.
As for the Stang arms fitting onto the Tbird shaft...I don't know. I honestly didn't think of that until I started typing this post. I can check it out tomorrow though.
Ok, the Mustang wiper arms will not work on an '87-'88 Tbird/Cougar, unsure of the older years. The angle of the arm itself, as well as the Tbird/Cougar having the wipers park under the edge of the hood mean that the Mustang wipers can be on a solid arm, but the Tbird driver's side has to have a second arm that will cause it to stay aligned at the end or top of the sweep.
Also the Mustang arm has an angle in it out toward the wiper blade to help with this, and if you'll notice, the shaft is also further outboard of the glass than it is on the Thunderbird and Cougars.
Check my pic out for side by side shots. I'm sure that if the Mustang arm would fit the shaft that the wiper would probably be at an unusable angle when parked, probably enough to cause an issue. Add in a longer wiper, and that problem will "grow" in relation..
EDIT: Thunderbird arm on the bottom (in case it's not obvious ;) )
(http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l110/fordtruckfreeek/parts%201-24-2015/IMG_9452edit_zpsc035f34e.jpg)
(http://"http://s94.photobucket.com/user/fordtruckfreeek/media/parts%201-24-2015/IMG_9452edit_zpsc035f34e.jpg.html")
My hunt will continue then. I'm gonna find something that can be used and has the ability to be lifted up and away from the glass. I'll look into the Mark VIII and Panther platform cars.
Mark VII (7) works, they're identical to ours. But I think that's the only other car with a direct interchange...
I would have suggested it, but I'd thought they would be just like the Tbird and Cougar arms. Hmph.
The Mark VII (7) shares the same windshield as our cars as well. I'll need to get my hands on a few of hese from salvage yards to see what will work.
Swap one off of your Mark VII onto your Cougar and check it out beforehand..? ;)
Thing is I wanna upgrade. There's nothing wrong with mine other than faded paint. If I'm gonna swap them, I want to retrofit ones that will lift up away from the glass. If I can't find a suitable wiper arm that will do that and work with our cars I'll just pop the ones I have off and paint them with some SEM satin black.
I think the Mark VIII (8) ones may be a tad long, but I wanna check it out just to make sure. The last gen Continentals may be a candidate as well.
Roger that...just that if you did a quick comparison.. ;)
What year continental did you have in mind? There's one at my dad's that was KIA a few years ago...but it is, to my memory..a '94..95 somewhere in there, though I could be wrong.
I was thinking late 90's early 00's as I'm not sure if the 95 would have the flip ups. Looking through Google image search it appears that they do though. More candidates! 95 was a new body style 94 wouldn't work.
Im thinking about drilling the center of the regulator spline , then tap it out for threads.
from there its an opportunity to include many other options.
our regulator will need a stop made at the lower part of the spline so the chosen wiper arm does not drop down too deep...nothing a small tac weld wont cure.
once done, the wiper arm will bind up with a bolt,,,, LOL, like KIA unfortunately.
I stared at this whole thing this weekend, its my only real solution 1 of 2.
solution 2 of 2
we actually only need the pivit body down at the regulator, so drilling out the rivets in our arms then swapping in another full swing open body would be idea... the problem is our cars have this second alignment arm that needs a solution to.
whatever the case, this is solveable... anything can be done. (except my ability to spell correctly)
Isn't going to be kind of hard to make fold up wipers work when the stock Thunderbird/Cougar wipers park below the hoodline?
A curved wiper arm like on my Dodge Nitro would be a good solution. Or one could just activate them and when they're at the top of the swing, shut them, then pull them out and away from the windshield. I'm only in a brainstorm process right now as it's far too cold to do ANYTHING outside today. Tomorrow is supposed to warm up to 40 deg. followed by a nice 6 deg. day on Thursday. Yay.....
that seems interesting,, could be handled by turning off the car with the wipers in "up" stroke, that's how most of us have to remove the arms anyway now.... not something we are not use to doing already.
I am very interested in this topic and have not time at the moment now to tackle it so if its solved before I get to it then I will go the route of looking off someone elses paper for the answer to the test.
I did a little look-see at my Mountaineer wipers...the angle is more favorable compared to a Fox Mustang, but still, there's that pesky "park" location to deal with...but they do flip up as you want. Might also look at other cars with roughly the same degree of slant to the windshield, that also have hidden wipers, and try them. The wiper blade length wouldn't matter as much, as long as the angle of the glass and the wiper arm were similar to the Cougar. My fear would be lessened tension in the spring...less force on the glass, etc.
HA!
I took the bronco out to the store,, 1990 Eddie Bauer,,, well I stared at the wiper arm..........................
go look at a ford truck early 90's late 80's
tell me what you see
I think the angle of the wiper blade will be an issue when parked however...
87 coug
left arm 17 7/16'' long, double arm
right arm 17 7/16'' long, single arm
90 ford bronco full size
left arm 17 7/16'' long, single arm
right arm 17 7/16'' long, single arm
just now hearing the mustangs have solid arms on each side???????
Solid how? No 90* capability? What Mustangs? Fox, SN95, '05 up?
Fox wipers can stood up. The angle of blade to arm isn't correct for '88 Tbirds...the right side of the wiper blade will hit the cowl..
When the Tbird wiper is parked...the blade and the arm are almost perfectly parallel..that's why that second rod is on there..to keep it in proper alignment.
That's why I suggested looking at other vehicles that have wipers tucking under the hood....trucks and shiznit won't cut it as the wiper doesn't go far enough down to need that extra angle to be accounted for. You use those arms on a Tbird and likely the wipers will hit when they come to full rest. Doesn't matter on the wiper length, it's the angle of the blade at rest that will be the issue. Then there's also the angle of the shaft that drives the wipers. I think the trucks have a different angle, using the wiper arms from them might cause the blade to drag the flat rather than the tip...causing it not to have the squeegee effect. try it though, might work, but I wouldn't place money on it.
The ice and snow took a big hit today as far as melting. I can actually see my driveway again (we got hit with a nice ice storm the other day which COATED EVERYTHING). I think something with a newer style can be made to work without use of the secondary arm without any issue.
I have to do this, swap in my newly acquired wiper cowl (which I have to paint first), and install the 4 note Cadillac horn system I just picked up.
Was looking at a Crown Vic at work last night. A 2009. Those wiper arms aint gonna work. They're very similar to what we already have. I think I'm just gonna order some new ones, put them on, and paint the ones I have to have them for later.
Did somebody say the double link pivoting arm on the driver's side is only on Sports? Not sure about that but I think it is done to achieve a higher ratio of "swept area", and as I recall the OEM setup used a longer blade on one side for the same reason. A cautionary warning: Don't stop the wipers in mid stroke and prop them up if it might snow. They will get stuck in that position, and when you turn on the ignition switch the wiper motor will try to return to Parked position regardless of wiper switch being turned off. Motor may go up in smoke.
The arms are the same on all models I've had. Either that or i have the coolest wiper arms ever fitted to a gs model.
Arms are the same on my Cougar as well as my Mark VII.
They both have the secondary arm for the driver side wiper.
I never said it was a Sport only thing...all of my '88 cars have had it. I'd highly imagine the '87 cars were like that, and likely the older ones as well, though I just can't remember.