Clap hand wipers

[Cookie807]

Hi All,
Could anyone tell me when Morris stopped the installation of the commonly known (clap hand) windscreen wipers, I have a 1972 Morris Minor van and bought it as an unfinished project (well a barley started project) to be fair. And to my surprise it still has the “clap hand” wipers.
Unfortunately I have installed a brand new wiper motor, wheel boxes, wiper rack and tube, carefully installed the windshield only to notice that when I came to put on my wiper arm on the passenger side wheel box it is further over to the bonnet hinge for the tandem style wiper arm.
Also is this an easy modification or a new motor etc, or different wheel boxes ?? I’m totally lost now what to look for to make one wiper just go how it should.

Many thanks Rob

[Bill_qaz]

I think they stopped clap hand on saloons 1964 but no idea about vans.

[MM1949]

I used to own a 68 van and that had the later wiper configuration.

I may be wrong but I think the clap hand wipers were phased out around the same time as the elephant trunk fresh air vent was introduced with other modifications around 64.

It is easy to replace the complete cab on vans and pickups as they are only bolted to the chassis unlike the car, so you may have an earlier cab.

[Cookie807]

Hi again,
thanks for the response, but if anyone can give me advice on what I have to change or alter to make the passenger wiper work in the “clap hand movement” Is it just a case of the wheel box needing changing with one that sits on top of the drive, sorry I'm just confused

Thanks again guys 🫣

[Bill_qaz]

I would assume you need this

Screenshot_20250823-210359_Samsung Internet.jpg (119.77 KiB) Viewed 4590 times

[Cookie807]

Hi,
Brilliant if that’s all I have to do then I’m a happy man,
many thanks Bill,

Cheers Rob.

[svenedin]

The clap-hand type wipers have different wheelboxes and the wiper motor must have the correct gear wheel (they are marked in degrees). Usually when you buy a refurbished wiper motor on exchange you retain your own gear wheel. As far as I know, the cars that had clap hand wipers but not spit screen used the Lucas DR2 wiper motor. Post 1963 with parallel wiper the Lucas DR3a wiper motor was used with a 150 degree gear wheel. I don't know what degrees gear wheel was used with clap hand wipers.

Since clap hand wipers are not correct for you age of van it would be easier to use parallel wipers. For that you need a Lucas DR3a with 150 degree gear wheel and either second hand or new old stock wheel boxes. The new wiper wheel boxes on sale are not correct and give the wrong arc of sweep. There are several threads about this. You could if you are not concerned about originality, use a 2 speed wiper kit from ESM which includes a non-original motor and I assume, the correct gear wheel (but check this).



Stephen

[Cookie807]

Wow,
Many thanks Stephen,
it’s not straight forward then, school boy error that it was just something that I had overlooked when building it, unfortunately everything is new so this could end up being expensive.
I am stuck with the clap hand style as the vehicle is almost finished now

Many thanks for the info

[svenedin]

Fair enough, yes they have to be clap-hand now you are nearly there. Very nice by the way!

For second hand parts try Richard Plant at Minor Parts of Oxford. Tell him you need clap hand wheel boxes and he might be able to help with the motor gear wheel. Or try MMOC spares.

What motor do you have?


Stephen

[Cookie807]

Hi again Stephen,
I’m not sure of any numbers but I will have a good look tomorrow but this is a picture if it helps, I really don’t want to change everything but I do want it right so I may have to bite the bullet on this one.

Many thanks again for the information

[svenedin]

I'm not expert enough to distinguish a Lucas DR2 from a DR3a from that photo but it is one or the other. Look at the gear cover plate and the model number will be stamped on there. I don't think it matters which model of wiper motor you actually have. What matters is that it has a gear wheel for the right number of degrees. The gear wheels are stamped with a number that corresponds to the degrees of arc of the sweep but that is contingent on the correct wheel boxes as well.

https://www.morrisminorspares.com/body- ... ashers-c36

Stephen


This gear wheel is from a DR3a on my car and is stamped "150". I have parallel wipers. You will need to find out what the correct one is for clap hand wipers.

IMG_1381.jpeg (3.71 MiB) Viewed 4547 times

[Cookie807]

Ok Stephen,
I’ll give ESM a call first thing Monday, probably have a long conversation with them explaining my issue, but I have spent a small fortune with them and they have been very helpful in the past a couple of times,
I’ll let you know how I get on, thanks again pal.

[mowogg]

My 65 van has the later type wipers, my 63 saloon has claphamd wipers

I might be wrong but I thought you only needed to swap over main drive wheel to correct the wiper motor which you should be able to do on the car. The system will need the correct wheel boxes on each wiper as these are different

[ManyMinors]

I reckon every component is different on the later tandem wiper set-up to the older clap hands type.
If, as you say, you want it "right" you've got to have all the later stuff. It's easy enough to obtain a complete wiper racks along with the wheelboxes.
The wipers changed in later 1963 across the whole range. You already have the later wiper motor. You'll have to obtain the later rack and alter the scuttle panel to suit. Otherwise it'll never look right and you'll never be happy with it
It isn't the end of the world. Just one of those things. Your van must have an earlier cab or at least the earlier scuttle panel?

[Cookie807]

Hi All,
Firstly many thanks for the great response from the members, I’m quite happy to keep my van as it is with the ‘clap hand’ wiper after some research on the internet I’ve seen one or two on a ‘k’ 72, the same as mine so for some reason there must be one or two out there, I just have one of them.

[ManyMinors]

It'll be because those vans have been built up using earlier cabs. I had a 1964 van in completely original condition (even the paint!) and that had always had the later tandem type wipers.
There is no reason why you cannot install the earlier pattern but it won't be correct and, as I own both types, I never find that they wipe the windscreen as efficiently on the earlier car. I'd be surprised if there weren't other tell-tale signs of an earlier cab such as the fittings for the sunvisors or ignition switch etc. Now is the time to decide if small details are going to worry you later or not. If they don't then fine

[Cookie807]

Hi,
Yes I’m to far into the project now so I’m just going to stick with the ‘clap hand’ style wipers,
Regarding the ignition it is on the steering column, all done in that respect, it’s only just come to light when I put the new windscreen in and wanted to put the damn wiper on 🫣

Many thanks for all the response, Rob.

[ManyMinors]

I was talking about the fitting for the ignition switch, not the switch itself. The fitting for the ignition switch on a clap hands car is different to that on the slightly later cars. The dashboard pressing was different. The very last vans, travellers and pick ups, like yours would have been, had a steering column lock but not a different dashboard pressing The sunvisor fixings and other small details also changed around the same time as the wiper mechanism. I'm not an expert on vans particularly but I believe that all cabs are numbered, so if you're interested it might be possible to find out more. If you're not bothered than that's fine too . It looks a lovely van .

[Cookie807]

Hi again,
Firstly many thanks again for the information, any information is greatly appreciated,
I do have the plates and the numbered tag from the bulkhead under the passenger side hinge.
I also have the new sun visors but I haven’t put the roof lining in yet but I will be tackling that hopefully this week or next,
I actually bought the vehicle from a lovely gentleman that was really reluctant to sell, he actually told me with confidence that the van was the very last by Morris minor, he also said that this is the reason why he had wanted to do it justice hence spending a small fortune on it, and I promised I would continue to do so until completion.

Many thanks again Rob