Exactly what needs to be done in order to install a rear wiper on a base model fc. I understand swapping the hatch and switch but will the base model have the harnesses for the wiper or will custom wiring be required? If not can wiring be swapped from a gxl? Thanks in advance for the help, I searched but got nowhere.

 

I'd check under your dash meter cover to see if you have empty plugs near where the switches would go (and you'd need to find the switches as well if you don't have them).

 

Tommy let me know if you want to swap hatches with me im looking to ditch my rear wiper

 

LOL thats actually what Im doing. Im swapping the hatch from my gxl to my friends base because, I hate the wiper.

 

Apologies for the threadjack but why do you hate the wiper?

I don't have one and find that visibility, especially when it's snowing, absolutely sucks.
Even with the (mostly) functional electric defrost running that large semi-horizontal glass gets covered pretty quickly, so I've been considering getting a wipered hatch.

Does the wiper not work well or something?

 

y not just wipe your car off with a snow brush? ur not supposed to use your wipers to get large quantites of snow off your windshield anyway.

and y take that p.o.s. off? uneeded wieght......and its practically useless.


rear wipers are for vans.

 

Yeah, I get that, but...
Just the other day we had a spring snow storm here in Denver and it was coming down so fast that by the time I'd wiped off the glass and gotten into the car the glass was covered again. I drove home blind in the back.

A wiper sure would have been handy...

 

A rear wiper at night when its raining is very helpful.
Drove a base 88 for 2 years, and when i switched to a gxl, the difference was very clear.

 

i dont drive my car when it snows, rains etc so i have no need at all for the wiper
i also have no heat or ac so really id be impossible to drive in those conditions cuz id either freeze or if the windshield fogged up it would be impossible to defrost
so id rather have the clean look of no wiper

 

I have a wiperless hatch if anyone is interested in swapping. I'm located in Philly and would definitely like a wiper.

 

Just came across this thread.

So besides the switch and the hatch itself is there anything else that needs to be installed to have the rear wiper work on a GTU base mode? The wiring on the rear of the car should have a plug just dangling?

 

The only dangling wires in the rear would be for the washer pump.
The wiring for the wiper motor will be in the b-pillar/strut tower area behind the driver.

 

When installing my rear wiper, I discovered that there is no harness for a wiper in my car. This meant we had to make one that ran from the back of the switch (spliced three wires, motor +, sprayer +, common gnd) and run my homemade three wire harness up to the base of the shock tower, up to the pillar. Split the common ground at this point. At the pillar, the wiper motor wire and common ground goes along the gas strut to the motor (or out the roof and along the inner edge of the hatch). The other end of the common (which you split earlier at the base of the pillar) and the sprayer wire go to the rear compartment near the spare tire and plug into your sprayer.

Now, mine is one of the really early FCs (manufactured October '85, Hiroshima plant) so the plug for the motor is likely in place already at the base of your shock tower (even though mine was not). So my little write up may not be necessary for you. In case it is, let me know and I will find which wire's on the back of the switch need to be tapped for the homemade harness.