Back in my days of car manufacturing, we tested ~15% of the cars for water leaks. FunFact: The sealant actually cures with water!

Take a closer look at the operating temperature range of the the actuators. 50 degrees C won't survive while bolted to a rotary. The cheap stuff is made with low melting temp plastic gears and electronics. For $4, you may get a proof of concept, but I doubt it's going to be a long-term solution. I'd suggest keeping some kind of linkage and moving the actuator away from the manifolds. Are you hell-bent on making this a stepper system or will on-off suffice?

Glass and the urethane is a difficult operation. At the factory, we had very expensive robots and equipment to apply urethane and position the glass. Each one installed by a highly experienced UAW technician every 27 seconds. We still checked their work and they still screwed up. My point, I think, is that mistakes happen and it's easy to miss them if you don't look for them.

 

Since you took it off-topic I don't feel bad adding this... Check out Element14. They support the "maker" community and have lots of stuff for building robots and what-not. Even if they don't have the actuator you need (but I bet they do) you'll find it a hacker wonderland.

Jim

 

Friend of the family used to do glass, old timer worked out of his house with a pretty big shop he was able to build before they broke your ***** as much as they do now

Anyhow--- i had him put a new windshield in my vert back in like 1997 due to sandblast. 2 days after he installed it i was caught in the rain ( car was my daily ) and that water came pouring onto my left foot.
Went back to him and he said it wasn't related to the new windshield install lol
I was so mad and didnt want him touching it again i had another shop pull it out and install it in another vert i was selling. i didnt even want to look at it anymore lol
So yeah i dont blame the guy for not fully trusting the installer

The side trim comes off? Mine has some chips i really wanted to restore it whenever i put my eyes on it the trim doesnt seem to jump right off there?

 

Yup, it does come off.
You'll want to remove the screw from each end of the wiper cavity garnish. The side trim goes under this trim panel, removing a screw gives you the flex to weasel it out. There is supposed to be a plastic pushpin that holds the very bottom of the side trim to a bracket...mine are gone and I see no reason for them anyway.
With the door open lift the flap of the bodyseal, exposing the four screws that hold the side trim.

The side trim piece is formed metal that had a rubber shape molded over it. It's the rubber edges/lips on the glass side that matter and are usually what get so raggedy. I trimmed the edges of the front face and peeled the rubber off, exposing the bare metal but leaving the lower lip as intact as possible (this is the edge that actually touches the glass).

It's awkward to describe but fairly obvious when in hand.

I sanded the bare metal and sprayed the whole thing with satin black.
The rubber that remained was as rock hard as what I'd removed, but I needed it and the paint didn't seem to mind.

So I've got the wiper arms and glass side trim all painted and ready, the garnish looks OK and I don't feel like painting something that big in this weather anyway.

I washed the car, being especially aggressive around the windshield and am happy to say there were no leaks, so assembly can commence.
Tomorrow Sig and I work on the Z, so it'll be Friday before I get to it, probably.

 

so you have to remove the pillar panel to see the rest of the fasteners ?

 

No,it's all external.
I'll get some pictures tomorrow.

 

Seems like you would have re-purposed a Miata windshield to fit.

 

Oddly, that never occurred to me.
Lazy, I am.

Photobucket was "down for maintenance" most of the day (heh, like I believe that) but here are the side trim pics.
First, looking down the a-pillar, door open:


Lift door seal flap to expose trim screws:

 

I'm having a real hard time finding a windshield....anyone know where to get one? (i dont want a junkyard piece)

 

Ppg.. Pilkington..safelite..

 

Where have you tried so far? I've checked prices online from a few places and they at least give me a price. Are they all out of stock?

 

Correct. I have called or emailed 6 places, including safelite. Most call me back after a couple days and say they cant get them at all. I'm told they are no longer made. Safelite has been on the hunt for two weeks now. They say that there are 5 left in the country, but have yet to put thier hands on one.....

All 4 mazda part numbers that would fit the frame are NLA from Mazda.

 

Well, that's going to be a problem come time for my windshield replacement. Mine currently has a huge non-repairable crack, but I'm still doing body work, so I hadn't worried about it.

 

1986-1988 Mazda RX7 Windshield, OEM, Made in USA, Brand New | eBay

Not an ideal price, but it seems they could be floating around out there.