Doris
Well-known member
I will start by saying that this has been done before and covered on other forums,however I thought someone may benefit from watching me do mine.there are few ways of doing this but I think this is the easiest.The principle is the same though.
I have a 69 Bay and it has had an electric screen washer fitted by the PO.The washer motor operation switch was a PTM (push to make contact) toggle switch just below the dash - very un sightly i.m.o. I wanted to retain my stock looking switch but still have the reliability of the electric washer system.
I decided to use the pushing action on the air switch and, by fitting a small PTM switch behind the push rod, the pushing action could be used to operate an electric switch....hey presto - stock switch - up graded to electric operation!
This is how I did it............
These are the tools I used...hobby tool & various attachments,measure,the PTM micro switch of course,the VW wiper/washer switch & a curcuit tester.
I bought the switches off ebay from a seller called bitsbox, I found they were just the right size & capacity.
I measured the diameter of the thread on the PTM switch - It measured 7mm.
so I drilled a hole slightly tighter (5mm) in the body of the washer switch so that the thread on the PTM switch to bite into the plastic body and stay secure. TAKE YOUR TIME at this point as once you remove the original moulding of plastic, you can't put it back, you would have to fill the hole with miliput or araldite and then re drill it and start again. Note,as you drill into the plastic moulding/casing you are obviously gutting the air switch, so you may have a few shreds of metal/spring and seals etc from the air valve come out.
After I made sure the hole was clear ( I wanted the push rod to have a clear throw when operated) I measured how far into the body of the washer switch housing the push rod came, then compared that to how far from the rear the PTM switch came.there was a bout 9mm difference, so I chopped off 9mm from the rear of the housing (where the air pipes had attached to).
....after several trial fits and minor adjustments (cuts!!!) the PTM swich screws neatly into the switch housing just at the right depth so as to be operated by the push rod on the front of the wiper switch..
I finally physically checked that it would work using a curcuit tester....
Job done! all I have to do now is either solder the connections to the washer motor or fit spade clips and re fit to Doris!
I have a 69 Bay and it has had an electric screen washer fitted by the PO.The washer motor operation switch was a PTM (push to make contact) toggle switch just below the dash - very un sightly i.m.o. I wanted to retain my stock looking switch but still have the reliability of the electric washer system.
I decided to use the pushing action on the air switch and, by fitting a small PTM switch behind the push rod, the pushing action could be used to operate an electric switch....hey presto - stock switch - up graded to electric operation!
This is how I did it............
These are the tools I used...hobby tool & various attachments,measure,the PTM micro switch of course,the VW wiper/washer switch & a curcuit tester.
I bought the switches off ebay from a seller called bitsbox, I found they were just the right size & capacity.
I measured the diameter of the thread on the PTM switch - It measured 7mm.
so I drilled a hole slightly tighter (5mm) in the body of the washer switch so that the thread on the PTM switch to bite into the plastic body and stay secure. TAKE YOUR TIME at this point as once you remove the original moulding of plastic, you can't put it back, you would have to fill the hole with miliput or araldite and then re drill it and start again. Note,as you drill into the plastic moulding/casing you are obviously gutting the air switch, so you may have a few shreds of metal/spring and seals etc from the air valve come out.
After I made sure the hole was clear ( I wanted the push rod to have a clear throw when operated) I measured how far into the body of the washer switch housing the push rod came, then compared that to how far from the rear the PTM switch came.there was a bout 9mm difference, so I chopped off 9mm from the rear of the housing (where the air pipes had attached to).
....after several trial fits and minor adjustments (cuts!!!) the PTM swich screws neatly into the switch housing just at the right depth so as to be operated by the push rod on the front of the wiper switch..
I finally physically checked that it would work using a curcuit tester....
Job done! all I have to do now is either solder the connections to the washer motor or fit spade clips and re fit to Doris!