Rear wiper delete plug option

[RETed]

(Posted initially in BAW but reposted here...)



This is for all you FC guys who do the rear hatch wiper delete...

I've been looking for a...nice...way to take care of the hole left over when you remove the rear wiper on an FC hatch.
There used to be the MFR (MoonFace Racing) plug from Japan, but I found out it's just a rubber plug - fuck if I was going to pay over $20 for one...
BTW, if you want that option, I think RHDJapan sells it off their website.

I wanted someone carbon fiber'ish...yeah yeah, rice rice baby.
I measured the hole, and it came out to like 28mm.
28mm = ~1-1/8" = 28.575mm
Just for the hell of it, I did a seach on eBay for "1-1/8 cap", "1-1/8 plug".
Lo and behold, this is a common size for bicycle stem caps.
There were TONS of them.
Mostly were machined aluminum, but there were some carbon fiber ones too!
YES!
These bicycle caps were made for a 6mm cap socket screw - great, metric!
Some of them came with a *titanium* cap screw option - which I didn't need.
I could source a 6mm cap socket screw locally, and it'll save me money.
I bought a carbon fiber, gloss (I really wanted the matte finish one, but they were out-of-stock) one for like $9, minus the titanium screw.
I like the price.
I got the thing in the mail...
Here's some pics with a locally bought black oxide 6mm x 25mm cap socket hex head screw...

TOP:


BOTTOM:


SIDE:



It was close, but the plug barely fit.
We're talking 1mm or less of a lip for it to sit in the hole.

Okay, use some black RTV to seal it up...
I then stuck the 6mm x 25mm cap socket screw in the hole.
I picked up a 1/4" x 1-1/2" "neoprene fender washer" to help seal underneath.
I had a 1-1/2"OD largish washer laying around, so I used that; this washer had like a 3/4" ID hole in it, which helped clear the bottom part of the carbon fiber cap.
I then stacked a 1/4" regular washer under that - 1/4" = ~6mm.
I found some random 6mm nut to secure the whole thing.

Here's the final pics with everything installed...





Enjoy!



-Ted

[TitaniumTT]

That's awesome Ted, I love it! I have a non-wiper and a wiper glass and the struts are starting to be a little weak. I appreciated when I popped the hatch that it would continue to run up on it's own. Recently, and this may because of the cold or because I don't pop the hatch as often, it gets stuck to the hatch seal. I was thinking about getting the Wiper glass tinted and doing something like that, but taking a length of small 1" webbing and melting an M6 hole in it and bolting it down. So when the trunk doesn't pop, I've got something that I can grab onto and pull up with as opposed to climbing 1/2 way over the cage to try to push the damn thing up. Some ArmorAll on the seal may help as well.....

[RETed]

Yeah, I've seen that strap-through-the-hole set-up before...
I'm trying to just secure the car and keep the rain from getting inside the hatch area.
For now, this is a CHEAP option to just plug up the hole.
Luckily there's a lot of options out there - check eBay!


-Ted

[My5ABaby]

I used a big rubber stopper setup for years (no pics) that worked well to seal it, but didn't look that great. I like this setup, nice find. How well does it seal? (not that Hawaii has real weather... )

[RETed]

Originally Posted by My5ABaby

I used a big rubber stopper setup for years (no pics) that worked well to seal it, but didn't look that great. I like this setup, nice find. How well does it seal? (not that Hawaii has real weather... )

It's much better than an open hole!

We just had a big rain come down last night.
Hatch area is dry as a whistle!
I've got black silicone RTV right under the cap itself so that seals the outside edge where the cap meets the glass, and I've got a rubber ("neoprene fender") washer backing it underneath.
Between the two seals, you gotta shoot a pressure washer at it!
There might be a drop or two that might bypass the cap screw itself, but using some sealant in the hole before dropping the cap screw in should solve that problem.


-Ted

[chibikougan]

Wet as whistle Dry as bone. Silly Bear...


My rear wiper worked fine. Still might be I dunno who got my hatch!

This is a clean option I like it. Funny part is my FC was a 91 hatch glass opened OK. That FB I had would snap open so fast I could put rather heavy thing on the hatch and launch them. Hit my chin so hard an couple times...

[TitaniumTT]

A little silicone sealer would get rid of any potentials....

[Stanello]

Nice find Ted! Thanks for sharing.

[Rotary#10]

Measure the diameter and then find a sink drain plug from hardware store.