MGA Forum

My 1960 1600 is nearing the end of its restoration and it's just become evident there's no windscreen washer installation. It's a US import (from sunny San Antonio, Texas) and I'm wondering whether it left the factory like that.......or was it a dealer fitted accessory in the day and the buyer didn't bother.......or did a previous owner remove the washer? Any advice would be appreciated. The car will be a Sunday afternoon drive so I'd like to keep it as original as possible.

I believe the windscreen washer was an optional extra. I also suspect it was commonly fitted - but that's just a guess.

Some info from the MGA Guru: https://mgaguru.com/mgtech/accessories/at105p.htm & https://mgaguru.com/mgtech/accessories/at105a.htm

To add it, you'd need the pump (dash mounted), nozzles (attached to holes in the body forward of the windscreen), the fluid reservoir & holder and tubing to connect it all together.

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Eric Russell ~ Mebane, NC
1961 MGA #61, 1981 Alfa Romeo GTV6, 1984 Alfa Romeo Spider, 1991 Honda ST1100

Windshield washers were available on all models as a factory option and they could also be installed at the dealer level. Its possible that a previous owner removed the components, but I'd expect that if it was a factory installed option, this fact would appear on a Heritage certificate.

Thanks all. That confirms my suspicions. Odd, though, that it wasn’t fitted from new. Perhaps it was purchased by an optimistic Texan.

Hi Roger, if you plan on getting an MOT certificate I believe the rule is that if the screen can't be folded down (as in T-types) you now need to have washers. I learned this after finishing my restoration and didn't want to start drilling the newly painted scuttle. However I found that a sympathetic examiner accepted a set up using temporary tubing from a pump and reservoir mounted on a board in the passenger footwell.
Richard

That sounds like a plan, Richard. Like you I’ve just had it (very expensively) painted so don’t want to start drilling holes. I had, though, intended to get an MOT. I’m sure I can jury-rig something to get it past the examiner.

None of the 7 cars I’ve owned ever had them. No holes in the scuttle on any of them.

Just curious, and by no means take this as any sort of criticism, but I would be interested in the thinking behind getting an MOT given we are exempt? Is this just for an extra pair of expert (hopefully!) eyes to ferret out any issues?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2024-04-19 02:05 AM by muzungu.

Hi Roger

I have a couple of original push button type screen washer pumps. Yours if you want them and just around the corner.

If you want a professional and knowledgeable check, I had my MOT done, when they were compulsory, by Ellis Motors in Burgess Hill. Pass or fail on the washer, it does not matter since it’s the check that counts.

Cheers
Dave

Dave
Many thanks, I'll take you up on that if I may. I'm still undecided whether to install (I'd prefer not to drill the newly painted scuttle) but I have a vacant hole to fill in the new dash and in any event I may need it to operate a w/washer if I do MOT the car and can figure out how to set up a temporary arrangement. Just off on hols but I'll contact you on my return at the beginning of May.
Thanks again.
Roger

Chris
I appreciate there's no legal obligation to secure an MOT cert but if you can get a (relatively cheap) second opinion on a nut and bolt restoration, that works for me. Also, I haven't checked whether this impacts insurance but I wouldn't like to get tied up in arguments with my insurer if I were MOT-less.
Roger

Yes, good idea to get a second unbiased opinion and agree that having an MOT does add something, even if not legally required, in case of accidents etc.

No problems with my insurer, no MoT no washers or wipers. Sport screen.

Roger,
if you do decide to install screen washers, I would advise against going the electric pump route.
When I first got my MGA it had been modified to have an electric washer pump, just the basic after-market pump. It did work just fine but you wouldn`t believe just how much water the electric pump uses up, it would empty my standard MGA washer reservoir bottle in no time! This meant that when it rained, I would have used up all the contents of the washer bottle well before I got to the destination.

I thought of installing a larger reservoir, but then I decided to try an original manual pump before commiting to an all electric system, the manual pump supplies plenty of fluid and usually, a couple of pumps are all you need to get the wipers to clean the screen.

So, since then, I have found that the standard washer bottle has enough capacity to last for months and usually, when I do check it, the cause of a lower fluid level is just as often caused by evaporation as by me operating the pump.

Cheers
Colyn

Years ago {OK, decades ago) when my MGA was my only car daily driver the windscreen washer gave out (the rubber bulb inside rotted away). I couldn't find (or more likely, afford) a replacement. Instead I used a 10 ml syringe that happened to fit snuggly into a rubber grommet I inserted in the hole in the dash where the washer pump used to reside. Using some intravenous tubing that had one-way valves built in (I'm a Registered Nurse so these items were easy to, umm, requisition) I connected everything up to the reservoir & spray nozzles. With the one-way valves oriented correctly all I had to do was pull the syringe plunger out (whereupon the syringe would draw from the reservoir) then push it in (and the fluid would squirt out the nozzles). It worked so well I kept it for years.

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Eric Russell ~ Mebane, NC
1961 MGA #61, 1981 Alfa Romeo GTV6, 1984 Alfa Romeo Spider, 1991 Honda ST1100