The plate is only held on to the rest of the frame with 4 spot welds and the two bolts that hold it to the car. The temptation to drill the spotwelds out on both mechs and put the good one back on the old one is huge. But I have no welding gear here and I am not at all sure that pop rivets would be strong enough.
Don't know the details, but could you use rivnuts + screws to fix the plate to the frame?
 
Once I got the secondhand scrapped w/w mech home I had a very close look and although the motor mounting plate is a lot more intact, other bits of it, like the W/wiper pillar things that you mount each wiper on is deffo not, particularly on one side. The mech works but there is monumental rust which has "waisted" the side of the pillar things prolly due to a split rubber. And I cannot see how to take these off without risking doing serious damage.

I get the feeling that they all rust in different ways. The plate is only held on to the rest of the frame with 4 spot welds and the two bolts that hold it to the car. The temptation to drill the spotwelds out on both mechs and put the good one back on the old one is huge. But I have no welding gear here and I am not at all sure that pop rivets would be strong enough.

So I am going with derusting and painting the plate on the new-to-me one and doing the best I can with the rest.

I have also bought some special superglue that might improve the split plastic and some clear silicon sealant to seal it all up after and during refitting.

Pics might help us, can you not drill out the welds remove the plate then use 4 bolts through the holes with nuts
then fit the plate & fit a 2nd nut could use a sealant to stop water ingress. Temp solid repair until you get home. :)
 
Don't know the details, but could you use rivnuts + screws to fix the plate to the frame?
Maybe, although I don't trust rivnuts and TBH I am not sure that they would hold it much more securely than pop rivets. the spot welds are in a straight line, if they were in a rectangle or even a wavy line then they'd hold it more securely, but there isn't room for more than a row.
I could just drill through and use small nuts and bolts but the problem with both of these methods is that they would protrude above the frame and then the seal wouldn't seal anymore due to the height of either of these two methods above the otherwise flat mount to the frame. The plate is only held onto the frame by these welds on its top edge, not a very good method and if it got floppy the motor would have a hard time of it.
 
Pics might help us, can you not drill out the welds remove the plate then use 4 bolts through the holes with nuts
then fit the plate & fit a 2nd nut could use a sealant to stop water ingress. Temp solid repair until you get home. :)
Our posts crossed and yes I was thinking along similar lines to you but you can read now why I want to avoid it.
We really do think alike as yes the seal is the problem.
I'm not that bothered at the mo as I am pretty sure it'll be OK as you say, it'll get me home and could possibly even run fine for long after that!
There is no, or only a tiny bit of, play in any of the moving parts of the mech. On both.
I've swopped over the short lever with the splined hole that fits onto the motor shaft as I think my original one had more obvious splines in its 'ole than the one I just picked up. Neither were brilliant!

Anyway, thanks for the thoughts and suggestions folks!
Sleep tight!
:):):)
 
Can someone remind me please how to find your own threads on your profile?
Last night I was trying to find the thread I started about the wipers and it took me quite a while.
I was sure that under your "content" there used to be a thing to click on with "your threads" on. But I couldn't find it. all I could find was my posts.
Grrr!
 
Can someone remind me please how to find your own threads on your profile?
Last night I was trying to find the thread I started about the wipers and it took me quite a while.
I was sure that under your "content" there used to be a thing to click on with "your threads" on. But I couldn't find it. all I could find was my posts.
Grrr!

Yup....top left where it says forums click scroll down you will see your threads. :)
 
Having rust treated the w/w mech last night I have painted it this am, took far longer to organise this and clean up afterwards than to do the job, as it is so often!
Now wondering if I am going to be able to mend the plastic plenum thingy that covers the well under the windscreen and between it and the bonnet/engine compartment.
As usual with plastics, no idea which glue will be the best.
I wish there was some way of finding this out.
It says on it JAG 100100 ABS/PCA
I have googled it to try and find out but not much help.
 
Well, having done the painting I decided to see if I could do something about the "plenum" i.e. the bist of flipping plastic wot is broken in two, if I am being polite.
I researched the form of plastic and it is allegedly capable of being stuck together with superglue cyanoacrylate type stuff.
So I had a bash.
Total pain. The long curved multi crossection piece of poop is extremely difficult if not impossible to clamp single-handed. So I put one piece in a vice and ran a bead of glue along its edge, then tried to hold the other piece against it for about 5 minutes. It was only making contact in a few places but ever the optimist.......
Well amazingly it sort of stuck.
But...it is in fact broken in more than 2 pieces and when I tried to insert another little piece, into the gap between the other two, pop, they broke apart and worse still, where I had managed to put a small clamp on the edge to at least hold one part of the join together, it came away and other bits broke off. This being the top edge as you look at it where it touches the windscreen.
Double poop.
So yet again I am playing jigsaw puzzles just to get it back to somewhere handy to what it was before.
I have come to the conclusion that the edges have worn although they look like they should stick together flush.

Things I have learned:

Bits that have freshly broken apart stick back together easier than bits that have been long apart, despite cleaning them etc.

When your fingers are covered in dried superglue to the point where you can no longer feel the tiny little bits properly, a handheld wire brush is quite good at getting it off although it takes P80 paper to finish it!
Enjoy the afternoon better than I am!
 
Put my wellies on, barefoot as usual to go and let the hens out. Felt something a bit sharp on top of my left foot.

An ant or summat must have bit me, really stinging and a pain.
Flipping thing.
Never had anything else in my boot except a frog or a toad once.
Feels like I'm living in an 'ot country and I need to check um for scorpions every time from now on!
 
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