January 20th, 2003 : Electric Wiper Conversion Kit | Wiper Arms & Blades

One of the first things I did when I got my truck was to order an electric wiper conversion kit from Golden State Parts (800-235-5717) for $180.00 ... I don't know if it's the Newport unit or not, I always thought it was the same one that Classic Parts sells for $175.00.

I had my local mechanic install it for me because I was too green at the time to do it myself -- plus it was COLD outside and I felt wimpy about doing the job -- so I can't comment on the installation process but it seems simple enough, except for the back-breaking experience that comes with doing anything under the dash.

When I did my EZ-Wire kit a few months later, I was able to see everything under the dash very clearly and the conversion kit seemed to fit very nicely. It didn't get in the way of the wiper-switch (as I've heard some say), but I didn't like the reach for the switch and wound up moving the switch to the lower-front of my dash (see link below, to see).

When I installed the Custom Autosound / USA-1 radio/cassette from Chevy duty, I noticed the wiper-mechanism was hitting the top-side of the unit ... but there is an adjustment for that via the radio knobs (they allow you to adjust the locations of the knobs up/down and left/right) and once I moved the knobs higher, which lowered the body of the unit, everything was perfect.

I've been using the wipers regularly since the above date (I drive my truck daily) and have had NO problems. The wiper-arms were a bit of a problem at first, I had a hard time finding the right size wiper-arms and some were very costly! I finally found success via RB's Auto (1-800-426-6607) for a total of $90.00:
#TS-4717526NS -- Right-hand Wiper Arm
#TS-4717527NS -- Left-hand Wiper Arm
#077-000122 -- Wrist Type 10" Wiper Blades

Lastly, there was a matter of matching up all the knobs on my dash ... I'm picky about details! And since I'm not restoring my truck to original, I went with 1955 Chromed Steel knobs from Brothers -- Note: If you are thinking of doing this, be sure and read my notes so you get the right knobs (you CAN be fooled!):
Click Here

To see a picture of what all the matched knobs look like:
Click Here

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