My required yearly New York State inspections of my 1985 300ZX-GLL has never turned up any surprises, but being told that my wiper blades were lightly torn, after 37 years (36,000 miles), didn't shock me. I told the mechanic doing the inspection "That's okay. I don't NEED them. I've never USED them. The car doesn't know what rain IS. It's never been out in the rain." We both chuckled and I promised him that I'd replace them.

"Well.. Golly-Gee". Surprise! Surprise! Nissan no longer makes the wiper blade replacement REFILLS or the OEM wiper frame. The actual wiper blade frame is riveted to the wiper arm pivot pin which is fastened to the wiper arm with two threaded machine screws. Found a set of 8mm wide by 24" long, cut-to-length, "thin refills" by Trico that required me to carefully pry open all 24 "claws" on the original frames since the replacement refills were s-l-i-g-h-t-l-y thicker and wouldn't slide in properly, cut then to length and then screwed them back onto the car.

Now I don't have to worry for another 37 yearZ. Did Datsun/Nissan rivet wiper blades on other years too, preventing normal quick "snap-off, snap-on" replacement blades? It's fun figuring out ways to fix, adjust or improve our cars, especially when they actually work.

A HAPPY and HEALTHY New Year to all and a FUN 2023!

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1985 300ZX- GLL Dark Pewter Metallic - Survivor

ImproviZe, Adapt, and Overcome. Good work.

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1970 240Z

Frank, are the 240's wiper blades riveted on to the the wiper arm "pins" or can the wiperZ be slid off the pins when they need to be replaced?

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1985 300ZX- GLL Dark Pewter Metallic - Survivor

Well Howie, as you know, these cars "improved" over the years and sometimes changed in several ways during the same model year. Some room exists within which it could be debated whether the changes were actually "improvements" or not.

My original 1970 240 wipers were simple things. Befitting of a lightweight, low-cost, first-year sports car, the wipers were flimsy and simple. The main stalk had a bayonet blade fitting on the end of it with a little spring-loaded nub on the side of it. The replaceable wiper blade itself could be pushed onto the blade until the nub clicked into place in a hole on the wiper blade.

But the early lightweight wipers tended to "float" at high speed so stronger wiper arm springs were created for later models of the 240.

These wiper blades were held to the arm via a simple barrel pin (which came attached to the replacement wiper blade). That pin locked into place in a hole in the wiper arm. Releasing the pin to change the arm required a thumbnail to depress a spring-loaded lever in the arm. That released the wiper blade insert and you threw it away, including the pin.

Over the following years the wiper blade inserts changed a few more times before the 260, 280 and ZX cars took over. The early blade arms would no longer fit the later model ZX cars, so aftermarket units tried to improve on the old 240 wiper system.

Today I use the entire Michelin brand aftermarket 240Z units. Lifting the big locking lever lets you put the wiper replacement arm on/off. They cost a bit more, but my experience is that they significantly add to uphill traction, give me another 5-7 mph top end, and extend my fuel mileage by several mpg on rainy days.

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1970 240Z

And that goes along with installing U-shaped pipes on the end of your exhaust tips to give you better mileage when driving in reverse.

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John Kish
1971 240Z - original owner

Riiiiight.

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1970 240Z

Howie, good improvising for sure. Way to make a current blade work in the original housings, but I wouldn't expect an aftermarket blade to last quite as long as an OEM does..... That never seems to happen. In your case though it just may.

John........I don't know if that 180 degree exhaust "improvement" is genius or insane, either way I like it!!

My Z had original 1974 blades on it too. I had looked multiple times for refills for the future but never found anything that looked close. However the way my blades fastened were not unusual, and the wiper blade/housing assembly could be swapped easily with an aftermarket setup if needed.

Jay

The whole unit pulls straight up off of the splined stud at the cowl. If you can find an arm with that size spline on it, you can fit just about anything onto it. The length of the blade inserts themselves should match the swept area of the windscreen, of course.

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1970 240Z

Yes, you are correct on that Frank. That's if one is replacing the arm too. I just meant the blade though, the way it attached to the arm was not uncommon.

This is all excellent info! Don't know how I made it this far

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71 240zx