silicone. It's watertight. The holes are actually very small and can be bondo'd and painted in the future if necessary. It wasn't easy convincing myself to drill them holes though. Had to be done.
Water system with pump for windshield
I've done plenty of searches on the forum and couldn't find any water system install write-ups, photos, or discussion of them either, so I decided to post mine in case someone wants ideas. I pretty much copied Triplesix's system, but used a different water tank. :goodfinge We got the idea from watching trucks at the mud-drags getting mud all over the windshield and the stock wiper/washer system just plain old couldn't do the job. Half the trucks didn't even have functioning washer fluid or wipers, so they were screwed. One guy even had to stop, reach out the window, and squeegee his windshield, then start driving again. :rofl: A truck had a system like this installed, and he was able to keep his windshield clean the whole time, so we swiped his idea. Thanks to the guy in the NOS powered red Mazda with mass flex! :beer
Here's the write-up. I'll start by showing a pic of the system.
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I used a 5 gallon water cooler from Home Depot as the tank. Unscrewed the tap from the bottom, and plumbed in my own feeder hose. The hose itself is an electrical hook-up hose for a hottub/spa. It's about 9" long, and found on the electrical aisle with all the pvc and adapters. The end is threaded with a washer, and is the perfect size to fit into the hole on the cooler.
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For the other end I used a threaded adapter found on the same aisle. Forgive me for not knowing the technical names or part numbers. :whiteflag Here's a pic of what the end of the hose looks like and the threaded adapter.
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Next I cut one end off the hook-up hose and installed a female garden hose repair fitting and a garden hose male fitting with about 2 feet of garden hose on it at the other end.
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That feeds into the 12v Harbor Freight utility pump. The pump uses standard 3/4" garden hose fittings, so it's easy. The garden hose attaches to the pump inlet. I installed a simple on/off flow switch to help regulate the flow if the pump puts out too much volume too quickly.
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The outlet is another female hose repair fitting that goes into a piece of 5/8" i.d. clear tubing. I couldn't find a 1/4" reducer with a 3/4" garden hose fitting, so I had to use multiple reducers. If you can find the fitting and eliminate this mess, go for it...From there I reduced it again with some brass fittings down to 1/4" i.d. The rest of the system uses 1/4" tubing.
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Using car audio cable fasteners I routed the tubing up the cab wall and headliner and out a hole in the removable top.
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An L-shaped nylon barb is used to make the transition outside the vehicle. If I want to remove the top in the Summer I can simply unplug the tubing. Only the hole is permanent. The barb is siliconed in to make it watertight.
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Next I routed the tubing up to the windshield and installed T-barbs to split the water feed. On the end I used L-barbs. Pretty simple.
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The cooler is mounted behind the passenger seat and is held down with Velcro straps. There is a hole in the top of the cooler to relieve the pressure of the water leaving the cooler.
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The power to the pump is ran through a relay and a dash-mounted on/off switch. How you run all the electrical is up to you, so no pics are really necessary.
Total cost: $125
Here's the write-up. I'll start by showing a pic of the system.
I used a 5 gallon water cooler from Home Depot as the tank. Unscrewed the tap from the bottom, and plumbed in my own feeder hose. The hose itself is an electrical hook-up hose for a hottub/spa. It's about 9" long, and found on the electrical aisle with all the pvc and adapters. The end is threaded with a washer, and is the perfect size to fit into the hole on the cooler.
For the other end I used a threaded adapter found on the same aisle. Forgive me for not knowing the technical names or part numbers. :whiteflag Here's a pic of what the end of the hose looks like and the threaded adapter.
Next I cut one end off the hook-up hose and installed a female garden hose repair fitting and a garden hose male fitting with about 2 feet of garden hose on it at the other end.
That feeds into the 12v Harbor Freight utility pump. The pump uses standard 3/4" garden hose fittings, so it's easy. The garden hose attaches to the pump inlet. I installed a simple on/off flow switch to help regulate the flow if the pump puts out too much volume too quickly.
The outlet is another female hose repair fitting that goes into a piece of 5/8" i.d. clear tubing. I couldn't find a 1/4" reducer with a 3/4" garden hose fitting, so I had to use multiple reducers. If you can find the fitting and eliminate this mess, go for it...From there I reduced it again with some brass fittings down to 1/4" i.d. The rest of the system uses 1/4" tubing.
Using car audio cable fasteners I routed the tubing up the cab wall and headliner and out a hole in the removable top.
An L-shaped nylon barb is used to make the transition outside the vehicle. If I want to remove the top in the Summer I can simply unplug the tubing. Only the hole is permanent. The barb is siliconed in to make it watertight.
Next I routed the tubing up to the windshield and installed T-barbs to split the water feed. On the end I used L-barbs. Pretty simple.
The cooler is mounted behind the passenger seat and is held down with Velcro straps. There is a hole in the top of the cooler to relieve the pressure of the water leaving the cooler.
The power to the pump is ran through a relay and a dash-mounted on/off switch. How you run all the electrical is up to you, so no pics are really necessary.
Total cost: $125
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1 - 16 of 16 Posts
good idea, but i would have put the tank under the hood and the pump under the hoor or the large space in the cowl would have been a good spot as well run the lines up in the windshield trim and across the window.. for mine i added 2 more of the later higher flowing heads so i got 3 heads washing the windshield and the cars both sides of me...lol. i not got in a ton of mud but i like to get a larger volume pump if i need more pressure.
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mike
mike
What the heck is this?![]()
mike
Now that's different.
Why not just improve on the factory washer system? I tee-d in some Chrsyler minivan knozzles that clip onto the wiper arm:
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Between them and the factory knozzles, I have plenty of cleaning power.
Why not just improve on the factory washer system? I tee-d in some Chrsyler minivan knozzles that clip onto the wiper arm:
Between them and the factory knozzles, I have plenty of cleaning power.
1 - 16 of 16 Posts
