How To Restore a C3 Corvette Wiper Bay

Time to clean up your act. Don’t ruin a clean engine bay with a dirty wiper bay.

On many C3 Corvettes, the wiper bay area underneath the cowl gets ignored. It’s always a shame to look under the hood of a beautifully painted and waxed C3 at a show, only to see a wiper bay filled with dirt, leaves, and body shop dust. It looks bad, and it’s distracting.

One Corvette Forum member, Stroh, recently tackled his 197o Corvette’s wiper bay while he had the windshield out. It’s a great, bite-sized restoration project. With the extra free time many of us have lately, we hope it inspires you to get out in the garage and work on your car.

Disassembly is the first step. Keep track of everything, and take lots of photos of the wiper assembly. Thankfully, there are some detailed diagrams from the factory service manual posted in the thread.

Unfortunately, the wiper bay never looked that great, to begin with. Seam sealer was slathered rather haphazardly in the area. The main concern was keeping it watertight, not making it look pretty.

Scrape, Sand, and Paint

Instead of scraping out the adhesive and starting fresh, our members recommend cleaning the area, chipping off loose sealant, and using a butyl adhesive to fill in anything that’s missing. That’s exactly what Stroh did.

With everything cleaned up, Stroh masked off the entire rest of the car and used a spray-in bedliner product to give the bay a uniform texture and look. It’s simple and effective, and it’s very close to a factory look. Best of all, it comes in an aerosol can, so it’s easy to apply.

As far as the wiper mechanism itself, Stroh cleaned up everything by hand. First, he bathed the parts in a rust remover, then hand sanded them to a nice, clean, uniform finish. A blast cabinet would have been better, but if you have more time than money, this is a great low-buck option.

After a few coats of high-temperature flat black and silver paint, everything looked as good as new. When it comes time to bolt everything back in, consult your photos and diagrams to make sure it all goes back in the bay the same way it came out.

This simple and effective project took a lot of time, but not a lot of money. All you need is a few cans of paint, and some supplies you may already have laying around.

Photos: Corvette Forum members

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