8 inch wipers, and side panel backing, where to find?

My son and I are planning on driving the Merc to James Dean events and then later to the Hunnertcar pileup. We need windshield wipers that are no more than 8 inches long.

Anyone know where to find something that length and also will fit the original wiper arms?

Do any existing (read salvage yard) electric wiper motors work for the 51 Merc mechanism?

The existing interior side panels are water damaged and falling apart. I have some 3/16" luan, but that looks to be a little to thick. I've found some 1/8" masonite-type stuff at Lowes but it's pretty hard for staples to go into. Any advice?
Thanks
Ol Blue

 

Rain X.

Works for me, and I live in Washington. Have you tried that yet?

 

Like Hudson said: Rain X

As for your door panels, ask a local upholstery guy. I got a 4x8' sheet of his pvc plastic paneling for almost nothing. Very flexible, staples easy, heat to shape, etc. Its wot its made for.

 

Yeah, I always use rainX on my cars but would like to have wipers on the car just in case I get stopped by the police. I can put 10" on there if I have to but they would not work.

I'll check out the local upholstery shop tomorrow.
Thanks for the responses.
Ol Blue

 

Take off the blade and look at it very carefully, you should be able to cut an old style blade down to size, I used an 18" blade cut in half to make 2 -9' blades for my coupe.

 

not sure what your blades look like but for my truck i buy marine blades and cut them to size.

 

I've done this with success too.

 

what about rear wiper blades from a SUV? I'm hoping to use a rear wiper motor from a vw golf for my wiper motor,has a full 180 degree swing.

 

I agree, Rain-X is the best way to go, especially on cars with a curved (wrap around) windshield. At 30 mph+ water runs completely off. Works nearly as well on flat windshields. I use it on both my 57 Olds and my 34 Plymouth. As to little wipers, many rod shops carry them. Lengths from about 5 inches up to about 10 inches. I have 6" blades on my 34, (chopped top, 8" windshield).

Some people have used the wiper ***embly and blades found on the rear of some mini-vans. The wiper motors are easily concealed due to size and the blades can be replaced with shorter blades.

 

Just to throw an additional idea out for you to check out next time your in the yards is the back end of most compact cars. The ford focus has a fairly short wiper arm/blade ***embly for the rear wiper.

Alex.