a couple weeks after the windshield install, I determined I wanted to replace both the big pieces of glass in each door. One was cracked, and the other one was starting to separate bad. I took one of my windows and dropped it off at my glass guy.
While the glass was out getting cut, I worked on the windshield wipers. I kept everything from the Dakota (I know how surprised you guys are about that ) The Dakota wiper pivots set on brackets mounted inside the vent box. The wiper motor also mounts inside the vent box, and the wiring attaches from under the hood to the motor inside the box. The plan was to make the brackets and attach them to the top edge of the vent box, just under the windshield header. Thought was I should be able to use the wiper assembly complete, with the only modification being modifying the length of the linkage between to two wiper pivots. Sounded good and looked good on paper...

The wipers on the Dakota stroke in the same direction, the wipers on the coupe stroke towards each other. Not much of an issue, there was nothing left from the coupe anyway. I could off set the wipers like they were on the truck, one pivot would be towards the center, and the other pivot would be towards the outer edge on the other side of the car. When parked, both would pretty much be laying at the bottom of the glass. Once everything was all done, only the hard core old car guys would know something wasn't right, and they are not going to like my car anyway.

OK, the next issue, the wiper blades on the Dakota are 20" long, but the coupe windshield is only 13" high. So its off to my favorite auto parts store to see what they have. They have, in stock, about 4 different 11" blades. The difference was in the way the blades attached to the wiper arms. I selected a couple of blades that used either a bayonet end or the loop end and carted my new blades home. My biggest concern was with the driver side wiper, I would need at least that one to pass safety inspection to get my title. The driver side pivot had a 90 degree swing. I determined the point the pivot should be mounted to give me the wiper movement I desired. Then I would modify the Dakota arms to put the blade where I wanted it. The location was determined and the bracket to hold the pivot was made. The top of my vent box was removed, the windshield was protected, and the bracket was tack welded into position. I discovered both the driver side and the passenger side pivots used the same mounting brackets. Another mounting bracket was made, its location was determined, and it too was tacked into position. The linkage was cut, formed at an angle, and welded together. With the wiper arms pointed in the air, moving the linkage would stroke the wipers just like they were suppose to move. I was stoked. I carefully positioned the motor so the linkage was unmodified, and clamped it into position (in case some relocation would be needed.) I hooked up the wires and powered the wipers. Man, they looked great, until I shut them off. They parked the wrong way! I was dumbfounded, I had no idea what happened. Then, I looked at a still assembled Dakota. I put the wiper pivots on the wrong side of the glass. I was so concerned about getting the wipers against the bottom when parked, I never considered which way the had to park. So that means i had to cut loose the pivot mounting brackets and move both of them. Now a new set of problems became apparent. I couldn't move the driver side post far enough towards the outside enough to have the blade rest against the bottom of the windshield. Where the pivot had to go was where the wiring harness entered the car, and it could not be moved. That means when the wipers are parked, they are not laying against the bottom of the windshield. I put it as far to the outside as I could. I moved the passenger side blade the same distance as I moved the driver side, that way I could still use the same linkage. That put the passenger side pivot at the edge of the cowl vent (which I was planning on using.)
I got everything tacked back together and clamped the motor into position, and turned it on again. After minor adjustments to the linkage to clean the center of the vent box, I made a motor mounting plate and welded that together. I made some adjustments to the wiper arms before the final weld on them, and connected everything up. I put some water on the glass and turned the wipers on. The driver side was perfect, the passenger side had issues. The driver side wiper has a 90 degree stroke, the passenger side wiper had about 120 degree of stroke. That makes the passenger side wiper go off the side of the windshield on both sides of that 1/2 of the windshield. I would have to get another driver side wiper pivot, or modify the existing one. I chose to get another driver side pivot. I just installed that yesterday, I'm happy to report the wipers work great. The only pictures i have is of the pivot bracket. Gene