After two trips to Florida with no wipers and a third trip coming up it was time to get the wipers working,yesterday I got the vacumn wipers working but both wiper motors I have did not have the power to move the blades too good on a dry windshield so I decided its time for electric wipers. I am going to use the Newport engineering kit and will order it tomorrow morning.

Butchering up everything I can get my hands on in Dayton Ohio

Good move. I did it several years ago. The electric wipers don't seem to have as much sweep as the vacum ones but the keep going when I hammer on it. Chuck

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

Should have wet the windows for a start. However, there are ways to rejuvinate vacuum motors. Someone here can probably provide details. If you buy an electric set up, ask around first, some are not very successful. Someone here found out that some are adaptions of boat single wiper setups. Mine for a 57, from Vintique, were broken when i got the car & failed again after repair. Since it's a hobby car, not normally run in the rain, I just had the vacuum motor rejuvinated for $35 & mailing costs. It's not great but o.k. with the fuel pump assist connected.

Paul

I used a Trico 2 speed electric wiper motor on my '57. They were used on some GM cars of that vintage. It is a bolt on. Even the stock dash control hooks up and works great! An added plus is that it looks right, and probably works much better than the modern stuff.

"FREE SAMPLE"

The GM motor is not a bolt on on pre-'57 Fords.  I used the Newport setup on my '56 Bird, and ended up lengthening the arms on the motor to get more sweep of the blades.  As originally supplied, if I wanted the windshield to be cleaned outboard as far as original, the wipers were sitting too high off the bottom of the glass when parked to suit me.  As I remember, the Newport wiper has about 90 degrees sweep, the original vacuum has about 110 degrees.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

I bought and installed the Vintique electric wiper motor on my 57. Fits perfectly but I was unhappy that the sweep was much less than the originals. I eventually was able to get in direct contact with Vintique. If I remember correctly, he said that the reduced sweep was designed because they had problems with wiper blades getting caught out in the wind and unable to return back to the middle. He said I could send mine in and he'd personally refit the guts to give a greater sweep. I believe he also said that with a stronger motor, all current production units would have the greater sweep.



Got it back and honestly I can't tell the difference. But I can live with it. My wagon is a road trip car, so even though I never want to see bad weather, it is inevitable. I need dependable wipers.

Jim - Erie Colorado, 1957 Country Sedan

I ordered the Newport engineering kit today and ordered the parts to get the washer working from Macs,its a little scary running 65 at night while raining so electric wipers it will be,if I dont like the electric wipers work I might go back to vacumn when the 292 goes in since I can get a dual diaphram fuel pump to help out.

Butchering up everything I can get my hands on in Dayton Ohio

I have the Newport set up on three cars and all work great. As far as sweep goes, I never really noticed any difference, but it clears where I want it to so I don't really care.

54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

just apply rainx and keep above 45mph. Problem solved.

absolutely agree.



Or just drive the car when it's not raining!

       A  L  A  N   F  R  A  K  E  S   ~  Tulsa, OK