On my roadster the frame was drilled for duel wipers. Of course the vacuum motor would not pull both wipers. I bought an electric motor for it which did the trick for short while. Needless to say it didnt last. Is there any of the motors built to handle this type of load or do I just need to coat the glass with a whole lot of Rain-X?ThanksJim
you could just run one wiper,and not worry about what the passenger can see,or run two motors.what i like is alot of rain-x,then you dont have a motor right in your line of sight.i've got 86,000 miles on my 32 roadster with only rain-x and i like it. -danny
What sort of electric?? I understand a lot of the streetrod company ones are very bad stuff, but good ones exist. Before you do anything expensive or complicated, get a piece of wire with an alligator clip at each end and run a good ground to the motor; a '32 windshield frame has a long, complicated path to ground...
My rebuilt vacuum wiper on my 36 had enough power for dual wipers (on level ground) I've never heard of a heavy duty motor but they may exist. Personally I'd leave the link off, anchor the pass side arm in the park position and let your honey squint. How cool can you look in a rain storm anyway? You could always use 2 electric non-synced motors.
RainX........ I have a single electric wiper on my Roadster. It is there because state inspections require one ( back when the state did them ) ....You also have to have one to get a NSRA safety 23 .... I am going to use a original 32 Trico wiper ( vacuum ) in my 3W and lots of RainX......
My Deece are getting Trico vac booster pumps...so I can avoid putting an electric motor up there by merely putting in a mile of wire, ten feet of extra hosiery, a pump/sensor, and an electric motor into the car--keeps things simple... I also have rounded up several old American Bosch wiper motors that were built for actual wiping and not the NSRA test...these things have enough motor to start a Datsun housed in a nifty deco shell. I have them because sometimes they look even cooler than a chrome deuce vac motor to me.
The electric motor does bug the hell out of me trying to look around it all the time. I think I'll just put the old vacuum set-up back on, disconnect the connecting rod and go with the Rain-X just in case. Hopefully I wont get caught in the rain but because I said something next time I'm out cruising it'll sure enough down pour on me. Thanks
A common old-days mod on a deuce roadster was to drill the BOTTOM edge of the frame and put the wiper down there. Might interfere with opening the air conditioner, though.
I must confess that I took the electric CHROMED WART off my W/S frame when I chopped it. If I had to pass an annual inspection I'd wire it with bullet connectors for easy R&R. Keep it in the trunk.
Pacific Raingear makes a nice compact single wiper motor. Shown in the pic mounted at the bottom of the windshield. 32 windshields have an about 1/8" hole drilled in each side of the lower frame for finger pulls. Drilling the drivers side out to 3/8" allows mounting the motor. If your windshield is slanted back the motor will touch the dash/cowl eyebrow and wear the paint off, but it's a small price to pay. The windshield frames finger pull hole was drilled in a completely assembled windshield frame . . . glass, rubber the whole ball of wax. If you look through the 1/8" finger pull hole you'll see that the lower edge of the glass is visible through the hole, covering exactly half of it. Trick is, get a new, sharp, Cobalt drill, pad the drill press table with plywood or similar, support windwhield on the outer end, clamp solidly to the drill press table with padded clamps. Set the drill press a couple of steps up from the slowest speed. Drill with minimal pressure, but you still need some pressure so the drill will cut metal and not rub. It's a bit nerve wracking cuz if you do it wrong you may crack the glass. The Cobalt drill drilled the frame with no problems and no wandering due to cutting only half a diameter of glass. Use a dull drill and more than likely the drill will wander due to sideward pressure from the glass and screw up the windshield frame. If you buy one of these Raingear wipers, ask if they can supply you with a passenger side model. Otherwise you'll have to do some internal gear re-arranging - which is spelled out in the instructions, so the blade will park in the proper place. The driver or passenger models are arranged for mounting in the top part of the frame and require reversal if mounted upside down as shown in the pic. It's easy to do, but if they'll supply you with one already set up, moh bettah. If I remember right - built the car 90-93 - the wiper motor has a ground wire as well as a supply wire. I did go out and take a look at it and the plastic outer covering looks to be the right size for two 16 gage wires. You'll require a 5/16" or so hole in the dash/cowl eyebrow, but that can be done close to the outer right side of the wiper motor and it's virtually invisible. The pic shows the view from the drivers seat and this particular photo was shot from eye level. In any event, the wiper is there mainly to keep the gendarmes happy. With a chopped windshield it doesn't sweep much area. Look close and you can see how the blade was chopped to miss the upper part of the windshield frame. Rain-X is what does it for me. One small PS, if you're running topless in a fog, it won't be long until both sides of the windshield are fogged in....
Not to hi-jack this thread, well, ok maybe I am, but does anyone have any bad / good experiences with the Speedway electric wiper motor w/ single arm? I've been looking at it for my project.... Andy
On one of my roadsters i used a model T hand wiper. Had to make a couple of bushings and shorten the blade but it worked pretty good. Won't pass NSRA though, has to be power.
Yes it is,,,but it's still on topic and a relevant subject. I never had a wiper on my roadster,,lot's & lot's of RainX. HRP
I think my wiper is from Speedway. Slow as hell. I mounted it in the windhield header so it comes off with the top. If it is raining and no top, I am in a lot of trouble anyway. I always travel with the top so it has worked fine. Several years ago, I was in heavy rain from Flagstaff to Dallas. I could always see.
Thats OK up here in the Pacific Northwest. The NSRA doesn't think we exist. I use RAIN X myself. The stock heart shaped vacuum wiper motor on my roadster isn't even hooked up.
The Jalopy Journal
