I saw something this morning about using late 60's Bettle wiper ***emblies for 46-48 Fords. Does anyone know if newer VW wiper ***emblies would work? It seems 70s-80s Rabbits are more abundent around here.
Haven't got a clue about how those fit, but my experience with VW/Audi (ten years selling their parts) tells me that those are a compact and easily adapted unit. VW probably still makes them.
That's what got me intrested. I did some looking on facebook and there's a guy an hour away from me with a pile of ***emblies for $40
I started to use on on my 40 ford wiper ***embly, it would have worked well, but I was told that the torque of the motor may be too much for the little 'chain' drive and could break them. The thought of that persuaded me to by a motor kit designed for the ***embly, but it would definitely work. I was using a 12v type 1 motor, two speed, so something like 72 up, pretty sure they a repro'd, or a second hand one should be pretty readily available https://socalautoparts.com/product/windshield-wiper-motor-bug-super-beetle-12-volt-dual-speed/
The problem with the VW Golf wiper/transmission ***embly is both wipers move in the same direction, not opposite to each other like the OEM Ford units. That's also true for the Beetle versions. You need to change the circular motion of the arm on the motor shaft to back-and-forth. It may be possible to adapt the VW motor to the Ford transmission but will probably prove much easier to just get one designed for the conversion. I don't think the VW units 'park' in the right place either. Newport Engineering sells a bolt-in unit for this application. More $$, but no mods either.
Tri-five Chevy wiper motors were an early popular choice for '54-59 Ford conversions as it would fit right in place of the vacuum motor and the switch was located on the motor, operated by the existing vacuum motor cable. But the 'travel' wasn't quite the same for cars on either side of that timeframe IIRC. Not enough travel for the later cars, too much for the earlier ones.
Besides the swipe they dont seem to "park" down low on the gl***. My OT dune buggy has them half way up the windscreen when they're off.
The problem with modifying wiper transmissions is their control arms are very short and it is very difficult to make two the same length to make both wiper blades synch properly.
[QUOTE=" ...The problem with the VW Golf wiper/transmission ***embly is both wipers move in the same direction, not opposite to each other like the OEM Ford units. That's also true for the Beetle versions. ....[/QUOTE] I used a Beetle unit in ny '37. Mounted it in center and added a bell-crank on one side. Shortened motor arm for proper sweep angle. Parking feature works well. Needed two power sources- one from switch and one 12V for parking.
I think you can adjust the park more or less. “Park” the wipers then put the arms on were you want them to stop. I used a vw rabbit motor and the original ***embly but did not know how to make the park work, just stop with the arms on the bottom.
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