My dad has a 54 Chevy Bel Air four door coupe that he,s trying to keep original. My question is theres three hoses coming off the switch on hose coming of the ignition one coming off the manifold and the wiper motor has three places to connect to, so where does all this go? The lines where all disconnected when it came home. The car would be all original but it has been repainted, other than that its original. Oh it have the inline six!
Mike,it might be wise to buy a WorkshopManual,who knows what other problems you may have in the future, Gaz!
Has he ever driven it in the rain? I drove cross country then back home in a 51 Merc with vacuum wipers.... Seriously, consider an electric wiper motor.
A manual's definitely a good idea, I'll have a dig around here and see if I can find a diagram of some kind for you in the meantime. The Vacuum wiper on my '31 Chevy Coach works just fine for me. And I know a thing or two about rain, I'm a Limey!
buy a manual. The link below has some good books http://www.scribd.com/full/96301675?access_key=key-27swkaiy967wyva19b8o If a man is given a fish, he eats for the day. If the man learns to fish, he eats for a lifetime.
We have manuals even a 3 1/2 inch thick 1954 chevy chilton, but its got nothing for wipers to say the least. Fare as rain we live in kyburz ca. can get a lot of rain and up to 4ft of snow.. Just trying to keep it original he drives it the drag strip for he is a annoucer for sac raceway!
I can have a look on mine tommorrow if no one else gets here first, but to be honest they (vac wipers) are ****e! I'm seriously thinking of an electric conversion...
Thanks I will give this to dad, if only ford had a site like that for the mavericks. I own a 73 lol now that im off topic, back to the 54!
One hose comes from engine manifold to the valve/switch to supply vacuum power, two hoses go from switch to wiper motor. One of those runs the thing, the second is witched off AFTER you turn wipers off by a valve within motor...it simply pulls the wipers back to park position.
Vacuum wipers work fine IF they are in good condition (how many are after 50+ years?) Rebuilt and new motors are available. The downfall is lack of vacuum when climbing hills or accelerating, this can be addressed by adding a vacuum pump to the fuel pump. Such well thought of cars as Cadillac, Buick and Packard used vacuum wipers into the 50s and even 60s but they had a backup vacuum pump.
Ditto, the vacuum booster type fuel pump. Add a vacuum reservoir to that, and they'll do even better. 4TTRUK
Close, but not quite correct - "If a man is given a fish, he eats for the day. If the man learns to fish, he'll sit in a boat and drink beer all day!" Mart3406 ==========
Here's a link to a direct boltin replacement electric wiper motor. I have this on my '34 and my '41 absolutely seamless, but appears stock original. http://www.newportwipers.com/products.php?year=1953-54%2F57&make_id=1
I was tickled when I found a factory rebuilt dual action fuel pump for my 56. The wipers worked when I started it with the dual action 6CYL. pump. I grew up with vacuum wipers and learned the art of driving with them. The biggest problem with them is long grades when you lose vacuum under loads for long stretches. You learned to lift your foot off the gas quickly so the wiper can make quick a swipe and then continue up the hill. I'll never drive it to work so the few times I get caught in a thunder storm I'll pull over if it gets that bad. It has never been a problem for me in my hotrod. I have pulled over with electric wipers though on my daily driver.
I am actually going to cheat on my winter vehicle and use a little vac pump from a late buick as Bruce and I discussed on a thread about va***m sources for vac wipers a while back. Here is a link to the thread, feel free to ad information or opinion to it if you wish. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=653105&highlight=wipers I lived in Oregon when I was in highschool and rain and or snow was a given summer and winter. Most of what I owned had vac wipers and you just learn to drive with them just like drumb brakes and standard transmissions.
LOL I tried rainex when I lived in Mexico. Ya know when it is comming down like a two ***** cow ******* on a flat rock rainex is pretty much useless.
actually it is; give a man a fish and he eats for a day. don't teach a man how to fish, you get the fish. he is an adult and fishing is not that hard anyway Vacuum stuff works when you do the others say, mechanically ***ited pump and a little vacuum tank off to the side. I like electric ones myself.
I've got a '49 Chevy sedan with Vacuum wipers. I'm very happy with them and they work awesome... I dunno.. maybe I'm the exception, but even in the worst conditions they do great. Good luck.
Beano,I have used rain-X for years and if properly apply works pretty good,,,extreme torrential downpours even good electric wipers all short of doing a good job. Today,vacuum wipers in good working condition are marginal at best. Accelerate or climbing a hill if they are not operating at their peak performance they will slow to a crawl or stop all together until you lift your foot off the go pedal! HRP
------------------ Until it rains, that is ....and then you can tell it's "not original"......but only because it's so much better than "original!" Mart3406 ==============
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