Anybody have any tricks or ways to help the vacuum wiper motor to work better/faster. I don't really have the money right now to buy the electric motor conversion.
The easiest way to do this is to add a vacuum canister. This adds a vacuum storage area that keeps an effective vacuum at idle, and other low vacuum times. You can probably get one at Napa, Kragen, etc.
Vacuum Wipers Are not bad , you must keep the valves correctly adjusted as they have a huge effect on the amount of vacuum produced . Also , watch the ignition timing as that too directly affects the vacuum supply . Lastly , as mentioned , go to any older American car (and not a few Foreign ones) and salvage the vacuum cannister hidden under the hood or behind the front fenders , (American cars use great big ones like coffee cans) and add a check valve to the engine vacuum hose , you'll be happy with how well they work then . Rebuilding the vacuum wiper motor is cheap and makes the wipers flip-flop very fast . Look up older posts for " Ficken Wiper Service " , he's in New York .
Ficken used to be around $60 for a rebuild, probably up some now. The difference is amazing. I really like vacuum wipers, they are infinitely variable in speed and hush quiet. The big drawback is using the engine as the vacuum source. We used to use the vacuum pump that replaced the distributor on the infamous Olds diesel engine. Installed a pulley on the drive end and a bracket to mount in line with the other pulleys. Now we use electric vacuum pumps found on many of the later model diesel cars. An advantage to this is it can be mounted anywhere on the vehicle, inside or out, and a hose run to the wiper motor. It's really neat to be going uphill with a loaded trailer on behind and have the wipers run at absolutely any speed you want. Try to find an old timey salvage yard or a pick and pull one price yard for these parts because yards that go by the book get a large price even for used ones.
Slap-happy Evan strikes again! What a cool option! You just ask for an electric vacuum pump? (One size fits all?) I assume the pump would be 12 volt? Thanks for another great idea, Evan!
if your wanting to stay with the origanal vaccume set up and have done all the repairs as above mentioned, you can also add a vaccume booster, i have one on my 47 plymouth super deluxe and it works great. my great uncle was the origanal owner and added the booster in the 60's.
Electric Vacuum Pumps CHEAP !! Evan ; You're a genious ! here I am , Mercedes mechanic and I totally forgot about them and ALL 300SD's and 300SDL's have a nifty electric vacuum pump in the right rear corner of the spare tire well in the trunk and it's mounted in a BIG block of rubber so it's dead quiet ~ Pick-A-Part yards are chock full of these and only cost $10.00 or so . just look for the model number mentioned on the trunk lid and go for it .
