Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

I actually tried the under-$100 Dorman electric vacuum pump and it was the most worthless piece of garbage I've ever seen.

And yes, the 9 inches of mercury that my fuel pump vacuum booster is capable of creating on its own might aid manifold vacuum at light throttle, but it's not nearly enough to run the wipers during even just normal acceleration. As far as I can tell with testing, these wipers need at least 12, if not 15 inches of mercury to run.

G'day Redhexagon,
to PackardInfo.

I invite you to include your '55 Patrician in the Packard Vehicle Register.

I put an NOS Trico electric pump into my 1953 Clipper and the wipers would run even without the engine running. The pump itself ran only when needed.

Air pressure is 11.3 PSI at 7000ft vs. 14.7 at sea level.

If you ever drive enough away to drop in altitude, be sure to test the wipers in a controlled way (at idle?). Wet the windshield so the wipers don't experience extra friction. Would be a nice point of comparison even if you are at only 2-3000 ft.

Quote:
I guess that is not surprising. The Dormans are apparently for running AC vacuum actuators and unlike wiper motors, the actuators need almost no volume. A power brake pump would probably do the job and maybe if combined with a vacuum reservoir it could build up a reserve volume and not run all the time. Those pumps are at least the cost of just going with an electric wiper motor.

One thing that may help but not solve your problem is to rainx your windshield. It will make the wiper blades move easier and allow less effort on the part of your wiper motor. Obviously this is not a fix but it's something that will help and bead up water to provide clarity when driving.
 
My 56 400 had been converted to electric wipers by the previous owner. This had no effect on the charging system and worked flawlessly for many years. I believe he used a wiper motor off of a late 50's Chevy. If you do some searching on the forum you will see that there's others that have used it. The only drawback is it does not clear the large factory air cleaner. The air cleaner can still be installed but it will be cocked on an angle.


James From
Kanter Auto Products 

Yeah, I think the solutions here will be Rain-X, lubricating the linkage, avoiding rainy days, and lifting off the throttle when I need a wipe...

I'll do some more fiddling with the "Hash" fuel pump to see if it's worth keeping around or if I should just go back to the original single action pump.

It sucks that the price of improved engine durability by modifying the oil pump is having crappy wipers.

I guess this one is for Howard. The 55 Packards had a 12v positive ground system.
There are any number of electric motor conversion units offered on eBay and other sites for converting the vacuum wipers for other cars….I have added them to my 55 Cadillac and a 57 Lincoln.
They do not work with the original switch but a knob mounted on the bottom of the dash is almost invisible.
I keep the original vacuum wiper motors and never mess with the switch or connections….the next owner may want to return to original, but the electric wipers are nice if you have the bad luck to be trapped in the rain.
I considered doing the same with my 55 .Caribbean but thought the positive ground would prevent use.
I was told the positive/ negative ground made no difference.
I never got around to going ahead with the conversion since other issues with the car…especially the BTV and convertible too have distracted me.
It’s the positive ground is not an issue and the new owner wants dependable wipers…at 7000 feet, this might be a solution.
I know that adding anything other than original Packard parts will offend some….but so do radial whitewalls, modern sound systems or halogen headlights. So be it. I plan on adding turn signals to my 39 since I prefer safer operation
Nothing is being done that cannot be restored to original by a purist…if they can find the parts.
Just my thought.

The Chevy wiper motor does not care about polarity nor does most other single direction motors of that era that have wired field coils. Because of the way the internal wiring connects the armature and field coils together, a polarity change will affect both at the same time. While the north-south magnetic relationship on the field and armature will change with the reversed polarity they both swap together so the same magnetic relationship is present and rotation direction stays the same. Starters and standard heater or fan motors used this configuration.

In a reversible electric motor the armature and field magnetic relationship changes. Prewar Packards used motors on the Deluxe heaters with 4 wires brought out. On heaters a special switch kept the field the same but changed the direction of current to the armature so it rotated one direction for defrost and the other for heat. They also used the same system on the 54 electric front seat only relays did the changing.

For 55-6 and I think the prewar hydraulic window pump they used motors having two independent but oppositely wound field coils. One end of both coils had a wire out. The other end of the coils were connected together and then went thru the armature and out either with a separate wire or in most motors, just to case ground. For one direction, one wire got power and that field coil was energized so motor ran in one direction. For the other direction the other wire got power, its field coil being wound opposite caused the field to have a reversed magnetic orientation so the motor changed direction. Windows, seats, antenna, convertible pump, and the TL compensator used this type motor.

This is not the case with permanent magnet motors which are the norm today. Most have the field using the permanent magnet so it aways has the same magnetic alignment. Reversing polarity to the motor which only has one item -- usually the armature -- getting power reverses direction. I think this is the case with the Newport electric wiper kits so using that motor with a positive ground would need further experimenting. I do not see a separate ground wire brought out on the motor I have. It is probable the motor does run in the opposite direction but with the way the mechanical conversion of motor rotation to the back and forth movement of the wiper connection is done it just does not care. Craig used the Newport kit on his 55 with no issues but with all his other mods I do not know if his car kept the original polarity.

My car came with a wiper motor from these guys. I don't think they're particularly strong (on my car it's only this fast on high with a wetted windshield) but they use only a couple amps and will fit behind the air cleaner. If you can't find anything else to do the job.