Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Pat
I did the electric wiper motor conversion on my '55 400 and am very happy with the results. I live in OR and needed my wipers to work. I bought it from Newportwipers.com and it bolted right in. The only modification I did was to grind down the bezel ring that controls wiper arc. I did this to keep the knob as original looking as possible. Brian

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looks, better than chevy.......spit, on chevy,,,,,,,,,

It's a good motor and bolts right in -- except I added a 3/16" spacer on each side because my center piece socket seems to be out a bit far & the motor ears weren't flush.

I wanted to keep all the Packard original controls so made a switch module instead of using the switch and loom Newport supplied. The cable and coordinator still work the motor & dash is intact in case the next owner wants the vacuum back in.

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Here is a new twist on installing electric wipers,
http://shreveport.craigslist.org/bar/3718979081.html

If it works, why not. Bet that cost a lot less than the Newport or a Chevy motor -- both of which were probably hard to come by when he did his conversion.

is that a bell crank? like they use now.

IIRC the modern wiper motor outputs just circle with an external rod and bellcrank or lever doing the back and forth conversion instead of it being done internally like Newports or Chevys do. I'm thinking his center piece construction and the way the motor is offset is that same arrangement. As deep as the bracket seems to be I wonder if he gutted the vacuum motor and used that shaft and coupler.

I'll bet with a little thought and a bit of machine work that whole arrangement could be made smaller and neater. With a nice cover, shorter rod & suspended on a flat bracket straight down over the center, might have been a viable conversion before Newports came along.

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I like it. Especialy if it's cheap.

See last pic above.
Maybe use a modern multi speed or infinite variable speed motor from a modern car.

I sent my 51 vacuum wiper motor off to Ficken to get overhauled. I'll let you know the results later.