Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

I did a search, and I could find pervious posts about converting the vacuum wipers to electric. Has anyone done this to a '56 Clipper? My vacuum wipers work fine, but I'm thinking of converting to electric as I'm driving the car more frequently during the rainy season here in Portland, Oregon. Any insights, suggestions and or referrals on how to do this is very much appreciated.

You will be money ahead if you have the vacuum motor rebuilt unless you did an oil pump conversion and now need to supply an extra vacuum source for the safety margin.

The 55-56 cars have identical wiper setups -- Clipper or Packard. The Newport kit is the modern bolt in option and is sold by many. Just remove the old motor, plug the vacuum lines and bolt the new motor in position.

Where you will run into needing some changes with the Newport is in the switch. The electric motor has an actual switch whereas the vacuum motor has a cable to operate the valve on the motor. You will need to remove the Packard assy from the dash and mount the electric in its place. The bezel and knob can be used with the Newport switch but you will need to come up with something to replace the arc select lever that was part of the original assy or else there will be an ugly uncovered space the bezel or knob does not cover.

Some have cut the shaft off the lever piece leaving only the chrome face. You can slide that over the switch shaft and cover the ugly The downside to that approach is you destroy the lever so if you ever want to revert or pass the parts on to the next owner the original assy will no longer work as before. IMO, if you could use a decent chrome washer to fit over the shaft and fill the space to cover the mounting nut that would save a Packard part. Another downside to the Newport is without some special work the wiper washer co-ordinator will no longer fit and work the electric conversion.

Another option is to find an original 55-56 Chevy electric wiper motor. That also bolts directly in place of the vacuum motor but will utilize the original Packard cable switch assy. If you can find the adapter piece, the co-ordinator will also bolt on and operate the Chevy motor. Downside to the Chevy motor is it is a bit large and heavy.

Here are photos lof a Chevy motor and a Newport motor. The Newport is not quite a stock install. The motor is stock but instead of their switch, I built a special switch module to attach under the motor so I could keep the Packard cable operated switch and the co-ordinator.

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Having finally gotten working wipers on my '54, which are the same setup, I'll tell you the vacuum wipers work wonderfully and give you almost infinite adjustment in speed, which the electric ones do not.