VACUUM WIPERS SUCK or don't suck very well

My dad just picked up a 57 Ford Ranchero . The vacuum wipers just don't work as well as they should , not that they were ever that great to begin with . We disassembled the whole unit cleaned everything up lubed it , reassembled it and replaced all the vacuum lines . It helped but not much , it was all we did to fix my Rambler and other vacuum setups we've had in the past. I saw conversion kits on line to convert it to electric ,has anybody tried them or had good luck with them ? Any kits that you reccomend or think we should avoid . Thanks as always your opinions and input are valued and greatly appreciated !

 

Electric is always better, Im sure they are avalable for the 57, might try Newport Engineering- www.newportwipers.com Im sure there are others. Heres an old trick for your vac wipers, that might get you by for awhile, at least until you cant stand them any longer.We did this as poor kids in the 60s. Find a quart container, put a 50/50 mix of regular motor oil, say 10/30 ect and a much thicker oil additive, such as STP, Lucas, Engine Medic,or just about any engine treatment oil, put the vac. line on the wiper motor and the other end in the oil mix, rotate the motor arm, back and forth as if it was operating, this shoud suck the oil mix in the motor, drain off the excess, install the motor in the car, they should work much faster, now. Hope this helps, but again electric is better.

 

Both my 54 Ford and my 60 Lincoln have the Newport engineering kits and they work great.

HOWEVER! Did ya check all the vacuum lines? It is 55 years old... Leaky vacuum lines suck, or, rather, they don't.

 

Company in new York can rebuild the vacuum units and they work very well. Frickin I think is the name. They have an ad in hemmings.

 

Yes 57 Chevy will bolt right up.If you keep the vacumn motor you can try coating the inside with vasaline.An old timer told me that.I tried it on my old Chrysler and the wipers worked great.

 

I installed a Newport Engineering kit in my pickup. It was a perfect fit and works great.

 

for my 51 Chevy truck, they sell a double action fuel pump to provide more vacuum to the wipers and there should be one available for your Ranchero. Heres a picture of the one for my truck.
http://www.classicparts.com/1952-57-Double-Action-Fuel-Pump/productinfo/67-912/

 

build a vacumn tank with one way check valve. They will work great

 

Used a New Port in the wifes 50 Chevy. Very happy with it.

 

I have a Newport unit as well works good, two things one is the switch is modern a OEM looking thing and is a bit noisy compared to the almost silent vacuum unit. I need to find a way to hook it with the original style vacuum switch knob and find a way to insulate for noise, possibly some stick on dynamat like thing.

 

I put 2 sp electric kit in my 56 Customline. Think I got it from Dennis Carpenter, not sure it's been a while.

 

Another vote for Newport eng. Their service is outstanding too, I screwed up one of their units and they fixed it...for free...and had it back to me in a few days!!

 

57 ford shoud have an optional vacumn/fuel pump that should work

 

They do. My 59 Ranch Wagon has it for the vacuum wipers.

 

What Shaggy said.
Make sure you have the fuel pump with added vacuum assist built in.

.

 

Easier fix throw 454 bb in there thats what i did fixed the hell out of my slow vacum wipers lol they are so stinkin fast now lol

 

glad to hear such good response re: Newport engineering...vacuum wipers with a blower motor suck!

 

and put some 35's on it and call it another shit box oil burning donk

just sayin


.

 

Thanks for the info . As for the Chevy 454 no thanks. We're not about to stuff a Chevy in it, we don't interbreed our cars. My family is very hardcore Ford group .My 62 Rambler American 2dr wagon is only non Ford car ever titled in my name ,I only bought it because in was clean funky and different and I could'nt find a clean 2dr Falcon wagon for twice what the Rambler cost. The 57 Ranchero has newer small block 302 Ford in it with automatic ,but the car was originally a stickshift with all three pedals still in it .So it could eventually get a 5 speed behind it. We are sorting out some wiring so we have'nt driven it too much yet .We got our first snow the day after we unloaded car off trailer so there is salt dust on the roads now . We will have to wait for spring rains to wash roads clean before we can drive it now.Clean rustfree south werstern car with polished 5 spoke wheels .Damn it I hate winter in Ohio .

 

the unrestored wipers on my 56 worked pretty good on the dry WS with the 6 cyl dual action pump so I found a NORS DA pump for an Edsel that fits my 352 FE. The only time it will get used is if I get caught in a thunderstorm coming home from a show. If it's too bad I'll park it and wait it out. I'm too cheap to spend the cash on something that there is a very good possibility that I will never use but like insurance you have to have it. JMO

 

always pumped a little brake fluid in the wiper motor swelled the seals i guess. redkneck way i know,but ran them for years like that when i was a kid and could not find the $$$$ to buy a "lectric" motor

 

If you've got a lumpy cam you will never have good vac for the wipers (or anything else). The vacuum booster fuel pump helps a lot, but if you don't have one (or use an electric fuel pump) a vac storage canister works well. Ford used a half-gallon "juice can" vac storage container in many 90s trucks. My bro's 94 F-250 has one under the hood, can't miss it! It has built-in check valves. Put that between the manifold and wiper motor and you'll have 20 seconds or so of wiper operation even with the engine off. It will "buffer" operation so the wipers will slow a bit when passing, but not that much.

If new lines, lubing, and a canister (or booster pump) don't help, the seals in the motor are just worn out. One 40+ year old cars that shouldn't be a big surprise. Axle grease or vaseline works, but usually for only a short time (2-3 weeks, maybe even 2-3 months if lucky). That's because the leather seal around the flapper inside is cracked. Get the motor replaced and you will find that it's very close to an electric wiper system. The best thing about vac wipers are they are quiet and variable speed. And when new they work like a charm, or OEMs wouldn't have used them through the early 60s. Only when electric wipers started to be competitive in price and installation costs did OEMs switch (electric could be installed faster and easier than running vac lines, so even if the motors cost a bit more the OEM still saves or at least breaks even).

 

What does a 454 have anything to do with a donk?
Just askin

 

Here is a little information I didn't read in any of the other info. If you have replaced the arms with New ones they alone can be the issue. Stock Vac arms have less spring pressure in them and don't squeeze the blade to the glass as much. This makes them use less power to move them across the glass making it easier for the Vac motor to do it's job.
The Wizzard

 

I was going to put electric wipers in my 55 Ford but I think I will just get the vacumn motor rebuilt since I dont drive it much in the rain,when I had my 53 Olds I could turn the wipers down so slow thay would act like delayed wipers plus those old vacumn wipers had a unique sound I dont want to get rid of. When you have a old car there are some charactoristics and sounds that must be retained,the original steering wheel and the key in a original looking dash along with the original seats and the sound of the vacumn wiper motor when its raining. If I wanted a latemodel steering wheel with tilt and a key in the column a buggered up dash and bucket seats and a console I would just drive a late model,its bad enough I have a modern sound system with satelite radio in it but am radio sucks.

 

Grazy,I installed the newport electric setup on my 58, works well. One improvement from 57 to 58 was moving the motor from above the engine ,to up under the dash. They also replaced the cable drive to a linkage. Some guys find 58 donor cars and convert the 57's. But its best done with the interior apart. Make sure you check out 57fordsforever website, lot's of info there, Mark

 

I believe the name one poster above was thinking of is Ficken Wiper
Service, who also goes by Wiperman. They rebuild the vacuum units.
Have heard some say they work real well.

Also, I believe the thing to squirt into the wiper motor to soften up
leather there is Neatsfoot oil. I found some at a supermarket, but
some places have it in the shoe dept with polish, etc. It is used to
soften and clean leather shoes.

And, the vacuum storage cannister thing works well also, according to
some who use one. A pretty simple install under the hood.

 

I have the original vacuum motor in my plymouth, and it works fine now. A lot of good advice in this thread- I did the oil trick , which helped significantly even on a rebuilt motor, and I also ran into the too much spring tension problem. However, at the time I did not know about this website, so I had to learn the hard way.

 

Alot of our problem was our wiper motor was mounted under the dash ever other 57 we ever owned had it mounted on the firewall. When I called Newport I pointed this out and they said they always ask because some Rancheros and Wagons in 57 are that way and require kit for a 58 to work properly. Good people at Newport that know what they are talking about. Thanks to every one who posted and helped !

 

I think the Newport conversion is the way to go.